´óÏó´«Ã½

Great video Murray! I'm so happy your back and im looking forward to more Q&A's throughout the season!
2 questions for you,
Do you think that Red Bull will be plagued by reliability all year and lose the championship because of it? Is general unreliability a difficult thing to fix?

Can you see Renault, which has very little to do with a manufacturer now, end up doing better than recent times over the next few seasons?

Fair comments Murray as always, some amazing cars in that museum, must tag that as a place i will visit. I have to say that Mark Webber is a good driver but i just don't think he has that killer attitude for sensible do-or-die passing (Hamilton on Massa and Rosberg at Australia for example.)Hamilton's spacial awareness is so good he can just brush his front wing on Massa's wheel at 180mph. That is impressive. So sorry Mark don't see you in F1 champions list. As for the new drivers, none of them has really had the time to make an impact, but well done to Chandhok for finishing in Australia, you look at the results, really that is the best result for a new driver yet. So well done to him.

Many thanks Murray and am looking forward to the Malaysian GP

Absoloutley briliant Murray. Your input is loved by all of us and is very insightful, and as always, this was a great watch. I look forward to your input through the season.

Schu sould not have come back.he had nothing to prove .The answer to wing mirrors, is tv camera looking backwards on F1 cars

whoever thought and implemented narrower front tyres needs their head examined

Murray, what a brilliantly tactful response to the question 'How do you rate Schumacher's performances so far?'.

You managed to avoid answering it admirably.

Go for it Morris!

loved the Q & A murray and i really agree with you on all points. I think you'd better train your driver in formula one starts though ;)

"Murray, what a brilliantly tactful response to the question 'How do you rate Schumacher's performances so far?'.

You managed to avoid answering it admirably." #6

It's called respect. Its what you give to a 7 times world champion, and I'm glad there are still people around who believe in it, although judging by the some of the comments on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ and from some fans, respect is a concept fast dying. I commend Murray on the way he answered. It's what I would expect coming from a legend talking about another legend.

While I'm here I would just like to say that the red-room at that museum looks absolutely gorgeous.

Thoughtful insight as always Murray!

How has your view of Kobayashi changed over the first two races of the season?

My personal opinion is that he doesn't have the car, but it would be good to hear your viewpoint :)

Cheers

Sparkwood?

I presume the writet has never ventured west down the A303 or even touched a Haynes a manual? It's Sparkford!

As a day out it's also near South Cadbury rumoured to be a site of King Arthur's Castle. In the pub in the village they've been known to show GPs on the TV on Sunday afternoons.

Sparkford, about 20 miles south of Frome where Jenson Button the current F1 Champion comes from.

Well well - Murray W, a guy whose insight I have always felt is underestimated (being eclipsd in some folks' eyes by his passion for the sport) echoes what I have always said about Kubica. And said again the other day - regardless of the naysayers and their cavils.

Given a top-class car - Hamilton, Button et al would know him only as a cloud of dust in the far distance. Damn straight.

Great video! Another amazing insight into F1 from the mind of a motorsport genius.

If you had to make a decision now, who would you say has the best hopes for the title?

Murray,
Your Q&A is, without doubt, the best thing on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ website (which is excellent).
I want to know why you didn't pose with all the existing world champions in Bahrain as you're probably one of the very few in the business that have witnessed all of them winning it....wasn't there any chance of pushing Todt's wife aside? Hopefully, the same thing can be organised at Siverstone later this year in an environment where fans would appreciate more its historical significance.
...and I still think a one-to-one interview with past drivers and their point of view on their careers could be very interesting...keep it up Murray.

Nice to see something good on Good Friday

It is still early days for MS surely!! 3 years out and at 41 the results so far have been outstanding considering. He is up there with all the top contenders and improving every race.

Brilliant Q&A Murray, shame the beeb lost freeview 302, they don't seem to broadcast the classic races and your Q&A program on 301 at all like last year?

As for Red Bull they seem to be following the old trend set by McLaren with Adrian Newey designing the cars? incredibly quick until something fell off.

Hi Murray, I once had the misfortune to attend the 1995 British Grand Prix on a VIP grandstand ticket with all the hospitality. When asked what I thought of the day I replied "great food, but missed the Murray commentary". My question is, when watching the race from your armchair does your voice still have the power to drown out the wail of today's engines.

