Sky Sports F1’s weekend output: The 2012 Verdict

Following on my part looking at BBC F1’s weekend output last week, it is time for the ‘2012 Verdict’ series to move on to look at Sky Sports F1’s output from this past season as the broadcaster embarked on its first season covering Formula 1. Thankfully, last week’s announcements do not affect this particular blog post significantly, although I will reference it from time to time if necessary.

Press Conferences
Sky’s coverage of a race weekend begins with covering the Thursday and Friday press conferences – the Thursday press conference featuring answers from six drivers’ chosen by the FIA, whilst the Friday press conference features answers from six team members’, again chosen by the FIA. The footage is purely from the Formula One Management (FOM) World Feed.

A nice addition to the race weekend and can be a bit hit or miss depending on the weekend and depending on the drivers’ chosen, but it is worth watching as the drivers’ do lighten up some of the time and crack a joke. Anything is better than ‘Your Home of Formula One’ on a rolling loop, and given that the Thursday and Friday press conferences were not readily available before 2012, this is a small, but worthwhile addition to the race weekend.

Practice
The first Formula 1 action takes place on Friday with practice, all of which is covered by Sky, albeit the practice is interrupted by commercials. Thankfully there are not too many commercials though, and even so, I do not believe it is particularly valid to complain about practice because the viewer has the option to access Sky Race Control (onboard or pit lane feeds at the push of the Red Button) so the commercials are a good opportunity to press red for a few minutes. One thing that I will say on that subject though is that the constant ‘going off air 7 minutes’ early is particularly irritating, especially after practice three on Saturday mornings, a dedicated channel should not be going off air three minutes after a session has ended.

The commentary itself is mostly fine with David Croft and Anthony Davidson, but as I alluded to in the mid-season verdict and in my earlier posts, I do feel too much emphasis is put on the track action here when in fact the emphasis should be getting viewers’ opinions and thoughts in from Twitter like back when the two commentated with BBC Radio 5 Live. Personally for me it is more about the viewer debate as you do not learn the practice stories until later (why X struggled, why Y was fast) so it is worthwhile to ask for people’s questions during the session.

Before and after the session you tend to have Simon Lazenby alongside Johnny Herbert and Martin Brundle. Not much is discussed before the session apart from your usual talking points, although it is difficult to with only seven minutes air-time before commercials and the FOM sting. Back in 2002, F1 Digital+ had more of a relaxed studio based discussion on Friday’s before and after practice and this is something I think Sky should attempt on Friday’s at the circuit. Being down in the pit-lane on Friday does not really serve any purpose as there is no atmosphere, the crowds are sparce and the sun is only just rising. You can have a vibrant studio that comes across well on screen as Sky proved with their fantastic studio and Sky Pad set-up during the Ryder Cup which was on-location.

Also, as I said in my Sky individual team piece, I think Brundle’s role needs to be re-evaluated during practice as well as Sky constantly cutting away from the FOM World Feed, both need to cut down significantly for 2013. If you are going to use Brundle in 2013, then he needs to be used effectively (such as sending him to the fast chicane during FP2 at Melbourne with a pair of binoculars for example to see which cars look more stable and giving his instant live thoughts to a camera). Seeing him interview someone during practice does not do much for me, especially when that interview could be conducted before the session or after the session.

The F1 Show
For the purpose of this piece, I will only focus on The F1 Show during the race weekends. During the race weekends, The F1 Show is normally presented on location with both Georgie Thompson and Ted Kravitz, although ocassionally Thompson has been back in London in the F1 studio. The magazine show normally goes to air two and a half hours after practice, the programme rounding up the Friday action as well as presenting one of two features in the hour long show.

As I have re-iterated before, The F1 Show remains the best part of the Sky Sports F1 weekend. As a duo, Kravitz and Thompson are a fantastic presenting team alongside Johnny Herbert for the show. It is unfortunate therefore that The F1 Show has the unfortunate honour of being the lowest rated output across the race weekend this season that Sky Sports produce, it is an honour that it should not have, or deserve to have in my opinion. I personally would like to see an extra 30-minute F1 Show added on Saturday evenings with Kravitz and (or as an addition) Thompson presenting the show as they wrap up Saturday’s action and talk about any penalty decisions. I always found it a bizarre situation where Sky Sports News were talking about a penalty live (Spain and Abu Dhabi) but Sky Sports F1 was in repeat mode. The show would incorporate Kravitz’s Notebook as well as go in-depth with each team’s Qualifying performance. At the Monaco and British Grand Prix’s, Sky added a Thursday show. I don’t think this is always necessary as all that you can do in these shows is regurgitate pre-race interview material, whereas there is more potential for a Saturday show in my opinion.

Unlike above, where I suggest a studio for practice, I think The F1 Show should remain a paddock based show as there the paddock and pitlane is actually quite busy during the evenings while the show is on air with mechanics repairing cars from Friday practice as the sun goes down for the day. Unfortunately, the poor ratings make it seem unlikely that The F1 Show will be extended beyond a one-hour Friday show for next year, although it is good news to see that it has been recommissioned for 2013 with Thompson presenting, no mention of whether Kravitz will be presenting as well but I suspect he will be.

Support races
As well as Formula 1, Sky Sports F1 has also broadcast the GP2 and GP3 Series this season, focussing on the future Formula 1 hot prospects such as James Calado and Davide Valsecchi. The channel aired every GP2 session alongside the GP3 Qualifying and Race sessions. Sky chose to take the FOM World Feed footage in its entirety, with commentary from Will Buxton and Jerome d’Ambrosio. As of writing, it is not known if Buxton will return to his support race duties for 2013. I duly hope he does though as he is clearly enthusiastic about the feeder series’ which always helps during commentary. Buxton is also outspoken during commentary, something that is rare nowadays (as to not upset anyone higher up) which is great to see. A particularly funny moment this year was seeing Buxton and d’Ambrosio taking a Q&A session live on air during the red flag delay in Belgium.

