大象传媒

Murray - It's good to have you back.I am so looking forward to this season.

Great to see you back Murry. Are you going to be answering questions again this year?

No shock to say going to disagree with Nico Rosberg, I think that he may well prove to Michael that the days where he had the team under his control are over, and in the past where the records should look when mentioning the 7 time World Champion.

Good to see you back Murray, hope you have as much joy this season as you have always brought to me.

Hi Murray, Seeing your face appear makes me realise the new F1 season is just around the corner. Its interesting to know that you're as excited about this one as any other in your distinguished career covering the pinacle of motor sport. I Totally agree as there are so many unknowns going into this season that it will keep us all on the edge of our seats and glued to our TV screens. I can't wait for those lights to go out on Sunday!

Still wish you were commentating Murray - Miss that GO GO GO energy at the beginning. nevertheless, F1 back at the 大象传媒. Fleetwood Mack still providing the intro music, a fresh season ahead of us, Lotus back on the grid and all the current, old and new talent, vying for that first corner on Sunday - F 1 doesnt get any better than that!

Great to hear from you again Murray. I feel like a kid just before xmas.

I agree with those who say it's great to see yyou back for another season. Best wishes Murray.

Can the 大象传媒 just do things as an article? Do we really need this as video?

Hi Murrey

I like many other am fascinated to see how the 鈥渙ld man鈥� of Formula 1 makes out this season. At 41 he is nigh on twice the age of many would be rivals. I would be interested to hear your views on some of the greats of the past, who, like Schumacher did not consider racing into their forties taboo. With the huge physical demands placed upon drivers in the modern era, how long will Schumacher be able to continue one wonders?

On a personal point I was privileged to be at Lidden Hill last year to hear you commentate on the Rallycross. Will there be a repeat this year, as I failed to get my copy of your autobiography signed?

Warmest Regards

Hi Murray!
Great to see you back!
Eddie Jordan reckons Michael Schumacher has no chance of winning the World Championship this year - He's the same man who said Stefan GP would DEFINITELY be at Bahrain!
Do you think Michael is in with a shout of wins and the Title and do you think his old head will be an advantage with the changes to strategy alongside the old master Ross Brawn?

Great to see you back Murray, very uplifting and classy intro to the new season.

I won't discount Schumacher on stamina grounds: think about Leonard coming back after 3 years to beat Hagler, as potential reference. Wheteher he did win that fight or not it's a different matter, but boy was his body up to the mark. Michael will be up there in 2 or 3 races.

Good work again, it was a pleasure to hear Murray speak at the Oxford Union last year and I hope that this feature keeps to this high standard!

Great to see you back again Murray.

British GP any chance of your being the third man in the booth? Just a one off for oldtimes sake. Please!!!!!

Hi Murray, great to see you back again - you are a true legend of the sport! I also can't wait for this season to start and am expecting some great battles at the front.

I don't get all the fuss being made about refuelling being banned. For me, it's going back to the pure racing you and James Hunt introduced me to, back in the late 80s. The best drivers will be those who can conserve their tyres and make their pit-stop calls late in the race, when they may already have a strong advantage over the others.

Enjoy the season, and I look forward to watching your reports.

Welcome back Murray. I am writing after friday practice where Nico Rosberg put his illustrious team mate in the shade. Care to re-assess?
My major worry for this season is the fact that everyone without exception is predicting the most exciting season ever ( with good reason ), however this must be breaking the world record for tempting fate by a massive margin, and we will end up with the dullest ever season.
I really hope I am wrong, it will be a great story if Michael, Jenson, Lewis, Felipe or Fernando win the championship.
I guess it will be Nico or Sebastian then! The only thing that prevents me from confidently predicting Vettel is doubts about his engine, otherwise if you think about it all the other main contenders will be taking points off each other within their own teams, whereas Sebastian will almost always beat Mark.

Whoohoo! I thought the Beeb had forgotten all about you this season.
Welcome back!

I'd better watch the video now...

