Today the BBC returned to Formula 1 and it arrived in New Zealand via Sky TV (NZ).
From about November through March I wonder why i bother with Sky Satellite TV. They have some good content but much of what I watch eventually turns up on free to air. I only watch a few movies, barely watch other sport but when live Formula 1 coverage is not available any other way what choice do I have?
This year Sky have improved things by showing the Friday and Saturday Practice sessions in addition to the Qualifying and Race we got previously. I hope this isn't just for Melbourne as it was really good! Was this because it was the first chance to see the new cars and how everyone was really performing? Perhaps the testing restrictions mean Friday practice will be more interesting, more important, than previous years?
For the Practice we got BBC radio commentary which was a bit verbose, they can't stop talking I guess, but still pretty good.The Qualifying coverage matched ITV's and I was glad to hear Martin Brundle's familiar voice again.
With the race coverage it's hard to judge who decides what we see. I hope it wasn't the BBC who determined it as we saw too much of Lewis Hamilton in a race where he was not really in the frame until toward the end (although I just read he got promoted to third!). At one stage Vettel was chasing down Button and all we got was Hamilton chasing for mid-field. Apart from that the race vision, and commentary were fine but It was good to have FIA Timing and, for the first time, Twitter adding more info! Geeky Formula 1 at it's best!
There was a terrible sound mix up in the post race interview, Hamilton this time speaking over vision of Jenson, and out of sync sound/vision. This also happened to ITV.which leads me to suspect the feed providers or maybe the cross patch to Sky.
It was brilliant to have advert free coverage, I feared Sky NZ might try & sneak some in but it didn't happen. It was good to see the Beeb back, for the first time in a few months I won't mind paying my Sky subscription.
It's only a week until Malaysia, I cant wait.