I’m not particularly fussed as to whom is alongside Buxton, whilst d’Ambrosio is a competent commentator, he is not a major loss if he does not return for 2013, the main thing for me is that Buxton is back in the commentary box for 2013. One thing I am wondering is whether Sky will increase its commitment to the series. Yes, they broadcast every session of both series’ (bar GP3 Practice, but that is as dedicated as you will get, and I believe no commentary is provided for that), but outside of that there is little support series coverage. The only mention it got on Sky Sports News concerned the horrifying crash of Conor Daly’s from the GP3 race in Monaco, whilst it got little coverage outside of that on the Sky F1 channel. My hope for 2013 is that Sky Sports add some presentation and colour to it outside of the World Feed and promote it a lot more, after all this is the future of Formula 1 yet it is treated somewhat shabby at the moment. It does not need to be much, 10 minutes before a race and after a race to introduce us to the faces that exist behind the helmets and to persuade more viewers to watch, like The F1 Show above, the feeder series’ have not drawn many viewers on Sky. ITV4 had on-site presentation in 2008, hopefully Sky Sports F1 can have on-site presentation five years later.

Pre-Session
Moving onto Saturday and Sunday, Sky this past season have provided one hour of build-up for each Qualifying session with 90-minutes build-up for each race. Post-Qualifying tends to have about 30 minutes, with the post-race having about 1 hour, 45 minutes of debrief. The Qualifying programmes I thought were mostly fine this season, but one of my main concerns for both of the pre-shows is the pacing. For me, and this is partially due to the commercials, it seems chop and change quickly going from one topic to another without any flow. It is one thing the BBC have done fantastically in the build-up to integrate everything together whereas in my opinion Sky have not done that yet.

Looking at their 2013 sponsorship document, it was stated that three commercials would remain in the race build-up. I think it is worth them having a break directly before the 5-minute sting as in terms of what is covered in those 3 minutes is ‘dead air-time’ and just wrapping things up before the race itself. The benefit also of taking a break here is that it means one less break during the actual build-up which would help the flow significantly in my opinion. Unfortunately though, the sponsorship document states “3 breaks in the build-up, with the last break running no later than 30/60 minutes before the race starts.” meaning you have more breaks constrained to less air-time. From an advertisers perspective, I would have thought having a break 10 minutes before the start would be more valuable as there are more viewers available, but Sky may argue there is a much higher chance of viewers turning over at the particular junction. Although I was not a fan of ITV’s breaks, the break before the start was definitely the most useful!

In terms of the VT features, I have enjoyed the majority of them on Sky, in particular the Nigel Roebuck segments have definitely been the highlight for me. Seeing Jacques Villeneuve driving his Dad’s Ferrari at Maranello was also a highlight as was the Racing Lines segments. One thing I will say about VT’s is that, whilst some VT’s have been fantastic, for a 90 minute show, some that have been produced are too short and not delivered. For a 90 minute build-up, time should not be a pressing factor. I would happily have a longer feature if it meant less of the scenario shots and slow motion montage shots of drivers’ walking through the paddock, the latter has been a particular bugbear of mine as the season has progressed. Okay, slow motion can be good (especially during races) but it is as if someone at Sky has took slow motion as being flavour of the day to the extreme.

On a final note, and this applies for the Post-Race section, I think that Lazenby’s role should be reduced for 2013 and the duties shared more with Thompson as Lazenby is presenting too much which is a detriment to the coverage. Of course, Lazenby should improve for 2013, but the presenting burden should be spread more thinly with Thompson.

Post-Race
The post-race length is similar of that to BBC, but despite being a dedicated channel seems more ‘stricter’ with the length and as thus does not feel as relaxed as BBC. There are definitely stronger areas in the post-race compared to the BBC, for example Ted’s Notebook again is a highlight as Kravitz wanders up and down the pit-lane focussing on each and every team which is always nice to see. Another strength of the post-race is the Sky Pad which allows Davidson and Thompson to focus on the key incidents. This was particularly evident at the Belgian and Japanese Grand Prix’s where their virtual camera allowed them to pinpoint the exact moment where contact was made. I know some are critical of the Sky Pad, but in these incidents the Sky Pad really comes into its element and ‘its own’.

I think by the end of the season Sky had definitely got much better at the post-race section of their coverage, unlike everything else, the post-race is impossible to rehearse as you have no idea what is going to happen. At the start of the season it seemed in a bit of no mans land, but has definitely come on leaps and bounds since.

Looking ahead to 2013, if I was working at Sky, this would be my preferred weekend schedule for European races:

Friday
08:30 – Live from the Circuit
– 08:30 to 08:33 – Adverts
– 08:33 to 08:52 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 08:52 to 08:55 – Adverts
– 08:55 to 10:35 – F1 Practice 1
– 10:35 to 10:38 – Adverts
– 10:38 to 10:52 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 10:52 to 10:55 – Adverts
– 10:55 to 11:35 – GP2 Practice
– 11:35 to 11:38 – Adverts
– 11:38 to 11:42 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 11:42 – Off-Air
11:45 – Classic F1
– gives viewers a reason to stick with Sky Sports F1 during the break instead of sticking on another Fast Track repeat
12:45 – Live from the Circuit
– 12:45 to 12:48 – Adverts
– 12:48 to 12:55 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 12:55 to 14:35 – F1 Practice 2
– 14:35 to 14:38 – Adverts
– 14:38 to 14:52 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 14:52 to 14:55 – Adverts
– 14:55 to 15:35 – GP2 Qualifying
– 15:35 to 15:38 – Adverts
– 15:38 to 15:45 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 15:45 to 16:30 – Team Principles Press Conference
– 16:30 to 16:42 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 16:42 – Off-Air
16:45 to 17:45 – The F1 Show
– live from the paddock with Ted Kravitz, Georgie Thompson and Johnny Herbert

The purpose of ‘Studio Chat and Discussion’ segments is so Formula 1 personalities can drop into the studio whether it is past, present or future to discuss all matters F1 and so viewers can tweet or e-mail questions into the studio. The studio would be an ‘extension’ of the Sky Pad studio akin to the Ryder Cup as noted above.