Hey Murray,

Good to see the F1 season begin with the same pomp and show as you would have expected it to be in the 51st year of your career. Well, if you look at the grid of team drivers, you find an overwhelming number of german drivers, some rookies , some stallwarts, some masterclass. When can you last remember such a grid where Germany had the maximum representation. Is it pure co-incidence or a resultant of a rich legacy set.
My second question would be Hispania F1 seems to have come to the final stage without any proper preparations / testing etc with Karun Chandok and Bruno Senna as their leading drivers, both of whom have no prior exposure to F1. Do you think its good or the FIA should step in and may be put strict timelines on Teams or a deadline before which they have to showcase their potential in testing.

Brilliant to see your face and hear your voice again Murray. I really am looking forward to this season, probably more than ever. I agree that this has the potential to be the best season we've seen for a long time (especially for us Brits). So many things to keep an eye open for.
Lewis and Jenson at McLaren, the new Lotus team, Schumacher's return, to name just a few. On paper at least, it should be a great year for all F1 fans. Bring it on!!

It's always great to hear from you Murray. No disrespect to JL but you'll always be the voice of F1 for me.

Fully agree that this looks like being the best season of F1 for a very long time. It's so hard to know who'll come out on top at the end of the year. There are so many possible race winners and so many unknowns as well as a fair few fascinating team mate rivalries. Also, the refuelling ban and the new top heavy points system will hopefully encourage more bold overtaking attempts (and also a fair few foolish ones).

Can't wait!

Isn't it fantastic that the Beeb have finally remembered they have a HD channel for formula one .... NOT

Hope Sky get coverage soon and we can have it in decent quality.

I be tuning it in at around 19:00 on freeview because I dont want to watch it on a small screen

Really enjoyed this preview on the news channel. Should get a 15 mins slot on 大象传媒2

1min 46secs - "and he's back for another go...GREAT!!"

Still got it Murray. Still got it. Nice one.

Raymond - it's not the 大象传媒's call on HD. The local TV broadcaster records the programme, so it's down to them which format they record it in. If they record it in Standard definition then you can't broadcast it in HD. I doubt any of the local broadcasters record in HD. It's only worthwhile where there's one single broadcaster responsible for all the recordings and they can get more money for recording in HD - like the World Cup in South Africa.

If Sky had it, they'd only put adverts in it and the British GP would become 'Super Sunday' or 'Battle of Britain' and if it went down to the last race, then that would probably be 'JUDGEMENT DAY'

Bernie's rights depend a lot on sponsorship and getting huge viewing figures which he can guarantee if he gets it on terrestrial British TV, so I can't see it happening.

Plus Sky would probably replace Jake and Eddie Jordan with 2 extremely attractive young ladies, wearing tops that are just a little bit too tight for them, which is nice, but the commentary would go along the lines of how the red car was a little bit faster than the silver car.

I pay my licence fee and I want it on the 大象传媒!!

Hey Murray great to have you back my formula one season starts with your season preview! Incidentally I did wonder if that was your house lol I have been to beaulieu a few times should have realised!

take a look at this if you have a moment!

with love from all your fans and looking forward to your next blog

I have to agree with Raymond. It is hugely disappointing that there is still no agreement in place to provide HD coverage of F1. It would be good to know if the issue is that there is no actual HD coverage or that the 大象传媒 has not reached an agreement to take the HD feed.

Either way for a sport that promotes itself as being at the forefront of technology, a lack of HD coverage seems more than ironic.

I was going to ask you that question Murray about the House..no need.
Im looking forward to the season, its been so long since we last had the race in Abu Dhabi and Im looking forward to the next few months...unfortunately all races wrecked by you know who.Murray, you do know there is a Campaign to name one of Silverstone's corners after you?
Its on Facebook, we all want it to happen and if possible ask the Beeb's bosses if you can commentate on the British GP...it would be marvelous to hear you again on the TV just for the 1 Race each Season.
Also I must correct Mysterious_Sgt_Wilko - FOM (Formula One Management) DOES ALL THE Broadcasting of the races apart from Monaco and Bernie has hinted that HD is on its way, just not enough Broadcasters wanting to take the HD Option when it arrives so may wait to see about other Broadcasters before going HD.
Apparently before FOM took over, Fuji TV broadcasted the Japanese GP in HD but only Locally, the World never got to see it.
But I feel by the end of the season, the last race of the 2010 Season will be the trail for HD to see if it works and tehn a roll out of HD for the 2011 Season, 大象传媒 may want to get some more HD Cameras for its Coverage.

