Thanks - I'll keep that in mind next spring. Tinkering with TV broadcasts used to be a hobby in the past but now my spare time seems to be spent in the garage with turbo miatas and on the track tying to break the aforementioned toys.

Hopefully, there will be a reasonable broadcast and the Varsha replacement won't be horrible. I don't need perfect or optimal but I do need flag to flag coverage and announcers that have some level of understanding about cars that turn both left AND right while using brakes as well as the loud pedal.

 

I am fairly concerned over the NBC switch. Coverage needs to be at least as good as Speed. Fox Sports coverage of the middle few races made my brain hurt, and my rage expand greatly...

If the NBC coverage is poo, I will cancel cable and torrent the excellent british coverage (what I do when my chitty DVR forgets to record...)

 

I'm still struggling to get to a positive up/down ratio on the site I use, so that I have invites to send. I suspect I'll be using it much more often after the NBC switch.

Actually, yeah.. I'll be having the races sent to me on thumb drives next year since I won't be in the states so I'll be using the 'net for the first 3/4 of the season.

Holding out hope that NBC does coverage right. If they listen to their veteran commentators then they just might. I don't think they'll edit the races down.. but I'm not expecting a very good pre-show and I won't put it past them to skip the podium ceremony.

 

What an unbelievable finish to the season.

I will be doing all of my watching online. For those of you who have not experienced the coverage of a race weekend provided by Sky, it's a whole nother world. I prefer them to BBC coverage. Eddie Jordan makes me want to punch the TV sometimes.

Each practice session is covered
Pre,during, and post qualifying coverage
Pre,during, and post race coverage
somewhere around 10+ hours of coverage every race weekend.

No cutaways during the race. No voiceovers for Mother's or Barrett Jackson during the race. Live commentary by former F1 racers that have raced in the last two decades. I mean, I like David Hobbs, he's great. But he has had no experience with the speeds and forces of modern cars.

How about analysis of why a driver took a certain line through a corner? How about pre AND post interviews with the likes of Adrian Newey, Martin Whitmarsh, Christian Horner, any and all of the drivers ... it just goes on and on. Poor Will Buxton for Speed is the waterboy of the F1 journalist crew.

I have cancelled cable. If I lived in Europe, I would pay and subscribe to Sky, because they get a magic box where you can push a button and ride onboard with any of 4 different drivers. In the last race you could watch the entire race onboard with Vettel, Alonso, Button, or Hamilton. That's worth paying for. What we get in the US is not.

You know, in Austin, the Sky reporters asked Mario Andretti what, exactly, American fans need to make F1 take off in the States. I can tell you. WHAT EUROPE GETS! Our coverage is embarassing and it sucks. The FIA shouldn't even allow US networks to carry it, they do such a poor job. Add Sky Sports to DirectTV or Dish.

PM me for particulars, if you wish.

 

Is Sky available in Canada? If so, there is a DBN broadcast of it hitting your house right now - just need to figure out a way to get it.

 

As far as I can tell, UK and Ireland only.

 

I'm dropping speed, like today. I'm really sad about Speed dropping F1, I don't like change.

 

Depending on what bird they broadcast from, you might be able to see the signal from the far north east. No dice for the main part of the continent.

 

Yes, yes it was!

Vettel may have won the Championship, but I am impressed by Alonso finishing a very, very close second in a Ferrari that came into the season not expected to do well, and also impressed by Raikkonen finishing third in his first season back, in a Lotus of all things. At the start of the season, Vettel was an easy pick, but not the other two. I totally blew that call. I had Alonso coming in 5th, and Raikkonen was not even on my top 5 list.

Also very cool to see Massa doing well again and back on the podium in front of his home crowd. He was clearly pretty emotional about it. I'll bet the relief for him was tremendous, knowing he is back with Ferrari next year instead of losing his ride. Good for him.

Ready for 2013. I really hope NBC does not **** it up.

The U.S. getting European-like F1 coverage is a chicken-egg issue. NASCAR gets all of the massive multimedia coverage, real-time in-car cameras, etc. etc. because of the massive fan base of course, which started building up before all that came into play. Maybe F1 needs some NASCAR drama-BS to build up the U.S. fan base. Driver fights during/after the races, pit crew rumbles, eleven billion car crashes, bump drafting... They need to require rental go-kart bumper guards on all the cars so they can/will bump into each other more often and stuff.

 

I'm most impressed by Raikonnen, he probably did the best in a less than fantastic car. I'm also super impressed by Hulkenburg, hopefully Sauber can put together a great car for him.

Again, I am not impressed by Alonso. I have no doubt Alonso is one of if not the best driver, but he got where he did by sacrificing his teammate. Webber helped Vettel, but he always raced for the win, as far as I could tell. Massa never raced for the win, he raced for Alonso.

 

They both race for Ferrari, neither one matters, it's not te drivers career at stake, it's the team's reputation. It's always been that way, and I like it.

 

You like it on your uvula.

 

Anyone would be a little bit of a head case after what he went through. He can drive at the elite level so he just had to force his mind back to the razor's edge which took time. I'm very happy for him.

I also love Raikonnen. My two favorite moments of the whole season were his pass of Schumacher at Spa and his STFU on the radio at Abu Dhabi. That guy has *****.

 

I'm looking forward to Perez being part of the McLaren team. I'd like to see how talented the Mexican driver is in a front of the pack car. Plus it's an excuse to keep my wife interested.

 

Exactly. Alonso has to be prima donna #1 or else he throws a fit and leaves (McLaren).

That may be how Ferrari operates, but it doesn't clear Alonso as far as I'm concerned.

Off the top of my head I've seen Massa used as a rolling roadblock, ordered to give up positions, and outright sabotaged by Ferrari, all to help Alonso. If he had a shred of dignity, Alonso wouldn't be happy to win a championship that way.

 

Let's not forget his gearbox seal was deliberately broken last race in order to advance Alonso's position on the grid, and get him on the clean side.

I'd like to see Massa out-qualify him out of the gate next year and establish himself, now that he seems to be back on form.

Edit: forgot to mention there was no way they would do that to Massa in Brazil ... can you imagine the crowd reaction. I don't doubt there would have been a riot.

 

The gearbox seal didn't bother me so late in the season, but every other time before it when Felipe slowed to give-up his position, before there was a points race.

 

I'll download the Sky feed. You can come sit on my lap and watch.