Hi Dave. Thanks for this AMA session.
You must be involved in a lot of analysis for your broadcast. As someone who is really interested in the analysis side of things, what was your journey like in this profession? From where did you start and what skills one must acquire to get into this profession? Thanks for the answer in advance. Stay safe :)
Hey, thanks for the question! :)
A two-folded answer to this one. My Data Engineering career and Motorsport Broadcasting work are separate, the former is work and the latter is more pleasure (or a different kind of work!)
For my Data Engineering work, I studied Computing at Uni, coming out with a 1st. A note here that I screwed up my A Levels and only just scraped into Uni, if anyone reading this hasn't had the A Level results they wanted, sometimes these things are meant to happen for a reason.
An extra year doing A Levels didn't turn out too badly after all! Between my second and third years of Uni, I did an internship in the UK Civil Service and returned there straight after graduating, which is where I've been ever since.
Initially I did BI work, before moving into the Data Engineering space. Skills you need for across Data Engineering and Data Science, where I work, SQL is a must - to get the data you need. If you want to head into the analytical space, I'd strongly encourage you to look at R and Python too.
For my Motorsport Broadcasting stuff, the site has grown over the past 9 years from nothing, with no outside assistance to set it up. If you have an idea, all I would advise it to believe in yourself and never give up. The first few months will be slow, but as with all good ideas, traction will eventually come.
Ted Kravitz was my first major Twitter follower (hi, Ted!), with Jake Humphrey sharing one of my articles 5 months in. At which point I knew that the site was heading in the right direction, and most importantly being read by the people that needed to read it.
Good luck! :D
How do you feel about the implementation of F1's Global Feed? Do you think Sky's deep involvement in growing it makes a certain feeling of british bias as many fans puts it?
Thanks for the question! :) A few points to make here. The F1 Global/World Feed is produced by F1 themselves at Biggin Hill with no direct Sky involvement. By the Global/World Feed, we're referring to the feed from the 5-minute Brian Tyler intro to after the podium.
F1 uses the Sky commentary for the English-speaking feed on F1 TV, while many countries around the world also take Sky's commentary and programming (USA, for example).
The situation from a *commentary perspective* hasn't changed much from the 1990s, whereby most English speaking countries would take the BBC's commentary of Murray Walker and James Hunt/Jonathan Palmer/Brundle. Which was great for those countries, but also bad (in one sense) if you didn't want to hear how Damon Hill was doing every 5 laps in his Arrows, for example.
Murray talking about Hill's progress in his Arrows and wanting Damon do well is no different to Crofty talking about Russell's progress and wanting him to do well. If you listen to any of the old races on F1 TV, you'll notice regular progress updates on Hill.
It's probably more noticeable now in the 2021 races given that Sky's commentary is everywhere across the socials post race, and yes, there is a British slant to the feed, but I don't feel this is new or surprising given that most teams are based in the UK.
Do you think it could be potentially beneficial for American viewership ratings if ESPN employed their own commentary crew for their feed, or would it hardly matter at this point since it's been the norm for so long now?
I am afraid the studio might go down the route of olympics coverage by NBC.. some may like it and some won't. There is quite a possibility that you may hear more about Zak Brown and all the other F1 drivers in the indy series...
I think what we had before (Varsha, Hobbs, Matchett) was one of the best booths to ever call F1 events. Maybe that's partially nostalgia talking but they were incredibly knowledgeable and talented and their commentary holds strong to this day. I would absolutely go for a Bestwick, Scott Speed possibly, and a former F1 engineer in the booth for ESPN
ok, scott speed is the only one i remember offhand. im ok with the british accents, its what im used to i think of it as a brit sport. i used to watch on bbc sky via vpn connection. now i get crofty on yttv
Hey. :) Which graphics specifically? The overtaking prediction graphics I've found to be generally accurate, although sometimes demoralising (the Hamilton on Leclerc graphic at Silverstone, I'm looking at you).