FOM took over long before there were any HD TV's made, so how Japanese F1 fans saw it in HD is beyond me.

You say that FOM does all the broadcasting. If that's the case then how can the 大象传媒 put HD recording in place for the last race of the season which is in Abu Dhabi? It's their TV partner that records it.

Good to have you back Murray, you speak of Michael heading the team at Mercedes, and certainly most of the media attention has been on him. However what do you make of the younger German drivers coming through?

Qualy at Bahrain showed impressive performances by Vettel, Rosberg, Sutil and Hulkenberg. In my opinion these drivers could surprise everyone & shape the 2010 season rather then the old master?

I'm sure I speak for all to wish Stirling Moss a full and speedy recovery from his injuries...

Good to have you back Murray, F1 wouldn't be the same without you.

Get well soon Stirling

Great article Murray, your knowledge and insight are sorely missed during F1 commentary - you should be back commentating and replace Legard! Murray Walker & Martin Brundle would be a great team! Instead the 大象传媒s resources are being wasted on this...

Great to see Murray back again. Infectious enthusiasm!

A (hopefully) final word about HD coverage:

It is completely out of the 大象传媒's hands that HD is not available. HD is not currently delivered by FOM and the commercial rights holder, as not enough broadcasters would support it to make it worthwhile. And it's FOM and the commercial rights holder who, er, hold the commercial rights.

The 大象传媒 have no choice in the matter - and FWIW, I strongly suspect they're one of the clearly not enough) broadcasters that could and would support HD.

On the front of the 大象传媒 taking HD equipment to Abu Dhabi - or indeed anywhere - they are welcome to film Jake, Eddie and DC in HD, Martin's gridwalk in HD, anything else in HD..... But for the racing, they are contractually bound to use the TV feed from FOM. The music sting and F1 logo that plays just before the commentary team take up the reins and introduce the qualifying/race session? That's the cutoff point, right there.

Yes it is really great to see you back Murray, F1 would not be the same without you! Best wishes to Stirling Moss to...another living legend.

Can anyone explain why Michael Schumacher has his name shortened to MSC during race/qual while all the other drivers have the first 3 letters of their suname ?

We know who SCH is !!!

SO MURRAY YOU CANT CALL THAT RACE EXCITING NOW CAN YOU IF VETTEL HAND NOT HAD A PROBLEM IT WOULD HAVE BEEN LIGHT TO FLAG TRAIN

Hi Murray,

Looking forward to your comments again this year. Not happy with the lack of HD coverage though, hopefully the Beeb will resolve this for the next race.
Enjoyed todays race, it will be interesting to see how the season progresses.
If you are in contact with Sterling Moss, please pass on our best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Silverstone should be good this year, going with my eldest son for the whole week end.

Regards,

BarryB

Glad your back Murray ive missed f1 since it was off our screens. well chuffed Michael Schumacher is back as ive always been a fan. I can't wait to see how Bruno Senna does i think he is a star of the future, my dad before he died was a huge Ayrton Senna fan. Its going to be a fantastic season. Good luck to all the drivers

Hi Murray!

It's great to see these back!

Who do you rate the highest out of the new teams? How much do you think they will improve?

Thanks!

Dear Murray,

It is good to have you back. I agree, this season has everything to be one of the most fantastic in the past years.

However, I am afriad this season is already set to have Fernando Alonso as champion.

FA has proven to be the best car builder of Formula 1. Wherever team he has been in the past year, it was impressive to see the recover of the cars he prepared and drove.

On top of this, he was the first driver to stop Michael Schumacher. No one has done, only Fernando. In the past years, although no luck, he has place the teams he drove with a surprising position, including the year he put the Mc Laren back on track.

This year, driving for Ferrari, and already making a superb difference for the development of the car, I really find difficult to see someone close to him.

If I would have to bet, I would say there is only one thing to beat Alonso. Himself. Alonso has to be conscious that he is not an easy guy, so he has to wathc out himself.