Saturday
08:30 – Live from the Circuit
– 08:30 to 08:33 – Adverts
– 08:33 to 08:40 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 08:40 to 09:20 – GP3 Qualifying
– 09:20 to 09:23 – Adverts
– 09:23 to 09:35 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 09:35 to 09:38 – Adverts
– 09:38 to 09:52 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 09:52 to 09:55 – Adverts
– 09:55 to 11:05 – F1 Practice 3
– 11:05 to 11:12 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 11:12 – Off-Air
11:15 – Classic F1
– gives viewers a reason to stick with Sky Sports F1 during the break instead of sticking on another Fast Track repeat
12:15 – Live from the Circuit
– 12:15 to 12:18 – Adverts
– 12:18 to 12:30 – Paddock Chat with Simon Lazenby
– 12:30 to 12:38 – Studio Chat and Sky Pad
– 12:38 to 12:41 – Adverts
– 12:41 to 12:52 – Paddock Chat with Simon Lazenby
– 12:52 to 12:55 – Adverts
– 12:55 to 14:05 – Qualifying
– 14:05 to 14:10 – Press Conference
– 14:10 to 14:13 – Adverts
– 14:13 to 14:20 – Studio Chat and Sky Pad
– 14:20 to 14:27 – Paddock Chat with Simon Lazenby
– 14:27 to 14:32 – Gridwalk
– 14:32 to 14:35 – Adverts
– 14:35 to 15:50 – GP2 Series
– 15:50 to 15:03 – Adverts
– 15:53 to 16:00 – Paddock Chat with GP2 interviews
– 16:00 to 16:03 – Adverts
– 16:03 to 16:12 – Paddock Chat and Gridwalk
– 16:12 to 16:15 – Adverts
– 16:15 to 17:10 – GP3 Series
– 17:10 – off-air
17:15 – The F1 Show
– featuring Ted’s Qualifying Notebook and interviews not featured earlier. Length variable depending on what was and what was not covered.

Sunday
08:15 – Live from the Circuit
– 08:15 to 08:18 – Adverts
– 08:18 to 08:25 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 08:25 to 09:05 – GP3 Series
– 09:05 to 09:08 – Adverts
– 09:08 to 09:17 – Paddock Chat (GP3 and any F1 news)
– 09:17 to 09:22 – Gridwalk
– 09:22 to 09:25 – Adverts
– 09:25 to 10:35 – GP2 Series
– 10:35 to 10:42 – Studio Chat and Discussion
– 10:42 – off-air
10:45 – Classic F1
– gives viewers a reason to stick with Sky Sports F1 during the break instead of sticking on another Fast Track repeat
11:45 – Live from the Circuit
– normal build-up and post-race as now

Although I have done the above, the reason why the above will never happen is because Sky are too focussed on what the BBC are doing and not much on themselves. It is a channel, therefore it should look and feel like a channel. The above, in my opinion, does that instead of being like a string separated into separate pieces. Sky feel that their Qualifying and Race programme should be longer than BBC. Not really, it should be about bringing content to the F1 fan irrespective of what time of day it may be during the race weekend. There is too much emphasis on being like the BBC and having the content in one or two places when in reality it should be spread across the race weekend. Think of it like a piece of bread, instead of putting all the butter on one corner of the piece (Qualifying and Race build-up), it should be spread more thinly across the bread.

Coming up next will be the Sky mid-week verdict followed up by the ratings verdict. As always your thoughts and comments are welcome!

BBC F1’s output: The 2012 Verdict

The first three parts of my ‘2012 Verdict’ series looking at all things UK F1 Broadcasting focussed on the BBC and Sky teams and how they could be improved for 2013. Parts four, five and six will move onto focussing on the individual programming that each broadcaster puts out, starting with the BBC in this part.

Practice
BBC’s Formula 1 coverage starts on a Friday morning, with coverage of practice. For the live race weekends, practice is live behind the BBC Red Button service with commentary from the BBC Radio 5 Live team. For the highlight races, the coverage is on 5 Live only – minus the pictures. Coverage begins five minutes before the session, and finishes five minutes after the session, with footage fully from the Formula One Management (FOM) World Feed.

Despite this, the coverage that is provided is fantastic with James Allen, Jaime Alguersuari, Jennie Gow and Gary Anderson taking us through the action and inviting viewer discussion throughout via Twitter and e-mail. The format, which has been the same since 2009 when BBC won the rights from ITV, has largely worked.

With the reduction of BBC Red Button streams from five to one, however, one wonders how, if at all, this will affect BBC’s practice coverage. At this stage, it is impossible to know as BBC have not yet announced which races they will be covering live. But if there is a sport clash, then practice may draw the short straw and be restricted to online only. On the other hand, is there a possibility of some practice sessions being live on BBC Two? The Delivering Quality First changes (DQF) means that BBC Two’s daytime schedule will be radically overhauled, and CBBC being axed from BBC One and BBC Two. I don’t think practice being on BBC Two is very likely, but is definitely worth noting, in my opinion.

Inside F1
Introduced in 2009, Inside F1 for its first few years was largely presented in the BBC News’ studio, but since 2011 has been presented track side, in 2011 by Amanda Davies and 2012 by Lee McKenzie. Broadcast on the BBC News Channel, the programme rounds up the Friday action and features an interview or two.

There is not much to say here, except it feels completely out of place on BBC News. I’m not sure where else it could go there, maybe BBC Two at 19:00 as a result of the DQF changes, or BBC Three at 19:00 to appeal to a younger audience, but either way it being on BBC News feels out of place, but that’s just me. I think as a programme the format works, for those that just want a quick round-up of practice, and should be kept.

Pre-Session
The pre-qualifying and pre-race programmes are normally an hour in length with Jake Humphrey, David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan discussing and analysing key points, interspersed with VT’s. For me though, looking ahead to 2013, this could end up being the biggest drop down in terms of quality.

This year, and in previous years, we have seen some fantastic features with the three of them such as the Silverstone Wing Walking or camping in the middle of the Spa Francorchamps. The features worked and were widely praised. Yes, they were crazy and a bit bonkers, but that is why people loved them! My point us that all three people, Humphrey, Coulthard and Jordan were willing to do that. The dynamic between the three elsewhere in the build-up became top notch fast with little room for improvement. It is the area where it could all go wrong in 2013, depending on who the front man or woman could be. People choose BBC over Sky because of the build-up, and if the new presenter does not gel well, then that could turn the tide into Sky’s favour.

The quality of the VT’s should remain top notch as it has done so consistently since 2009, but as always it is the presenter who holds the show together, who keeps the viewers engaged and not many people can do that as well as Humphrey. It will be interesting to see how much the live build-ups change for 2013 with a new dynamic. Elsewhere, the new live grid walk with Coulthard has been a success, who has filled Martin Brundle’s role nicely in grabbing the right people at the right time. The highlights programmes should not change too much compared to this year as it is a quick intro, grid walk and into the race.