As with the last season of Murray Walker's comments, I note that there is no transcription of the questions/answers... Being profoundly deaf, this means that this media is inaccessible to me. It beggars belief that an organisation which is capable of providing live subtitles for >60% of its broadcasts cannot provide something as simple as a transcript for at least the question/answer session. Not only would this make this accessible for others disabled in a similar fashion to me, but would also make it accessible for people for whom english is not their first language, since understanding the spoken word can be harder than understanding the written.. Can you please provide transcripts as for something as popular as F1 undoubtedly is, it would be much appreciated.

As usual Murray your replies are very tactful but looking at the grid there are only 2 names who really warrant the tag "world champion" Lewis and Fernando. Lewis drives like a young Michael Schumacher but with bigger balls and Fernando like the seasoned Michael Schumacher. I dont think anyone else holds a candle to these two.

Murray also features on the end of the Radio 5 Chequered Flag podcast:

/iplayer/console/b00rs2c3

11. At 02:04am on 02 Apr 2010, Lepus_Madidus wrote:
Sparkwood?

I presume the writet has never ventured west down the A303 or even touched a Haynes a manual? It's Sparkford!

As a day out it's also near South Cadbury rumoured to be a site of King Arthur's Castle. In the pub in the village they've been known to show GPs on the TV on Sunday afternoons.

Sparkford, about 20 miles south of Frome where Jenson Button the current F1 Champion comes from.

___________________________________________________________________

I guess you live nearby?

Ah, the Haynes Motor Museum. I went many times as a child...and always wanted to go inside the Ferrari F310.

Also, thanks Murray for your insight into the season so far. I hope Hispania outperform the rest of the new teams and pick up a few points.

3rd practise session on ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer please!!!!!!
We have everything else available on iPlayer, even Inside F1, but no 3rd practise session.
Go on, stick it on there. Not too much to ask... is it?

Thanks for all your broadcasting over the years Murray, you really are the best sports commentator ever! My question is : How big an impact is the lack of Anthony on Lewis' performance?

What can be done to improve overtaking? Had double diffusers and the 'f-duct' been banned, would we be seeing much more overtaking on the track?

Loving the fact you're still involved in Formula One after all these years, clearly the greatest commentator ever (:

There is no one who can simplify Formula 1 like Murray, his passion and knowledge is above reproach. The current commentators do not bring the same excitement although I feel every race should have a wet period even if it has to be created by a sprinkler system, it improves the racing enormously. If they can spend the money on lights then they should invest in a sprinkeler system as wet races shows who is best at driving and strategy at a minimum cost.

What was the best car ever produced from 2000-2009?

Hi Murray - There's been some controversy over McClaren's so called F Flap - do you think that spoiling the downforce on the rear wing of the McClaren to increase straight line speed will lessen the dirty air behind them and make it easier for others to overtake?

Enjoyed the video, Murray, but I don't agree about Webber. I'm from Australia and we love the underdog or the local hero blindly but Mark doesn't seem to keep his mind on the job. Example is Melbourne where he punted Hamilton while Hamilton was trying to pull off an outside passing manuvour with a high failure rate and tried to follow him through thus punting Hamilton when he out-breaked himself destroying both their chances. He's done things like this before so will he ever learn so he CAN win an F1 championship?

Hi Murray,

Good to see you back for another year - long may it continue! My question is this - Are McClaren systemically too conservative? The failure to put a banker lap in for Malaysia qualifying was just the latest in a long history of poor decisions, including the unnecessary stop for Lewis in Australia and the failure to stop the same driver early enough in China 2007 that probably cost him the world title.

These are only the famous examples - many a time in the last few years I have watched them react too slowly to changing track conditions and fail to be on the right tyre early enough. How is it that they don;t seem to have learned from this?

Matt

Agreed that the weather and the Melbourne circuit produced most of the excitement in Australia, but I'd argue with a couple of other points. Whilst Webber is a nice guy and a capable driver, I don't think he has the talent to beat any of the other frontrunners in an equal car. The new teams process hasn't worked well - one team didn't make it, another needed a last-minute buyout to turn up with an untested car, and the third gained a major sponsor but still turned up with a car with a fairly fatal flaw. Only Lotus (who were added at the second attempt after BMW withdrew) have really been impressive immediately - although I wish them all well in future. Also, Kubica isn't the first driver from behind the Iron Curtain, that was Hungary's Zsolt Baumgartner for Jordan and Minardi.

Hi Murray,

What do you think of the new points system? Do you think it will make any difference to the way drivers race?