I am Brazilian and fanatic of the formula 1 and our forme champion Ayrton Senna, however I have to say. I have never seen such a complete drive as Alonso.

Let's wait and see.
Renato

Hi Murray,

Great to see you back for the new season.

Help a guy with a much shorter memory than yours, how do you think Bahrain compared to an average pre-1994 race and should mandatory pit stops being introduced?

Thanks

Andrew, 19

@BarryB HD would be great but until Bernie and FOM gets some new cameras it won't be happening, nothing the 大象传媒 can do about it themselves.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Is it just me? After about 15 great years watching F1 I was dismayed to find a rather low-key procession of cars going round and round.

Perhaps reinventing F1 to be like the old days needed one extra component; to ask modern day fans if they鈥檇 like it that way.

Let鈥檚 hope Michael Schumacher can challenge the front runners more effectively than a broken exhaust as the season develops.

Murray, do you think F1 will become a sport that鈥檚 best followed in the newspapers the next day rather than watching the race itself?

Hi Murray
I always look forward to your insight on each of the races, keep up the good work! I assume that Michael Schumacher is abbreviated to MSC (rather than SCH) just in case his brother Ralph comes out of retirement (who would have the moniker RSC).

Let's hope the 2010 F1 season is at least as exciting as the Damerham Grand Prix Pig Racing.
For those of you that missed last year's race you can find it here

Ask why you didn't keep last years race online?

Murray, what do you think the main difference between bahrain and Melbourne was in terms of why the racing was better?

how would you rate the new regulations?

Murray,
After seeing a superb, controlled and smooth drive from Jenson Button this week-end, do you think people are under estimating his chances of being a real contender for the title this year?

Also, do you think the race in Australia was exciting due to the weather and track, or are the new rules actually showing us excitment we were promised at the beginning of the season?

Looking forward to seeing the blog!

which Mclaren driver impressed you most in Melborne, lewis or jensen?

Simple question...Driver of the day?

Hello Murray,

My question is quite simple realy, Do you think Michael Schumacher should have cam back?

Hi Murray,

Do you think teams will be discouraged from trying different trye strategies because of Hamilton struggling to pass Alonso at the end of the race? Does this make track position more favourable than a fresher set of tyres?

Hi Murray, great to hear from you again.

Which of the new drivers on the grid have you been most impressed with and you feel has the most potential to suceed in Formula 1?

Hope to hear from you!!

Thanks

Dave

Hi Murray,

Lots of people were writing Button off at the start of the season, but with the recent Australian GP win, do you think he has answered his critics?

Peter Santamaria-Woods

Hi Murray, hope you had a great winter break.

What do you think of Nico Rosberg's first two races with Mercedes GP?

Regards
Lordwoz

Hi Murray

I also miss hearing you on the TV.
Do you think they need to drop a few thousand litres of water on the tracks before a race to get overtaking these days?

The race was exciting, but as soon as Hamilton and Webber caught Alonso there was noting much that could be done even though he was 2 seconds a lap faster, and had tyres that were only 26 odd laps old compared to 40 lap old tyres.

I have watched F1 for 15+ years and the lack of overtaking this season has been a read disapointment. Do we need wet races to see action, only time will tell, but this could be the first season in 10+ years I don't stay up till midnight to watch the races live.

Gone are the days of overtaking like in the Senna, Piquet, Mansall, prost days, or even the Hill, Montoya, Schumacher, Villeneuve days..

Hello Murry, great to see you again.
i can not belive red bull, it is clear that sebastian vettel, is a great driver last saeson he came close and this season hes had 2/2 pole posistions. the first race in Bahrain he was certain to take 1st but due to his car he was unable to. Once again today maybe it was some driver error but there must of been some mechanical issues. surley they will have to sort this or he will have to leave for a new team to persue his career?

Now that you have been retired for a while do you still get the urge to commentate on the races in front of your own TV?

Miss you, those young wannabe's just don't have your charisma and charm!

Dear Murray

Do you think that these tyres are just too good at the moment. Should the 'softer' of the two compounds really lasted almost the entire race?
Also, do you think we will have another malaysian GP like last year with the weather at this time of year?