Post-Session
Post-qualifying and post-race coverage on the BBC largely remained the same for 2012. The main feature of the post-race coverage is the F1 Forum, which follows the main BBC One broadcast. For me, this was a huge advancement on ITV’s F1 coverage which had the tendency to rush off air wherever possible. The amount of time BBC dedicated to Formula 1 after the race had finished was more than any broadcaster previously. The format of the F1 Forum has changed slightly since 2009, instead of being based in a team motor home as they were in 2009 and 2010, in 2011, the team instead choosing to wander around the paddock to see who they could find. I think both formats have their positives and negatives, the motor home style allows for a more analytical style with more debate, whilst the wander around style allows them to pick up anyone they find along the way and see the team photos at the end of each race.

Whilst the F1 Forum has been there for live races, its absence from highlights races has been extremely disappointing. Yes, whilst there may be twenty minutes on BBC One after the highlights races, the F1 Forum allows for a more relaxed style and to discuss things that they may not have had time to discuss on the BBC One show. It says a lot when one of the best half an hour segments of the weekend was the recorded Bahrain Grand Prix forum. The joy of the forum is that it helps nicely wind down the weekend, and that video was for me one of the best pieces all season with the BBC wrapping up the action. I do hope the F1 Forum appears on the website for all the highlights races next year, even if it just a 20 minute cut.

Other programming
Outside of the race weekend, all of BBC’s output happens online and on the Red Button with blogs from Andrew Benson and Gary Anderson. Also, the Classic F1 series has continued for several races on the Red Button, with extended highlights from several rounds including Belgium and Italy, reaffirming BBC’s commitment to covering the past in Formula 1 as well as the present.

On the whole, BBC’s output is top notch. But like any production, as always there are areas where improvements could be made. Part four will look at Sky Sports F1’s weekend output, and as always, your thoughts are welcome.

The Sky Sports F1 Team: The 2012 Verdict

Note: I have completed this piece while feeling ill, so I apologise in advance if it is not up to my usual standard. Some portions towards the end I have cut/pasted in from the August Sky verdict, with small amendments.

Following on from my piece looking at the BBC F1 team, it is time to turn our attention to how the Sky Sports F1 team have performed this season. This, part three of the ‘2012 Verdict’ series will be followed by a look at the respective programming that BBC Sport and Sky Sports put out with the final part looking at the television ratings from this past season.

As with the BBC F1 team review, I will look at each person individually and give my prediction ahead of 2013. Sky Sports had a lot of pundits this season, and it is impossible to review every single one of them, so for the purposes of this review I shall only look at the main pundits that have appeared at several rounds although I will have a section at the end to look at other pundits.

Allan McNish
Having raced in Formula 1 in 2002 as part of the Toyota team, and having competed in endurance racing, McNish is well placed to give his thoughts on motor sport. McNish first appeared with the Sky Sports team at the Monaco Grand Prix. It was not his first appearance though as previously UK viewers would have seen him briefly as part of the ITV F1 team back in 2003 when he was Renault test driver.

McNish is one of those people who puts his thoughts across eloquently and in detail, and is good to listen to in practice commentary when substituting for Anthony Davidson. As well as practice commentary, he is more often than not alongside Johnny Herbert for The F1 Show and during pre
and post-race coverage, again worth listening too. Whilst he will not appear at every race due to his endurance racing commitments, my 2013 prediction = McNish to stay with the Sky Sports F1 team

Anthony Davidson
Like McNish, who did not have a successful Formula 1 career, Davidson found more success in endurance racing. After rides at Minardi and BAR/Honda replacing Alex Yoong and Takuma Sato, Davidson was a part of the Super Aguri team from 2007 until its demise in 2008.

From 2009, Davidson was alongside David Croft in the 5 Live commentary box, in a commentary line-up that was very well received. Davidson remained in that role until the end of 2011, when he joined Sky Sports F1. His commitments were briefly disrupted thanks to his horrifying crash at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which could have resulted in significantly worser injuries. As part of the Sky team, he continued the practice commentary role, Davidson joined Georgie Thompson on the Sky Pad for Saturday and Sunday of the weekend coverage, in a segment that usually works well when they analyse the key incidents in great detail.

Some wonder why Davidson is not there on his own and Thompson elsewhere. In my opinion, the answer is that Davidson is not a natural broadcaster, so whilst he may be able to describe a particular incident very well, he may not be able to lead an entire segment, hence why Thompson is there to help guide the segment and bring a steady ship on-board. I personally don’t have an issue with their being two people there, arguably it works better with two people than one. 2013 prediction = Davidson to stay with the Sky Sports F1 team

Damon Hill
The only Formula 1 World Champion on either the BBC or Sky teams, Hill was crowned Drivers’ Champion in 1996, fending off competition from Williams’ team-mate Jacques Villeneuve. Along with stints at Arrows and Jordan, Hill retired at the end of the 1999 season. Since then, Hill has done sporadic commentary roles with ITV F1 – specifically various Hungarian Grand Prix’s.

It was not until this year though that Hill returned permanently to a Formula 1 role, becoming pundit for Sky Sports F1. Whilst Gary Anderson won the most improved member award for the BBC team, I think it is fair to say that Hill deserves this award for the Sky Sports team. At the start of the year, after the Australian Grand Prix, the duo of Hill and Simon Lazenby grated. A lot But thanks to the introduction of Johnny Herbert in China, Hill has come on leaps and bounds and seems significantly more comfortable in his role.

I think the issue here was that Hill had not been in a broadcasting role similar to that previously. Formula 1 is one of the few sports where you can’t rehearse a build-up months before because it is ‘out in the wild’, none of it is studio based, unlike say a football match where the build-up is in a studio. In any case, Hill definitely is much better in his role compared to the start of the season, and it will be good to see him hit the ground running in 2013. 2013 prediction = Hill to stay with the Sky Sports F1 team

David Croft
Starting in 2006, Croft became a familiar voice to Formula 1 fans in the United Kingdom, becoming a part of the BBC Radio 5 Live team, initially alongside Holly Samos and Maurice Hamilton. Croft became more recognisable, though, from 2009 when BBC won the television rights. As part of the deal, practice was to be broadcast on BBC’s Red Button service, with TV taking the 5 Live commentary of Croft alongside Anthony Davidson.

