It certainly seems like their announcers have been told by the director, "Look, F1 racing is really boring, and I have no idea why our network is broadcasting these darn things. Can you guys please talk the entire time the race is going on? Oh, and always sound really excited, too - that will at least keep me awake."

 

You have to wonder if the announcers are really that dumb or if they think we are. For instance, during lap 2, Ralph Sheheen said "Alonso has already set the fastest lap of the race!!!" Could he have possibly thought that out before he said it?

 

Wouldn't Jackie Stewart be a good choice for CBS? I think he did the Indy races many many years ago. Maybe people don't understand his accent. Daly and Shaheen suck compared to Machett and Varsha. Hobbs needs to retire soon because he always has to be corrected by the other two

 

I recorded many of the Grands Prix that Stewart did with John Bisignano on ESPN ages ago . . . always thought he did a great job but I think he's retired his broadcasting goggles for good.

Anyway, it really is unfortunate that the producers just don't know what to do with a Grand Prix. They think it's boring so they push the guy calling the race to make a frickin mountain out of every mole hill so when they roll in all their machines that go "Bing!" everyone thinks there is some sort of drama going on . . . all the while, in fact, there is . . . but they usually miss it as it's drowned under all of their over zealous a.d.d. paranoia.

 

The thing that frustrates me most is that CBS is the MS show. Even though Alanso is the current world champion, the last race was "MS is the greatest driver ever! Can he win this race? Can he win the championship?....oh..Alanso might do alright as well"

Granted I know that MS is a brand name when it comes to F1, but they need to consider that 85% of their audicence is going to be Speed viewers. That means that they need to satisify their main audience...and they obviously aren't doing that.

 

They have to appeal to fashionable hype...which leads to cliches and bordom...and eventually the death of a sport. I like MS and I am a Ferrari fanatic. But to ignore the changining roles and competition that bring these events on is evidence of a huge detachment from the sport...Speed has it's problems as well.

The drama isn't to be found with the status quo, but rather with the rise and fall of talent - man, machine and team.

 

If they talked up Alonso, the driver in first place, they would be saying to the audience, "Turn off your tv, there's no way anyone else is going to win this one."

That doesn't do much for your ratings!

 

Ferrari is glamour, pure and simple. In our country as well as around the world. It's brand recognition is up there with Coca Cola and McDonalds. Even Bernie Eccleston needs to woo the stallion from Maranello, or else his F1 circus couldn't exist. MS has been the dominant force at Ferrari for over a decade now, 5 driver's championships to show for it too, as well as 6 manufacturers titles. Friggin awesome.

CBS recognizes this simple truth: even a NASCARfied 'Murican gets goose bumps when the word Fur-ar-ee is mentioned. Now come our new announcers and you can bet a dime to a dollar that the suits at CBS sports are telling them to plug the red cars as much as is humanly possible. It's good for their ratings and generates interest in the sport with the hoi poloi.

For a real F1 fan, however, it's all about the refueling strategies, tire wars, and pit lane babes. That's what CBS has failed so miserably at. Not generating hype with Joe Sixpack, but playing up to us Euro-centric weenies who actually give a damn about the sport.

MGC- EuroWeenie

p.s. Sir Jackie also used to announce F1 for ABC's Wide World of Sports (Monaco and other locals) in the pre-ESPN days. Too bad he's retired. And speaking of another World Champion turned announcer - James Hunt ('76 F1 Champ) Too bad he's dead, he was a great racer, great announcer and all around playboy.

 

Amen, brother. And he was hilarious, too.

Let's hear it for more Pit Babes!

 

..."sport or entertainment?", a question posed by Road and Track a month ago, I think, with some interesting follow-up in Letters to the Editor the following month.

 

The Automobile Club de Monaco held their Grand Prix Historique last weekend in prep for this weekends activities. In Race B - Front engined Grand Prix cars (1947-1960), this Maserati 250F did not play well with others...



Practice starts Thursday and in the Red Bull hospitality area, Superman Returns...

 

Oh no! I bet that dude was wishing he was made of steel after that accident.

 

Ok, An original mid-engined Cooper (Coventry-Climax powered) is on the far left. Two Maserati 250s High and Center and what looks like the remains of a Vanwall or Connaught on the right. Except for the Snell helmets and Armco/catch fence this could be a 1958 GP. Blame it on those inferior Belgian made Englebert tires.