Thanks

Would you say Webber hasn't the temperament or the brain to win a title as he can't see the outcome of some of his dangerous manoeuvres ?

Hi Murray,

We saw a great drive from Robert Kubica in a car that seemed like it would do well to challenge for points, let alone podiums. If you put him in one of the top cars do you think that he could win the World Championship?

At #21 raymond wrote:

Isn't it fantastic that the Beeb have finally remembered they have a HD channel for formula one .... NOT

Hope Sky get coverage soon and we can have it in decent quality.

****

Just be thankful that you can see it - ALL of it. If Sky had it you'd miss as much action as when ITV had it - F1 isn't watchable with adverts in it. It was dreadful, dire, awful - marginally better than not seeing it at all.

Personally I don't care if it's in HD as long as there are no adverts and the commentators know what they are talking about.

Great race today - shame about the strategy which meant Hamilton wasn't in there at the end fighting for a higher place.

Hi Murray,
and good to have you back...

my question.

Is lack of testing for new teams putting F1 drivers in danger?

..great race at Melbourne - hopefully more to come.

Hi Murray,

Do you feel that after several uneventful races that F1 should stop holding races in Bahrain and the Middle East and concentrate on holding more exciting (and less profitable) races in more recognised motor racing regions?

Kind regards,
Tom

Did todays race show that teams should be allowed to use whatever tyre tthey want whenever they want? it seemed to improve the racing

Hi Murray

Given the lacklustre racing in Bahrain, and the good race in Oz, do you think that the OWG were looking in the wrong place for restrictions (I.e. should they be looking at making the tyres significantly harder with less grip (to introduce mistakes)?

Regards,

Craig.

Well Once again That big stupid clown Martin Whit-marsh puts his big dumb size 15 in totally cocks up Hamilton's race.
Lets face it had Lewis have not gone in to change tyres he would have WON the Race. AND I MEAN WON.
He would have passed kubica On the next home straight then would have passed Button within 5 laps. I really think this is rigged or whit-marsh and his gang are totally stupid. they should have fired him off when the Ferrari scandal took place.
come on Ron sort it out,,

Having seen the first 2 races of the season, who do you think will go down in history as the 2010 F1 World Champion?

Great to have you back, all the best.

Drivers seemed a lot more aggressive in Melbourne than they did in Bahrain. Do you think that what we percieved as the rules hampering the performace of the cars and drivers was actually the drivers just getting used to them?

Hi Murray. It's still not the same without ya!

Intertested to know... had Lewis not been asked to pit, where did you see him potentially finishing? First? or was Jenson just too good even for him today?

Keep the blogs coming.
Marc from Colchester

Who do you rate the highest out of the new teams? How much do you think they will improve?

Thanks!

If drivers need there personal motivational engineers giving them a last psychological pump-up before the race isn't it obvious having Martin Brundle turning up looking like a Samurai death mask asking them how scared they are and what rubbish they're feeling is just the wrong thing! Shouldn't there be a final 10 or 15 minutes when nobody is allowed near them but people necessary for the physical and psychological preparation for the race? Mark Webber actually ran for his life when he saw them coming.

I seem to reacall a comment made by Mark Webber during Hamiltons first season after Lewis had an incident:

"Boy's in fast cars ....."

After Mark's actions today do you think Lewis would be justified to say something alomg the lines of:

"Old men in sports cars ...."

I feel Webber presents himself as the self appointed judge and jury of drivers actions with some of his comments .... maybe he should look at himself ...

@#21. At 6:16pm on 12 Mar 2010, raymond wrote:

Isn't it fantastic that the Beeb have finally remembered they have a HD channel for formula one .... NOT

Hope Sky get coverage soon and we can have it in decent quality.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is not the 大象传媒's fault that they don't show F1 in HD.

The FOA (Formula One Administration) supply the pictures to most of the different TV companies providing the F1 action. It is the FOA who don't provide the coverage in HD.

The 大象传媒 can only show what they are given. Like those graphics you see while watching, positions, rev counter etc. The 大象传媒 don't have any control, it's all from the FOA.

Hi Murray,

Great to see Jenson doing a mega job. Would you agree that with the current regulations regarding many drivers aiming to make their tyres last rather than go in for a new set that Lewis will find it difficult against Jenson this season as Jenson is such a smooth driver and Lewis is regarded as being more aggressive in his driving style.