Interestingly, I've worked out the points scores after each race this year (cummulative three to date) and compared how it would look on this year's system, last year's system, a simple 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 system and another one where the differentials are even grater than the '25 downwards' system of this year. Surprisingly, the system makes virtually no difference at all to the rankings, after R1, R2 and R3, across all four systems. A couple of drivers swap positions mid table - that's all.

I'll keep doing this and report again.

What do you thin?

Keith Stevens (KT308)

Can you please explain to me why the ´óÏó´«Ã½ use my licence money on transporting three extremely boring people around the world to spend an HOUR before the race trying to impersonate a forest. They are nearly as boring as the drivers! Oh for the days of Murray and James. No idle chit chat just straight into the race coupled with superb commentary and banter. Any chance you getting your old job back???!!

I am sitting watching the Chinese Grand Prix and am wondering what the white lines mean on the entry to the pit lane. Quite number of drivers I've seen have crossed these on the way in. Is this a penalty and if not, why are the lines there?

Murray, do you think that the behaviour of Hamilton so far in this race is acceptable, it appears that Hamilton needs to have lessons in how to behave in a professional way. Also the bias being displayed by Martin in his commentary in favour of Hamilton even when Button is leading is poor. Having said that, it is a race that certainly keeps your attention.

I noted with interest the new small air inlet that McLaren have fitted that allows airflow to be changed over the back wing, I think. It was described as a non-adjustable aerodynamic aid as these are apparently allowed under the rules. However, surely it is an adjustable aid if the drivers can alter the airflow during the race with their knee as was described?

If Hamilton were to run to Button's race plan how far ahead of Button would he be? Hamilton 4 stops, Button 2!

Hi Murray,

How do you rate Nico Rosberg's chances of a surprise Championship challenge this year?

I have noticed that the sound on the starting grid has been reduced when the race starts to near none existent by the ´óÏó´«Ã½.
I have young boys who love F1 and the engine noise at the start gives it a real boost from the whole build up of the race event.
It really needs the microphone down on the grid turning up again.I have tried on the tv volume but its not clear sound.
Thanks,
Mark.

who do u think is call the pit stops cos in the last couple of race button is getting the better result of hamilton ,as hamilton is quicker and costing him race and postion results,is button getting the better team support.

Hi Murray,
Jenson may hav won in china just now, but that's only becuase of the f-duct system which gives mclaren a straight line advantage. so when merc have that in spain in a few weeks, won't the other teams have met their match?

Dear Murray,

I was wondering what your thoughts were on the ruthlessness demonstrated both by Hamilton, by going wheel to wheel in the pit lane with Vettel, potentially putting others at risk; and Alonso, by overtaking Massa in the pit entrance, another potentially dangerous maneuver. Aren't both drivers pushing things too far in their pursuit for the championship? Thanks.

With reference to Pedro's comment,
I think the sport has been toned down to the point were everything is starting to be predictable.The Pit was always a place when a car came in there was always a chance of an incident.If you start to clamp down and make that a health a safety gone mad enviroment you will lose a little bit more of the sport.

Hi Murrey

What are the chances of you commentating on this years British Grand Prix? It would be nice to hear the excitment in your voice through the race like we used to!

Chris

I have a suggestion....
Nearly every race in the rain seems to be the one you remember the most as it tests the teams to their limits.If its bone dry you can pretty much guess the first five after the outcome of the day before.This is probably due to the sport being computerised and the drivers not making mistakes.
Well how about water sprinklers are fitted around all the tracks at all venues and are only activated on race day.They would switch on only at random with no influence from anybody just like the rain.
Just a thought,but not to be taken too seriously!

Hi. Can you tell me when we last had a British 1-2 in a GP?

Hello Murray

What is your opinion on the issue of driver visibility, given the various incidents of collisions and near misses, not only this season, but over the last few seasons as well?

Michael in sunny Spalding

OK then, Murray, so we now know how to make F1 exciting. In the event of a dull processional race, all the circuits will have installed a sprinkler system around the track, and Bernie or one of his cohorts can turn on the rain at any time, perhaps giving the teams a "radar warning" of five minutes. Any takers?

Hi Murray

I am a new F1 fan, was lured in by Lewis Hamilton a couple of years back, so am still learning, so I apologise in advance if my question is silly.
At the very start of this season in Bahrain after qualifying Ferrari changed the engine in Alonso's car, yet Alonso was allowed to retain his grid position, why was that? Am I wrong in thinking that previously if a team changed engine in their cars after qualifying they would have automatically been made to have a pit start? Thank you.