For many people, Croft’s and Davidson’s chatty nature suited practice as the two discussed all things Formula 1, inviting viewers’ opinions on Twitter along the way. One year ago, it was announced that Croft would become part of the Sky Sports team, commentating alongside Davidson for practice and alongside Martin Brundle for qualifying and the race. Whilst the commentary on the whole is very, very good, I feel like Croft and Brundle are not quite as good as Ben Edwards and David Coulthard and the practice commentary appears to have taken a significant step backwards compared with the 5 Live F1 days when interactivity was the main drawing point (admittedly though, this is not Croft’s fault, but worth mentioning here).

Similar applies for the race commentary, the mentions of ‘Sky Sports F1 HD’ and ‘Sky Race Control’ are unnecessary and are a detriment to the overall product. The commentary is made worse for it. I don’t think Croft is necessarily a bad commentator, in fact it is quite the opposite, it is just that those higher up in the Sky Sports chain are dragging his commentary down by getting him to ‘PR’ many times within commentary. 2013 prediction = Croft to stay with the Sky Sports F1 team

Georgie Thompson
Having been with the Sky Sports News team for over ten years, Thompson left the team at the end of last year, joining Sky Sports F1 as presenter for The F1 Show. There was criticism at the time for Sky’s decision, however, she does have motor racing experience before, notably presenting some of their A1 Grand Prix coverage. Plus, with over ten years of presenting experience, Thompson is a safe pair of hands on board.

For me, Thompson, alongside Ted Kravitz on The F1 Show have done a great job as presenters, with instant rapport between the pair. If anything, she needs to be used more during the race weekend coverage as the only part she plays on Saturday and Sunday is on the Sky Pad with Davidson and presenting FP3 – although the latter is significantly rushed thanks to time constraints. It would be nice to see her, and possibly Davidson or Herbert presenting support race coverage in 2013. 2013 prediction = Thompson to stay with the Sky Sports F1 team

Johnny Herbert
With a long racing career spanning stints at Lotus, Benetton, Stewart and Jaguar, Herbert is very well placed to comment on all things Formula 1 thanks to his extensive career. Herbert did not initially appear with the Sky Sports team at the start of their coverage, instead making his first appearance at the Chinese Grand Prix. From the beginning, Herbert was very comfortable in front of the camera, which in turn made the rest of the product seem better, as noted earlier with Hill.

I think, in hindsight, Herbert should have been with Sky since the start with Hill being brought in later, but on the other hand, Sky probably wanted a world champion to boost their line-up instantly from the get-go, which Hill offers. The introduction of Herbert also helped loosen up what was a slightly wooden presentation for the first two rounds, which helped things considerably – as a wooden presentation can bore the viewer and switch them off. 2013 prediction = Herbert to stay with the Sky Sports F1 team

Natalie Pinkham
More of an entertainment reporter than motor racing reporter with her duties for various Channel 5 programming including The Wright Stuff, Pinkham moved onto the Formula 1 scene in 2011. Pinkham replaced Holly Samos as BBC Radio 5 Live reporter, Samos moving to pastures new. Pinkham has the role of interviewing drivers’, and occasionally smiling on camera whenever necessary. There’s honestly not much to say here, apart from improve the line of questioning. Or is there?

Pinkham was not with Sky Sports F1 back in Germany as she was getting married. In steps Rachel Brookes. If you haven’t seen how Sky Sports News are covering Formula 1, then you’re probably thinking “who”? Brookes during 2012 on Sky Sports News has been vastly underlooked by many, so I was extremely glad to see she got a chance to shine in Germany. Brookes appears, to me, to have a better understanding of the sport than Pinkham, despite only being apart of it since the start of the year, and asks the right questions where necessary, unlike Pinkham who appears to ‘rinse and
repeat’ the questions. If I had a choice between Brookes and Pinkham for the pit-lane reporters role, I’m afraid I would go with Brookes nine times out of the ten. I really don’t see them making any changes here for 2013, but it is just an observation worth making. 2013 prediction = Pinkham to stay with the Sky Sports F1 team

Martin Brundle
From Formula 1 driver to Formula 1 commentary, Brundle is now a firm fixture with Formula 1 viewers around the world thanks to his commentary spanning fifteen years. Brundle drove for Benetton, Ligier and Jordan, before hanging up his Formula 1 boots at the end of 1996. Thankfully, ITV called and Brundle found himself alongside Murray Walker in the commentary box from 1997 to 2001. Brundle remained with ITV until the end of 2008, joining BBC for 2009 and then again moving to Sky Sports for the beginning of 2012, thanks to the draw of the new channel.

But when is too much, too much? Now, I love Brundle’s contribution. On BBC, he was commentator for qualifying and race whilst participating in most post-race F1 Forum’s. Sky have upped that. Brundle can be seen before and the majority of practice, qualifying and race sessions as well as commentating on the qualifying and race sessions themselves. In my opinion, it is overkill. Were they hoping Brundle’s presence all around would draw viewers? Quite possibly, after all Brundle was a very popular figure in the BBC and ITV days, with his famed grid-walk.

I can see Sky’s approach in having Brundle as their lead figure. But I think for 2013 it needs to be re-evaluated otherwise you risk burn out with his opinion being stirred and stirred constantly saying the same things. At the moment, it feels like ‘The Brundle Show’, especially when you cut-away from practice sessions multiple times to see him talking in the pit-lane. I want Brundle to say for a long while yet, but for 2012, I felt it was too much Brundle. 2013 prediction = Brundle to stay with the Sky Sports F1 team

Simon Lazenby
When the Sky F1 team was announced last November, it was no great surprise that Sky chose Simon Lazenby as their presenter. After joining Sky in 1998, Lazenby was Sky’s Rugby presenter for the best part of a decade, before moving over to their Formula 1 team. At this point, you could argue ‘why did Sky choose someone with no motor racing experience’. The answer is quite simple, and that is because they preferably want someone in-house. This is a tendency that all broadcasters have, ITV moved Jim Rosenthal to their Formula 1 coverage when they began broadcasting the sport in 1997, while BBC did similar with Jake Humphrey when they regained the rights for the 2009 season.

You could say, well, why didn’t they choose Jon Desborough or Keith Huewen? Both of them have motor racing presenting experience and work for Sky. Whilst true, neither are high up in the hierarchy on Sky. On the other hand, Lazenby worked on a relatively high profile sport for Sky, and had the advantage that the Sky Rugby executive producer, Martin Turner was heading over to Sky Sports F1 as well. So in that sense, the move was not surprising.