Hi Murray,

After two races, Sebastian Vettel has been on pole and not been able to captalise on that due to problems, will this cost him any challenge on the title so early on in the season? Do you think it will hurt him like it did last season?

Andrew Webb

Hi Murray

I have always thought of your views as very insightful so I was wondering what your opinion of this is?

Do you think that new teams should be aloud to test outside of a grand prix, (or on the Thur of a weekend) to get up to speed? All the new teams are doing really well when you consider that they are doing there testing in public. The larger teams are moaning, let the new boys get up to speed. maybe even the reserve or test drivers could run on the Thur too.

Paul
Shoreham By-Sea

Hi Murray

The Red Bull looks to be the quickest car, and with Sebastian Vettel being very unlucky with reliability. However Mark Webber has not had any reliability issues and has only got a few points, could he be in danger of losing his 2011 seat to the Red Bull sponsored Kimi Raikkonen?

Andrew Pope (from Cambridge)

oh I have a question...

which circuit do you believe should be the curtain raiser for the F1 season?

cheers....

Hi Murray,
Do you think the racing would be improved if the use of wings (and possibly diffusers etc) was banned. This would eliminate the problems that cars have when following another car. Do you think it would make the racing better with more overtaking? Of course, the lap times would be slower, though the cars would be faster on the straights (which would also mean the drivers would have a real test of skill braking without all that downforce to help!)

What is your thoguhts on this: A COMPLETE BAN on technology in Formula 1. by this i mean all comunitcation between drivers and team on all technoligcial systems such as weather etc the only time comunitcation should be used is under a safty car and even then the enginers cant tell drivers about progress or anythign its just a simple warning to let them know that there is a safty car. surely by doing this it could spice up races as it will bring randomness to it as drivers wont know whats happening introducting more competeiveness to do well so they hold there postion or improve. be intresting to see even if it was for one race. so whats your opions.

Hi Murray,

I keep hearing people complain that modern aerodynamics are the reason for the lack of overtaking; but in the wet i always thought that the cars relied on aero grip rather than mechanical grip... so how can this be the problem???

(though i do agree with the banning of double diffusers!!!)

Dear Mr Walker,

Do you feel that the time is right to allow the teams more freedom in the development of under-body aeordynamic devices that are less affected by aerodynamic disturbance. These devices were banned following the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenburger in a time when telemetry data was far less sophisticated than it is now.

Kind regards,

Jon Weal

Murray PLEASE help!

It's the awful new (LG) results and numbers the 大象传媒 is using for F1 during the race, I thought last years were bad being so tiny but this years are even worse.

They now display these at right angles and non aligned, don't these guys realise we are comparing numbers to one thousandth of a second, so we need the decimal points lined up and right justified?

We also need as many results on the screen at once for comparison, right now they fade mix in and zap out. It may look snazzy but it makes the numbers not fit for purpose.

Last year I lost a great deal of F1 enjoyment because I could not do the maths, (how much has driver 2 gained this lap, how much does driver 7 need etc.)

In the old days (possibly ITV days)the numbers were bigger and yet there were three columns all displayed simultaneously with no stupid effects. This is not a powerpoint presentation, it is important stats that we need to follow the face.

I would like to suggest they move the F1 logo to the top with the lap counter, make the numbers bigger and clearer (Tahoma font) and show three columns of drivers at a time. This also applies to qualifying.

My feeling is that the guys that design all this are used to watching huge great LCD televisions and forget that we mere mortals get scaled down on our CRT sets.

Thanks for your help.

David

Hi Murray,

Missed your synopsis after the Bahrain GP.

My question focuses on the inter-driver psychology of the McLaren team.

At the end of the race, we heard Lewis on the radio, in a manner that could be interpreted as impetuous - rather than 'passionate' as Whtimarsh proclaimed - asking for the head of the individual whose decision it was to call him into the pits.

Could we be seeing the tell-tale signs of a potential role reversal from 2007, in which Alonso felt the heat early on from a new and competitive team mate?

Michael, Raynes Park SW20