Formula 1 TV coverage; can it be improved?

[Rikhart]

Agree with many points, and will add another: There seems to be a very frequent lack of awareness of important events unfolding. I remember these being highlighted and replayed extremely fast, now sometimes you wont see critical things until 10 laps later.

[Rikhart]

The gyro cam sucks. Its only saving grace is high FOV. But what is all the fake tilting about?

All they need to do is slightly increase the FOV of the T cam and shoulder cam (and yes stop zooming in the trackside cameras so much)

Agree 1000%. Preferably scrap the shoulder cam because 80% of the time it's almost completely blocked by halo anyway.

The new "gyro" cam is a bunch of crap. It's not a real gyro cam anyway, they only used the real gyro from motogp for a couple of trials and then got rid of it in favour of this abomination we have now. Apparently the real one couldn't cope with how violent f1 cars are, which is understandable, but instead of working on a solution they decided on just faking the whole thing. It's especially egregious on tracks which are known to be perfectly flat, yet the new "gyro" cam is tilting like it's completely drunk.

Helmet cam should be used sporadically as a gimmick, but they insist on using it half the time, just to make people vomit.

It's annoying becasue the 'shoulder cam' was in my opinion one of the better representations of the driver's view pre-halo:

Completely agree on the gyro cam and helmet cam. The gyro cam, on top of being unrealisitic and gimmicky, also made me feel motion sick when they had it on Norris'(?) car in Zandvoort.

Absolutely agree with the shoulder camera, they were amazing.

[CADjocky]

Watching the Mexico GP the cameras were almost always focused in so closely only half the car was visible, then the cars were held full frame as they accelerated away removing visual references of speed. The awesome cornering speed of these cars, which has to be seen in person to be believed, is hidden as all we see is a constant full size car. The constant switching of views destroys any continuity of the car on the circuit, and the very close up shots of Toto et al right in the middle of action just seems a waste.

I completely agree with OP about how the cameras are zoomed in too close so any sense of speed is lost. Speed is relative. Not seeing the car relative to the track is an unknowing Director's choice.

I often find myself thinking the camera shots Sky get when Brundle is standing at a corner shows the amazing speed of the cars better than the proper track cameras.

Props to them bring back the rear facing camera in the last few races though. It works great when there's close racing.

I would also add that in qualifying the on screen graphics highlighting the 'Drive at Risk' confuses me every time. All i want to know is who's currently out. F1 can learn a lot from MotoGP IMO. Their on screen graphics are so well used.

[TeamKoolGreen]

Look at this fan capture of Albert park corners 11 and 12. You can feel the speed and car control of drivers. We never see shots like this on F1 coverage.

This was an accredited photographer capture but yeah.

[Sieper]

I wasn’t to be able to stream in 4k. It really helps to see all the detail the spectacle of F1 has to offer.

[chrisc90]

I wasn’t to be able to stream in 4k. It really helps to see all the detail the spectacle of F1 has to offer.

Yeah, better quality would be much better. It’s nearly 2025. 4k is practically the norm now for viewing/streaming

[Sieper]

Watching the Mexico GP the cameras were almost always focused in so closely only half the car was visible, then the cars were held full frame as they accelerated away removing visual references of speed. The awesome cornering speed of these cars, which has to be seen in person to be believed, is hidden as all we see is a constant full size car. The constant switching of views destroys any continuity of the car on the circuit, and the very close up shots of Toto et al right in the middle of action just seems a waste.

I completely agree with OP about how the cameras are zoomed in too close so any sense of speed is lost. Speed is relative. Not seeing the car relative to the track is an unknowing Director's choice.

I often find myself thinking the camera shots Sky get when Brundle is standing at a corner shows the amazing speed of the cars better than the proper track cameras.

Props to them bring back the rear facing camera in the last few races though. It works great when there's close racing.

I would also add that in qualifying the on screen graphics highlighting the 'Drive at Risk' confuses me every time. All i want to know is who's currently out. F1 can learn a lot from MotoGP IMO. Their on screen graphics are so well used.

You can often see shots of the start of a race from spectators at the grandstands. Amazing to see the horde buzzing away just like wild hornets. It indeed would be cool if the also would do shots from non-swinging camera’s.

[JordanMugen]

Getting rid of the silly driver name overlays that follow the cars and the virtual trackside advertising would be lovely!

The former will (and already do) look very dated in time IMHO.

[PapayaFan481]

Getting rid of the silly driver name overlays that follow the cars and the virtual trackside advertising would be lovely!

The former will (and already do) look very dated in time IMHO.

Agreed!!! Plus the pointless graphic showing the distance between the that they sometimes use.

This is actual real life F1, not a computer game!!

[Sieper]

Agreed, it is stupid and especially when they add that “box” around the car it really messes with you viewing the action.

[organic]

The removal of Hill from the world feed is a step in the right direction

[kptaylor]

Well, Buxton and Hinchliff to Indy Car may be a start to improving coverage. Who would you like as replacements?

[Hoffman900]

Well, Buxton and Hinchliff to Indy Car may be a start to improving coverage. Who would you like as replacements?

I honestly thought they were the two most palettable on F1tv.

DC is good, but Joylon is a windbag, and Sam is trying to sound smarter about stuff than he is.

[90feet]

Agree with many points, and will add another: There seems to be a very frequent lack of awareness of important events unfolding. I remember these being highlighted and replayed extremely fast, now sometimes you wont see critical things until 10 laps later.

I feel like I'm constantly noticing things happening on track that the commentators aren't, just by paying attention to the driver order and the time gaps. Like I'll see a 10 second gap become 2 seconds and it'll take ages for them to show what happened.

[Bomber_Pilot]