Was it the right move? I’m not sure. As they say the jury is still out on him, although he has received some unfair criticism this season. Will he stay for 2013? As I said last week, yes, as Sky are not in the business of making knee-jerk decisions, and there is no guarantee than Lazenby’s replacement would be better than him. If he still is not gelling in fully by the end of 2013, then it may be time to re-evaluate. So, with that in mind: 2013 prediction = Lazenby to stay with the Sky Sports F1 team

Ted Kravitz
One of the best aspects of the Formula 1 coverage is hearing what the pit lane guys have to say. It always has been, getting into the nitty gritty of it, but also putting it across to the viewer in a language that they understand – without dumbing down. Which is always the fear. Kravitz’s F1 career began in 1997 with ITV behind the scenes. He moved onto pit lane reporter in 2002 when James Allen moved into the commentary box. I was extremely glad when Kravitz moved to BBC in 2009, as I always considered his pit lane tidbits one of the better aspects of ITV’s coverage. With free practice sessions live on the BBC Red Button from 2009 to 2011, Kravitz excelled as we got his tidbits on all three days of the weekend. Furthermore, his video blogs helped us dive into the post-race strategies and gave us a great summary of the majority of the teams’ on the grid.

Kravitz’s role expanded further for 2012 on Sky as he became host of The F1 Show alongside Thompson. As I noted earlier, the two have gelled together brilliantly. Kravitz’s relaxed style makes the show all the better, as well as seeing him poke around old machinery and seeing him explain new inventions on the Sky Pad. One of the explanations so far is with the Mercedes diffuser, which wasn’t dumbed down, but still made the hardcore fan like it. I’m glad Kravitz made the jump, because I would have hated seeing BBC cut his contribution down to shreds in the highlights shows, if anything, Kravitz deserves all the exposure he gets on Sky. Kravitz has also been doing his notebook’s for both Qualifying and the Race, with the Race version being broadcast live on the Sky Sports F1 channel and it very quickly for me became the best bit of the post-race show. I hope that Kravitz is around for many years to come with the Sky team. 2013 prediction = Kravitz to stay with the Sky Sports F1 team

Others
Aside from the regular pundits, a lot of other faces popped up to give their thoughts on the Sky Sports channel throughout the season, notably Jacques Villeneuve in Canada. Having other pundits in addition to regular ones is a positive thing in my opinion as it allows for other viewpoints to be heard throughout the coverage, which is a positive for the channel as a whole. Sometimes the viewpoint even of said guest can get repetitive, especially when they are asked a million times (such as Villeneuve being quizzed about DRS), but at the end of the day it is only one weekend and it is a risk worth taking.

Onto the News team, and for me, Rachel Brookes is the better reporter than Craig Slater, Slater having the tendancy to stutter over his words, but in any case both have done a solid job for year one of Sky F1’s News coverage. On parts three and four, I shall look at BBC’s and Sky’s programming this year and analyse that.

For now though, your comments and thoughts are welcome.

The BBC F1 Team: The 2012 Verdict

After being wiped out last year as a result of the deal with Sky Sports, the BBC F1 production team was left to replace and fill the empty holes that had appeared. Out went Martin Brundle and Ted Kravitz from BBC TV, along with Anthony Davidson, David Croft and Natalie Pinkham from BBC Radio 5 Live. In their place came Ben Edwards and Gary Anderson for TV, whilst James Allen, Jaime Alguersuari and Jennie Gow formed the all-new 5 Live F1 team.

With the season now over, all in all, the BBC did a fantastic job with their recruitments, and in this piece I shall look at each member of the team in detail. As with my August piece, though, I will not be looking at the 5 Live team as I have not listened to them a lot this season, so it would be unfair to write about their team. I did do a brief piece on them here though for those interested.

Ben Edwards
Regular motor sport watches will have recognised Ben Edwards’ voice long before 2012. Edwards made his first Formula 1 commentary appearance at the 1994 Japanese Grand Prix, commentating alongside John Watson for British Eurosport. That race was just the beginning for Edwards as the two formed one of the best motor sport commentary partnerships of all time. Edwards continued his Formula 1 duties until the end of 1996 when Eurosport (and the BBC) lost their Formula 1 rights to ITV. Edwards moved his commentary duties stateside, commentating on CART for Eurosport.

In 2002, Edwards was part of the F1 Digital+ team, again alongside Watson and also alongside Matthew Lorenzo, Damon Hill, Peter Windsor and Perry McCarthy. A great team did not reap rewards, as Bernie Ecclestone closed the channel down at the end of the year. Despite his commentary being well-received, though, ITV or BBC never gave him the lead commentary position. Edwards moved onto A1 Grand Prix, commentating on their world feed alongside Watson until that particular series went bust. Whilst Edwards commentated live on ITV’s British Touring Car Championship programming, it was not until this year that Edwards broke back into Formula 1, joining the BBC as lead commentator.

It was worth the wait. Although Edwards was not alongside Watson this year, his partnership with David Coulthard quickly became a favourite with BBC F1 viewers. The partnership was in sharp contrast to other partnerships in previous years that have not gone so well, as the two gelled well together and called the action enthusiastically and excitedly. Alongside Gary Anderson, the three make the race day commentary worth watching. 2013 prediction = Edwards to stay with the BBC team

David Coulthard
A successful Formula 1 career for Coulthard spanning 15 years and 13 wins concluded in 2008, following spells at Williams, McLaren and Red Bull. A long career left Coulthard well placed for a broadcasting role, so it was no surprise to see BBC sign Coulthard up to restart their coverage from 2009. Coulthard to me seemed like one of those drivers’ that would move onto broadcasting at the end of his racing career due to the way his Formula 1 career ebb and flowed, which leaves him in a better position than those that have just had success to talk about the sport he loves – something I think will also happen to Jenson Button when he retires.

The three man team of Coulthard, Jake Humphrey and Eddie Jordan from 2009 has excelled in the past four years, and the same can be said for this season. Coulthard took on extra responsibility this year, performing the grid walk for BBC’s ten live races, a role he managed successfully, even bumping into Martin Brundle on more than one occasion.