Hi Murray
Mercedes admit their car is not quick enough at the moment, but Rosberg is only 10 points off the championship lead. Is he a genuine Championship contender if Mercedes get the car right?

Hi Murray,
the last three races have been fantastic but they've all been influenced by the rain either during qualifying or the race but my question do you think that the races this season when we don't have rain will be as processional as Bahrain?
Euan, Kirriemuir

Hi Murray - it seems to me there are more "interesting relationships" between team-mates especially in the top 4 teams, than I can remember.

What do you think of the current state of relations and how might these impact the rest of the season?

Hi Murray,

Bernie Ecclestone recently said that in the future he'd like to see up to 25 races in a season. Do you think that would be good for F1 or do you think that would be too many in one year?

hi murray, jeson button has won two of the races so far this season, but do you think he will win the championship?

which McLaren driver has impressed you most? button with his tyre calls or hamilton with his fight backs?

Hi Murray,
After winning 2 of the 4 races so far...

Has Button proved himself as the Number 1 driver at McLaren?

...and when will the ´óÏó´«Ã½ get you to do a retrospective on all the great drivers you have ever commented on???????

Murray,
Do you think Jenson's two wins thus far this season will change the dynamic/relationship within the Mc'Laren team with regards to Lewis Hamilton ??

Dear Murray,

another quick question: from what you've seen so far, do you think there's any chance, barring some exceptionally accident filled race, of any of the new teams managing to score points this season? Thanks again.

Hi Murray, what do you make of Robert Kubica's start to the Season?

Not many predicted such a great start to the Season for the Pole but he's certainly proving the doubters wrong with fourty points from the first four races!

Hi Murray

In light of the strong start to the season Jenson Button has had, albeit in changeable conditions. Do you think that Jenson can maintain this momentum and be a Title contender towards the end of the season?

Also, do you think that Lewis Hamilton will benefit from having Jenson as a team-mate, and will it add those final pieces of making Lewis into a complete driver?

regards

Simon

Hi Murray,

What do you make of Bernie's suggestion of 25 races in a few years?

Surely that will be such a tight season, and contradicts the FIA's cost-cutting measures?

Question to Murray:

After the Chinese GP, I thought about the next few races and winners from Pole seeing that a driver has not won on Pole
My 2 Questions are:
Do you think that any upcoming Races will be won by the polesitter? Do you feel that starting on Pole for a race is worth fighting for now?

Hi Murray,

Another question for I have for you: Do you think Lewis Hamilton has to start making the key strategy decisions in order to win the World Championship this year?

Thanks,
Tom

Hi Murray,

what are you views on the new regulations so far? Do you like them or any thoughts on how YOU would improve the race for the teams, the drivers and the viewers.

Tom

Dear Murray,

Having questioned whether Fernando Alonso's start in China was a 'jump start', as was perceived by Martin Brundle and the race directors, i have after viewing the start several times, come to the conclusion that i may have indeed observed correctly.
Alonso's car begins to move precisely at the same moment the lights go out. So, my question is, was Alonso incorrectly penalised for making the perfect get away?

Regards,
Giannino.

In the end why do people watch formula 1/sport? for entertainment .Hamilton is the most entertaining driver in the last decade of formula 1,the race today would of been okay without him. He made it brilliant! Just like in Melbourne and I'm sure so many other races in his short career .Now not one person here can really honestly tell me that,he isn't the best driver to watch and would not miss him if he was gone. Frankly I don't care who is better out of lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. (Although I have to say Hamilton is clearly the better racing driver) people don't realise how easy he makes overtaking look, and how hard it ACTUALLY IS. What I'm trying to say is who cares about who is better? ,it's what made you get up at 7 o'clock in the morning and turn on the TV and watch F1? It's a matter of opinion, but I certainly know what made me.(off topic but I agree to some extent about people saying Jake and David are biased. ´óÏó´«Ã½ please make Martin Brundle a presenter and commentator his knowledge of the sport is great and he explains things to the viewers really well, also he is completely neutral . Murry do you agree with anything I have just written?