 

Spending the whole race week in Monte Carlo is one of those "things I must do before I die" experiences. Incredible!

 

Oh come on - where are all the "lynch Schumacher" posts? This isn't one, by the way, I'm just shocked to see no Schumi bashing yet. Personally, I'm having trouble coming up with an opinion, but I seriously doubt that's true of everyone else.

In case you've just been in a fallout shelter or something and missed the Monaco quali, everyone is in an uproar over M Schumacher's stop without crashing on the final lap of Q3. He had recorded the fastest time to that point and was on a flyer, but Alonso and Webber (and maybe Kimi as well) behind him seemed to all be turning their last laps faster than his provisional pole time. So, he locked it up and stopped without hitting the barriers and then stalled. The uproar says he did it on purpose to keep anyone else from being able to lock in a better time and bump him from the pole.

About eight hours later the stewards decided to delete all of his qualifying times so he's slated to start at the back of the grid.....since Massa crashed early in Q1, I believe that means it's Massa and Schumacher side by side on the last row!

 

No lynching required - the race stewarts reviewed the incident, determined it was a deliberate move, and deleted all of Shumi's qualifying laps. He and Massa will both start the race in the last row.

 

as good a driver as he is, he's still an insecure , psycho cad who'd rather crash out a rival than lose. they should have disqualified him from the season where he took out damon hill, just like they did when he tried to take out jv.

i was furious when i saw it live today. hooray for the stewards standing up to this garbage!

 

I try to remind myself that video cameras . . . despite however easily they provide subjective observation . . . do not always relay the entire truth.

However, today proved a sad reminder of the days when I did not care too much for Schumacher and his often less than ideal sporting tactics. Whether he is guilty or not (and I believe that he is), the result has only cheapened the efforts of all, and especially primary competitors like Alonso.

 

I'm not sure if Shumi is guilty or not of cheating again

He's not alone in great champs making these aggressive and bonehead moves but he's Shumi and he really polarizes our opinions esp when he makes mistakes.

If anything, if he was cheating, he screwed that up too

He should have tapped the armco and broke the front wing or something and not damage the suspension that way they would still be suspicious but he probably would not have been penalized.

Damn it Shumi, stop making mistakes

Oh well, he has to move on and prove himself again. I think he was deciding if he wanted to stay until 2008. He just might do it to clean up his image again

 

So the commentators said the Mercedes safety car has led more laps this season than the Mercedes/McLaren race cars....ouch!!! I missed the qualifying controversy, but Schumi did drive some very quick laps...not bad. Nice to see things change up on the podium from a few seasons back (I kinda missed last season), and nice to see an American among the finishers!

I sure got tired of that shaver commercial...at least Geico ran a series of different spots.

 

Commercial?

Tivo!

 

so i was actually at that race today, and i had zero clue what was going on. it was one of the most exciting atmospheres ever, but i never actually knew what was happening on the course . i almost fell down the side of a mountain, i was one of the hikers in sector rocher, lol. but we had a good time, we even got to walk the course after the race was over! heres a picture of the chicane:

 

Ross Brawn on line two... Seems that you have a job offer in Italy.

 

Coulthard wearing a red superman cape on the podium was really weird.

 

MSchu's qualifying move was dubious at best, and credit goes to the stewards for dealing with it quickly. My question is this: How could Alonso's last qualifying lap have been allowed since he set his fastest lap when there were caution flags out on the course? I remember previous events where drivers had their times disallowed for that reason.

Regardless, the Monaco GP is a joke every year. The only thing it is good for is the on-board camera shots - the street-side scenery gives us viewers a better appreciation for how fast the cars are going. On proper racetracks there aren't enough trackside landmarks to get an understanding.

What's up with the F1 production crew these days?! (not the CBS crew, the actual F1 producers [although Danny Sullivan's mushmouth deserves a mention - up a little late last night Danny?]) MSchu was catching up to Rubens on the last 2 laps, and they cut away from that drama in order to show Alonso gently guiding his car around the last few corners?! And why do they insist on only using on-board camera shots when drivers are going in a straight line, and then cutting away to trackside cameras to show them going around corners?!