Whilst his commentary with Edwards has also been top-notch, the question must now be asked whether Coulthard will remain with BBC for 2013. As I outlined in my 2013 predictions piece though, I do not see what Coulthard has to gain from moving to Sky Sports. There is an arguable point that he may want to reduce his commitments, but at the age of 41, Coulthard is in his prime, so I really don’t anticipate that happening just yet! In my opinion, Sky don’t offer him anything BBC do, unless he considers the prospect of live TV as appealing as Martin Brundle… it is worth noting that the few articles this morning say Coulthard will indeed remain at BBC for 2013. 2013 prediction = Coulthard to stay with the BBC team

Eddie Jordan
Probably the most charismatic member of the BBC team, Jordan has been with them since the start of 2009 as analyst alongside David Coulthard before and after the races. Jordan, who was well known for being the boss of Jordan Grand Prix through their stay in Formula 1, has appeared at all of the live races this year as well as a few highlights rounds. Although some will interpret this as him winding down his BBC commitments, I think it was the sensible option and probably one Jordan would have preferred. There was no real point of him travelling out to the ten highlights races only to talk for about 5 to 10 minutes in the pre and post-race show.

Despite his air-time reduction, Jordan is still a real asset alongside Coulthard and one to bring along a few scoops with him. The Lewis Hamilton to Mercedes scoop, started by him was dismissed by some on the paddock, including Sky Sports F1, only for the scoop to turn out to be 100 percent accurate. It is the scoops like this that give Jordan credibility, and you can see why BBC will be extremely keen for him to say with them for 2013.

I think with no Jordan as well, the life would be taken out of the live BBC F1 shows as I do not think Jordan would be very easy to replace. 2013 prediction = Jordan to stay with the BBC team

Gary Anderson
Like Jordan above, before his BBC duties, Anderson was most famous as the chief designer of Jordan Grand Prix, Anderson being there for the majority of its lifespan. Since then, Anderson has done TV work mainly for Setanta in Ireland, as well as doing website work for AUTOSPORT.com, amongst various other pieces.

Anderson succeeded Ted Kravitz as BBC’s pit-lane reporter. For the first few races, to be honest, I was sceptical about Anderson’s appointment. I got the impression that he was not gelling well with the remainder of the team on screen and that he was not being utilised properly, this a particular concern for the highlights races where sometimes he was heard very little. As the season has progressed though, Anderson definitely wins the award for most improved member of the team. Anderson, who also played a part in 5 Live’s practice coverage, is heard a lot more during the race day commentary, with Edwards bouncing back to him regularly in races, which has helped integrate him in the team.

In the pre and post-race programming, Anderson gives his technical analysis, and, despite not having the budget as Sky Sports F1’s Sky Pad, Anderson puts the latest developments over to the general audience in a language they understand – without dumming it down too much. As I said during the Summer, this was where he struggled in early races, but has improved massively now. 2013 prediction = Anderson to stay with the BBC team

Jake Humphrey
Advancing through the BBC ranks from CBBC to Fame Academy and onto BBC Sport, Humphrey became BBC F1 presenter in 2009. It was clear from day one that BBC had made the correct decision.

This part of ‘The 2012 Verdict’ will not be long, because as we all know now, Humphrey is moving onto pastures new for 2013, so there is not much for me to say here. I do think, though, that BBC F1 will be worse off without Humphrey. Reading a lot of Twitter comments, and you can tell that Humphrey’s style of presenting has helped open Formula 1 open to a new audience that did not exist before, which should not be forgotten. I do hope, ten or fifteen years down the line we do see Humphrey back in the motor sport circles in some capacity. But for the moment… 2013 confirmed = Humphrey is off to BT Vision

Lee McKenzie
Throughout the 2000’s, McKenzie filled several motor sport broadcasting roles, such as A1 Grand Prix pit-lane reporter and presenting Speed Sunday on ITV1 in 2004. It was in 2009 when McKenzie joined F1, becoming BBC F1 pit-lane reporter alongside Ted Kravitz.

McKenzie has continued that role ever since, stepping in as presenter for the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix and the 2012 Canadian, German and Hungarian Grand Prix’s. With her presenting experience, alongside her good relationship with all the drivers’ thanks to her reporting from 2009 to 2012 makes her the prime candidate for the BBC F1 presenter role. One of the best interviews for me this year was her interview with Lewis Hamilton, which shows her ability to get the best answers out of drivers and acting professionally when doing so. Her interviews with Sebastian Vettel are another stand-out, such as his championship winning interview and when the two presented the first part of the F1 Forum at Silverstone this year.

For me, McKenzie is not only the obvious candidate, but the logical one. Any other decision may make her reconsider her BBC F1 future if the presenter role gets given to a Formula 1 newcomer. 2013 prediction = McKenzie is promoted to the role as BBC F1 presenter

Tom Clarkson
As Clarkson has not been on the BBC programme since Summer, I will not add any more to what I wrote back in August, which you can see below:

“If you are from Australia and are reading this, you will be familiar with Clarkson as he is a regular voice on TEN Sport’s Formula 1 coverage. As Humphrey is back for the remainder of the season as a presenter, I don’t believe that we will see Clarkson again, but as we have seen him several times, I thought I would give him a section here too. My memory of Clarkson though comes from Canada when he was asking questions to a slightly miffed Mark Webber here,Webber either unimpressed or bored with Clarkson’s line of questioning.”

I will end this part with a story that is making the rounds this morning and that is that Suzi Perry is the front-runner to become BBC F1 presenter from 2013. The move, if true, would be a surprising one. As I noted in September, Perry was dropped from BBC’s coverage of MotoGP a few years ago. The fact that she was dropped from the MotoGP coverage makes it seem far-fetched that she would be considered for a higher priority role. To me, the two do not add up. Perry also has been more two wheels than four wheels in the past thanks to her MotoGP commitments. The reason given publicly that she was leaving was because of time commitments, however Formula 1 takes up more time than MotoGP with 20 races.

But, I note from her Twitter than she has said that she “will be back in full flow soon [with presenting]” and she will be back on TV “soon“. So this story appears to have some legs…

The 2013 Predictions

Following on from my ‘Verdict so Far’ series’ in April and August, the series’ makes a return as I look back over the 2012 season from a broadcasting perspective, looking at both the BBC F1 and Sky Sports F1 teams, their programming and the ratings from this past year.

Before formally beginning ‘The 2012 Verdict’, however, I am going to begin with my 2013 predictions. The reason for doing the predictions before posting the series of verdict blogs and not after is because it is likely that announcements will be made before Christmas, so I want to get in my predictions and thoughts before that happens, and then get into the verdict itself.