Dear Murry,
In the end why do people watch formula 1/sport? for entertainment .Hamilton is the most entertaining driver in the last decade of formula 1,the race today would of been okay without him. He made it brilliant! Just like in Melbourne and I'm sure so many other races in his short career .Now not one person here can really honestly tell me that,he isn't the best driver to watch and would not miss him if he was gone. Frankly I don't care who is better out of lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. (Although I have to say Hamilton is clearly the better racing driver) people don't realise how easy he makes overtaking look, and how hard it ACTUALLY IS. What I'm trying to say is who cares about who is better? ,it's what made you get up at 7 o'clock in the morning and turn on the TV and watch F1? It's a matter of opinion, but I certainly know what made me.(off topic but I agree to some extent about people saying Jake and David are biased. ´óÏó´«Ã½ please make Martin Brundle a presenter and commentator his knowledge of the sport is great and he explains things to the viewers really well, also he is completely neutral .Do you agree with any of this ?

Murray,

Do you think Nico Rosberg's consistent points hauls will be enough to contend for the Drivers' Championship? Or are 3rd- and 5th-place finishes not enough when the new points system has a 15-point gap between 1st and 5th?

Hi Murray,
Do you think drivers are being punished enough when going off the circuit? Most of the run off areas now are Tramac instead of gravel, which I disagree with

Dear Murray,

I was wondering if you think Schumachers return to F1 was a good idea for his reputation, as he is clearly struggling to get to grips with the car.

Thanks

Jenny

Do you think the second deployment of the safety car in the Chinese GP was unnecessary and perhaps a tendentious decision since there was only minor debris on the pit lane.
Right when it happend, it felt odd to me. I found my opinion echoed in Jenson Button's and Robert Kubica's comments after the race.

Hi Murray,

I was wondering if you think the standard of drivers in F1 is better now than when Schumacher was in his heyday, or have more teams developed race winning cars.

There seem to be a number of drivers capable of winning the Championship now, Hamilton, Button, Alonso, Vettel. Where as before there were only one or two dominant drivers vying for the championship, Schumacher being one of them.

Thanks,

Simon

I'm probably too late but hey I'll ask some anyway, I'm not being greedy by the way I'm just posting three in the hope that you'll pick one :)

Do you think Schumacher is going to be able to get anywhere near back to his best within his 3 year contract?

And

Who has most impressed you out of the new drivers this year, and do you think any of them have the potential to become top drivers?

And

Do you think the correct decision was taken over the Hamilton/Vettel pit lane incident? And do you think any measures should be taken to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future?

Keep up the good blogs Murray, would be great if we could have you commentate the British GP this year!

Hey Murray,

It's interesting that people are writting Schumacher off already this season and the car hasn't even had its "schumacher friendly" developments added to it yet, do you see Schumacher improving in the near future?

Thanks

Hi Murray,

If there was to be a suprse victor of the next grand prix in spain who do you think it would be?

Hi Murray, Have Williams lost their fighting spirit to win races again?

Hi Murray,

I know that many people are interested to see the progress that Schumacher is making, as he is struggling in races compared to the past.

My question is not, 'Do you think he will win again?'

But; 'What do you think the main problem is, that is causing him to lack in pace? And do you see him being able to fix it, at the age that he is?'

Regards, James

Hi Murray,

We've had some interesting races so far this season and everyone wants to have some wheel to wheel racing and overtaking, especially in the dry.

So my question is, do you think that Formula 1 should drop some of the newer tracks like Bahrain and Turkey and go back to some of the older tracks which produce exciting races, like Imola and Estoril?

With the brilliant calls that Jenson made in Australia and China (where he could have been tempted to try and repeat the move he made in Australia), are we seeing the successor to the great Alain Prost, or is that going to be far?

Murray,

How would you improve the on-track racing in F1?

Hi Murray,
What do you think of rough an obvious negative coverage of Lewis Hamilton’s performance by the commentators covering most races so far. There are times I think I might be looking into things too deeply. The criticism seems to have followed him from one channel to the ´óÏó´«Ã½. This last race in China Lewis had a sterling race from at one lowly position of 16th to finally finish in the position of 2nd. The response from MB was along the lines of with all his aggressiveness and quick laps where has it got him? Doh! 2nd. Lewis's tussle coming into the Pitt lane was met by the comment, on the other hand Alonso and Massa similar tussle was met with some delight.
It was telling something that was commented on by MB that if Lewis was penalised for the incident in the Pitt lane then Vettal would also penalised. Later adding that they would not be penalised, I'm glad both were ticked off.

Lewis 'Fire Up The Mercedes! C'Mon

Hi Murray,

With all the critics sharpening their knives for Michael Schumacher's comeback.

Do you think Schumacher will improve in the European races where he has been strong in the past e.g. Monaco, Catalunya and Monza?

Thanks for the oppurtunity once again and look forward to hearing from you.

Dave