Effing and Blinding

Poor old Giancarlo Fisichella! Not only does he have to suffer with a down on power engine, in both qualifying and the race, but he also has to apologize for his reaction. With the current fashion of broadcasting radio conversations between pit and driver, Fisi was caught telling his engineer that the car was a piece of f****** s***.

Now, I think that's a reasonable reaction. Would I want a driver that says "Oh, the engine is broken, but never mind I quite fancied stopping early"? No, you need a driver with passion (and Fisi is Italian after all) one that really wants to win. Surely the problem lies with the broadcasters. And how do they know when to switch on the coverage anyway? And why does it always appear to be Renault? The issue is much larger than whether Fisi should apologise to the children that heard him swearing. It's about F1 getting the TV show sorted.

We've seen many times that the commercial rights holder makes an obscene amount of money from the sport. Is it unreasonable to ask him to come up with a 21st century television package, including time delayed comments from the teams? It may just be the Austrian coverage that I get, but the commentator seems to have no warning that the radio link is about to be turned, leading to two people speaking at once, in two different languages. Personally I find that hard to follow! It's messy and shouldn't happen when so much money is available to get it right.

The solution? Pay someone to spend a year watching NASCAR (me!) and then implement their recommendations. F1 is supposed to be the pinnacle. Not a pale imitation.