We already know one change for 2013, that being Jake Humphrey will no longer be BBC F1 presenter. What we do not know yet, though, is who is replacing him. Back in September, I wrote who I thought were the lead contenders’ to be Humphrey’s successor. Since then, Mark Pougatch has also emerged as a contender. Despite that, I stand by the thought that Lee McKenzie is highly likely to succeed Humphrey. To me, it seems like the obvious choice. McKenzie has extremely high rapport with the drivers’, is a likeable character, and would also be a steady person to lead the BBC F1 ship. Going into 2013, McKenzie will have been in the Formula 1 paddock for five years, and I believe the time is right for her to step up to fill the presenter shoes. It would not be surprising, but it would be sensible. It would not be the first time someone has stepped up from the pit-lane to presenter role, after all Ted Kravitz was a pit-lane reporter last year for BBC, and this year has took on extra responsibilities as host of The F1 Show on Sky Sports F1, whilst back in 2002, James Allen moved from pit-lane reporter to succeed Murray Walker as lead commentator on ITV.

If McKenzie does fill the presenter slot, as I expect to happen, the question then will be who is replacing her. Tom Clarkson, having replaced her in the Summer when Humphrey was called up for other sporting events, will be a leading possibility. Aside from Clarkson, I think BBC should be making moves to get Will Buxton on board. Passionate and articulate, Buxton ticks the right boxes should BBC (or Sky) wish to employ him now that his SPEED commitments have finished. One other option is to have Jennie Gow conducting the interviews for both BBC TV and Radio 5 Live, which would save costs for all concerned.

Whilst Gary Anderson and Ben Edwards are expected to remain on board, I remain less convinced about Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard. Jordan reduced his commitments for 2012 by only appearing at the live races and three highlights rounds (Australia, Italy and USA), so it is possible that was the first step towards him leaving the team altogether. Coulthard on the other hand is linked to Sky, due to his friendship with Martin Brundle. I can not see neither leaving, but there again I did not initially anticipate Brundle leaving last year either, the new channel swinging it towards Sky for him. Coulthard at the moment does the grid-walk, punditry and commentary on BBC. Is he likely to advance further up than that on Sky? I don’t see it myself. If anything, it would just add more pundits for the sake of adding more pundits. The only possiblity of him going to Sky is if one of their main faces leaves. If no one on Sky leaves, then adding Coulthard makes no logical sense. If someone on Sky leaves, then yes, that would leave a gap for Coulthard to enter. But who?

I think David Croft possibly. Not leaving Sky, but leaving their Formula 1 team. Sky could always ask him to be a commentator on their Darts coverage, which is inside the realms of possibility, thus opening a gap for Coulthard to partner Brundle in the commentary box. Over on BBC then, John Watsonn would fill Coulthard’s gap to partner Ben Edwards on a full-time basis. I don’t consider this highly likely though. Brundle said at the beginning of the year that in the middle of last year it became apparent that the lead commentator role was not for him, so he would have to persuaded to switch back to that role. One also wonders if it would be wise for Sky to change their line-up after their first year. Would they gain viewers and close the BBC vs Sky viewer ratio by adding Coulthard to the commentary line-up? I don’t know.

Lastly, will Simon Lazenby stay with Sky Sports F1? It would be easy to say “get rid of Lazenby, get rid of [Natalie] Pinkham”. But would it be worth it? Not particularly. Sky are not in the knee-jerk business of moving people about after only one season. Yes, Lazenby in my opinion has not been fantastic, but next year, with a year already on board, he could improve and develop as a Formula 1 presenter. The first half of this year was the ‘bedding in’ phase for the team. There is no guarantee, with anything, that a team will come out of the blocks and be great from the get-go. You do not get ‘three amigos’ of Humphrey, Jordan and Coulthard every day. There will be some teams that take more time to blend on screen than others. That is how broadcasting works. But making a knee-jerk move and replacing X with Y after year one does not do anything. What if Y is even worse than X? Then you are back to square one. For Sky, it is better to have the same faces on board for next year, and if there is still problems or areas to work on at the end of 2013, then change. Martin Turner, the executive producer of Sky Sports F1, moved over from Sky’s Rugby team with Lazenby, so hopefully Turner can get the best out of Lazenby in 2013.

It reminds me a bit of BBC in 2009. Yes, the ‘three amigos’ were fantastic, but Jonathan Legard received severe criticism. Instead of the knee-jerk option of dropping him at the end of 2009, BBC persevered with him in 2010. When it still was not working, they went their separate ways. Similar happened in the ITV days with James Allen, except in that case Allen was kept on until their coverage ended in 2008. The crux of the matter is that it does not do anyone any good to make knee-jerk decisions. Lazenby, for all intents and purposes, should be better next year than this year, but as always time will tell.

On-screen, I expect Sky to remain status quo, but, I think and hope that the balance will be different. One of my concerns was that Lazenby was presenting too much and that Georgie Thompson was doing too little over a race weekend. So hopefully that balance is sorted out now that Sky are heading into year two. I’ll go into more detail regarding that later on. Over on 5 Live, with no Jaime Alguersuari, John Watson looks set to replace him if Coulthard does not leave over on TV, with Allen and Legard probably rotating the lead commentator position. And finally, over on Sky Sports News, Rachel Brookes has already confirmed that she will be at nine races next year, so expect to see Craig Slater at the other races again.

With the above in mind, I anticipate the BBC and Sky teams for 2013 to look like the following:

BBC F1
Presenter – Lee McKenzie
Commentators – Ben Edwards and David Coulthard
Pundit – Eddie Jordan
Pitlane – Gary Anderson and Will Buxton

BBC Radio 5 Live F1
Commentators – James Allen/Jonathan Legard and John Watson
Pitlane – Gary Anderson and Jennie Gow

Sky Sports F1
Presenters – Simon Lazenby and Georgie Thompson
Commentators – David Croft and Martin Brundle
Pundits – Anthony Davidson, Johnny Herbert, Damon Hill and Allan McNish (rotation)
Pitlane – Ted Kravitz and Natalie Pinkham
News – Rachel Brookes and Craig Slater (+ David Garrido as extra)

I should add a disclaimer at the bottom saying that I don’t have any inside knowledge as to who is going where, so all the thoughts above are my own. As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome.