F1 - 2018 Chinese Grand Prix

[Garak]

I don't know what's up with that either, Bill. I would have guessed this one would have been quicker for activation, since there was nothing to remove other than a bit of sweepings, and it wasn't an extended period, so the tires shouldn't have been too bad.

It would be prudent, at least, if Charlie would give us some indication why, this is, even if that reason is, "because I felt like it."

 

[Carmudgeon]

Originally Posted By: Garak

Originally Posted By: Carmudgeon
"Do you speak English?" LOL. I think that might have been AMD's CEO, and she might know a few words...

Martin does this regularly at Asian races. It's better than asking an English question and getting a flurry of Mandarin or Japanese back on live TV. As for this lady in question, I don't know if Martin is much of a techie at all, but I've been messing with computers since before the Vic 20 came out and I had no idea who this woman was, so I don't fault Martin Brundle for not knowing.


I can see the other side of the argument, but I'd like to see him approach Dieter Mateschitz or Zetsche like that, and see what kind of reaction he'd get.

But it was pretty clear that he was getting desperate at that point anyway.

Robin Miller he's not...

 

[Garak]

Brundle knows who those people are, so he wouldn't be asking them the question. There's one fellow every year at the Singapore GP, I believe it is, who Martin knows and speaks to, not well known elsewhere in the world. He obviously doesn't ask him if he speaks English. In any case, Brundle often will grab a random person when he gets desperate, which is a nice mix from how he always seems to get Perez or Ocon to talk, no matter what. So, if Martin asked the pair you suggested if they speak English, they'd probably ask Martin if he went senile.

As for Dr. Z, he would be happy to have Martin softball him like he softballs everyone. Last time I saw Dr. Z getting interviewed at a grand prix on live TV was quite a while back, about two years ago, and he was bolting away from the interviewer, leaving Toto Wolff holding the live hand grenade that Bernie had handed to the interviewer a few minutes earlier. Bernie must have been smiling ear to ear watching his monitor. The last time I saw a big CEO so discombobulated was Bill Gates after his pie to the face. Toto Wolff was looking like he was about to lose his lunch, too. I guess the easiest way to get a Sky Sports F1 broadcaster to ask a pointed question is to have Bernie trick him into doing so.

 

[newbe46]

Originally Posted By: Carmudgeon
Originally Posted By: Garak

Originally Posted By: Carmudgeon
"Do you speak English?" LOL. I think that might have been AMD's CEO, and she might know a few words...

Martin does this regularly at Asian races. It's better than asking an English question and getting a flurry of Mandarin or Japanese back on live TV. As for this lady in question, I don't know if Martin is much of a techie at all, but I've been messing with computers since before the Vic 20 came out and I had no idea who this woman was, so I don't fault Martin Brundle for not knowing.


I can see the other side of the argument, but I'd like to see him approach Dieter Mateschitz or Zetsche like that, and see what kind of reaction he'd get.

But it was pretty clear that he was getting desperate at that point anyway.

Robin Miller he's not...


I wouldn't come down hard on Martin Brundle on that one. One can read it both ways. In the motorsport world, it's impossible to not know who Dietrich Mateschitz is and given he runs RB one would assume he speaks English.

Martin being a visitor in foreign soil not knowing how to command the local language or to put it bluntly, "the white guy in town". I think it's actually polite that he addresses the unknown interviewee whether they speak English or not. I think this is less awkward that way than he jumps directly to English and risks offending the interviewee and makes it looks even worse on camera.

But in this climate, anyone is easily offended by anything.

 

[Garak]

Now, if he wanders around Silverstone asking everyone if they speak English, that would be a bit odd.

But, I do think it's fair to ask someone he doesn't know and who could be a local if they speak English in a country where English is not an official language. What would I do if I was at the Montreal GP wandering on the paddock and someone came up to me with a camera and started to interview me in Mandarin?

 

[Carmudgeon]

Like I said, I can see both sides of the English bit.

But how do you guys excuse what followed?

Oh, so you're a VIP and have lots of pretty credentials...awkwardness...thud.

He could have asked how AMD supports Ferrari (money,tech, both?), and let her do a typical PR spiel, or even just how she felt about having their team lock out the front row.

I haven't seen enough of Brundle's stuff to know how well he can ad lib on live TV, but from what I've seen, it doesn't appear to be his strong suit, which is a necessary part of that job, isn't it?

 

[Garak]

Like I said, he softsells. He generally goes around and asks people how they're doing and what they think of what they've seen, sometimes who they're cheering for if it's someone not obviously team affiliated. I've never really seen him do much in the way of pushing a team sponsor to do a plug, and have no idea what Sky's policy is on that sort of thing. After all, they're most interested in hyping their own.

Brundle does some prerecorded interviews, too, where he can get into more depth with what a sponsor does, or what a certain official's role is. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes it's better to be a little cautious. One never knows where Bernie has been wandering, and he can turn the most innocuous comment in passing into a seed for disaster a few minutes down the road.

 

[Garak]

Another comment, after timeout. Bernie's criticism of Sky was always that they assumed too much knowledge on the part of the audience, and you'd have to be a techie to follow it. For that matter, as soon as Martin realized she was from AMD, it went without saying she was a Ferrari sponsor and everyone should know that. Do recall he mentioned that being a sponsor has it's privileges.

He knows who AMD sponsors, and the rest of us should obviously now it, too, I guess is the reasoning.

 

[Brad_C]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Bernie's criticism of Sky was always that they assumed too much knowledge on the part of the audience, and you'd have to be a techie to follow it.


One thing I quite like about the Sky coverage is they don't aim at the "lowest common denominator" audience.

 

[newbe46]

Originally Posted By: Carmudgeon
Like I said, I can see both sides of the English bit.

But how do you guys excuse what followed?

Oh, so you're a VIP and have lots of pretty credentials...awkwardness...thud.

He could have asked how AMD supports Ferrari (money,tech, both?), and let her do a typical PR spiel, or even just how she felt about having their team lock out the front row.

I haven't seen enough of Brundle's stuff to know how well he can ad lib on live TV, but from what I've seen, it doesn't appear to be his strong suit, which is a necessary part of that job, isn't it?


I must admit I didn't know that is AMD's CEO until I came to this thread after the race. However, she responded to Martin with a North American accent and with all the VIP passes, at the time I realized she must have some background.

I do agree he was desperate to fill the air time at that moment and hence the comment about the VIP passes but that is always the case for live TV, especially for covering F1.

He must have a bunch of people telling him how much time he has left on the segment, who is where on the grid. At the same time, he constantly has to look for important people to interview and come up with some somewhat intelligent questions, then fill the air time with his mumbling.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: newbe46
He must have a bunch of people telling him how much time he has left on the segment, who is where on the grid. At the same time, he constantly has to look for important people to interview and come up with some somewhat intelligent questions, then fill the air time with his mumbling.

I don't doubt he gets incessantly pestered by the producers, and he does seem to know what's going on for time very well, down to the second, particularly at national anthem time, and I doubt it's because of his watch.

Martin seems to do a bit better when he has more time, too, and things have changed. Note that he's the only journalist in recent memory (at least in my recent memory) who got invited to Bernie's house to do some nice sit down, TV interviews.

Brad C: Definitely. Some guys just need to cheerlead a little less. Usually one can get some pretty good information listening to Brundle or Herbert. Crofty is fine when he stays on the ground. He does have a sense of humour, and took it well enough when he spilled his Coke all over his stat sheets last year and had to improvise. I did enjoy Ben Edwards when we had the BBC feed. Has Pat Symonds been doing anything on the air this year? I haven't caught enough pre-race coverage this year to see if he is, or if he is too tied up in Ross Brawn's wild goose chase for improving overtakes.

 

[weasley]

Let's not forget that in the Sky team we have Damon Hill (1996 F1 champion), Martin Brundle (former F1 driver), Paul di Resta (former F1 driver), Anthony Davidson (former F1 driver), Johnny Herbert (former F1 driver) and now Nico Rosberg (2016 F1 champion). They have been there, done that and some of them even get to drive the current stuff too, so are pretty current when it comes to teams, drivers, shakers and movers.

 

[newbe46]

It must be his watch because it’s a Richard Mille, don’t you notice he purposely shows the face of the watch while holding the microphone?

I don’t see Damon Hill and Johnny Herbert doing it. Maybe Paul Di Resta with his Daytona.

 

[Carmudgeon]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Like I said, he softsells. He generally goes around and asks people how they're doing and what they think of what they've seen, sometimes who they're cheering for if it's someone not obviously team affiliated. I've never really seen him do much in the way of pushing a team sponsor to do a plug, and have no idea what Sky's policy is on that sort of thing. After all, they're most interested in hyping their own.

Brundle does some prerecorded interviews, too, where he can get into more depth with what a sponsor does, or what a certain official's role is. As I mentioned earlier, sometimes it's better to be a little cautious. One never knows where Bernie has been wandering, and he can turn the most innocuous comment in passing into a seed for disaster a few minutes down the road.


As I said, much of this is new to me, so I'm not aware of the Bernie factor or any of that stuff.

I guess I'm more critical because I know people in the media business and see some things through their prism.

For me, the solution is obvious; I'll just stick to the race coverage, keep the volume low and enjoy the pretty pictures.

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: newbe46
It must be his watch because it’s a Richard Mille, don’t you notice he purposely shows the face of the watch while holding the microphone?

He could get a [not so] subtle shirt like Sir Jackie.

I don't have HD for my normal TV watching (yes, sacrilege), so I need properly obvious advertising!

Carmudgeon: It's interesting to watch how the various personalities work in different elements. Brundle has a good insider view with some of the personalities and has good access. As I mentioned in another thread ages ago, Martin Brundle was pretty worked up the first weekend there was talk about "someone else" taking over F1. I imagine that a lot of long term talent on Sky and BBC before it learned a bit of circumspection around Bernie, simply because he enjoyed being a bit of a disturber, to say the least, and one can never tell if he's being honest, joking, or being dishonest, and many interviewers who took what he said at face value, particularly on live TV and with a time crunch, wound up looking very foolish in short order.