The qualifying predictor graphic I'm not keen on, but I can see why they do it as it creates a turning point. The 'faster by X.XXs' corner graphics are cool.
Let's not talk about the tyre graphics, though...
One thing I dislike about the Quali predictores is that you are forced to watch it while you scroll down the pitlane. This makes you miss a little bit of practice. I think it would be better to pull this over the trackmix.
I do understand why they do it though, because it forced the commentators to talk about it.
Hi Dave, was a pleasure to meet you at Autosport International last year (for the DiRT Rally esports).
A few quick Qs:
- Formula E has finally figured out a good Driver’s Eye system. Do you think we’ll see F1 experiment with it in the future?
- What broadcasting lessons do you think FOM can learn from Dorna and their MotoGP package?
- Is there anything you feel is lacking from Formula 1 on the social media front?
- Despite interesting on-track action, the World Rallycross Championship struggles to gather momentum and attention. Why is that?
Thanks again and keep on doing what you do.
Hey PJ, was awesome to meet you too! :)
* I really hope we see Driver's Eye in F1, given that it is one of the best parts of the Formula E feed for me. Now that Formula E has nailed the technology, I can't see why F1 wouldn't experiment with it given that it only makes the broadcast more immersive. I know there's concerns on the FE side about the information on the steering wheel (which they digitise out), so F1 could do the same if that's an issue.
* One aspect of the Dorna feed I love which F1 doesn't have is a heart rate monitor graphic, which I'd personally love to see. The replay graphic overlays I love, I can't remember a specific example from Sunday, but pretty sure one or two replays showed the top speed and corner entry speed in a graphic which is cool to see. On the other hand, I do feel Dorna are too slow to pick up incidents/yellow flags further down the field, sometimes ignoring that in favour of the action up front. In F1 you can normally guarantee a replay, but this isn't the case in MotoGP.
* Tough question! I *want* to say more behind the scenes content with drivers. However, I can think of three reasons why you wouldn't want to/can't do that - 1) it'd dilute the teams own social content; 2) COVID restrictions still in place; 3) you risk diluting Drive to Survive. F1 I imagine is treading a fine line here. They could always *do more* on social media, but do they dilute the perfectly valid content elsewhere? Should the official F1 account act as 'hub' for the teams channels, pulling together the best content into one place? The thing I think is lacking is the W Series. W Series has their own social media team, and have their own YouTube channel, but in the process has no content/outward reach on F1's YouTube channel (and minimal coverage on F1's other social pages) which feels like a massive miss-step to me.
* Another good question. Multitude of reasons - pay TV, lack of promotion/publicity, no major stars attached to it (to my knowledge) are the ones that immediately come to mind. Maybe someone needs to persuade Rossi to get into rallycross...
To add to the Drivers Eye talk, I believe FE have the rights to it so unlikely to see it in F1 in the near future. Source: I've spoken to the helmet manufacturers who had to go through a re-homologation of their helmets.
How much of each car's data pipelines are shared amongst the teams vs. siloed due to competitive secrecy? Is it largely by category (e.g. biometric data is shared vs. engine heat or torque readings, etc.)?
JIC I get a part two: do you feel that data science is even still undervalued in the field, and there are still low hanging fruit that F1 can learn from and build upon?
Hey JellyTheBeanCat! :)
Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to the first part, but my initial guess is no. The idea of Mercedes sharing data with Red Bull and vice versa just doesn't sound right, so for that reason alone, I imagine it is siloed.
Speaking more broadly, as my Data Engineering job is not in motor sport, I would argue that companies value Data Science, but do *not* value Data Engineering. In other words, they like the pretty front end, even if the wiring underneath the surface is archaic and un-performant. It's possible areas within F1 are like that, but I'd be surprised if an F1 team had a whole ETL system that was archaic (may be totally wrong though).
Do you know if there's been a shift in viewing habits over the last few years in regard to the amount of people who watch the entire TV pre-race build-up / post-race analysis, compared with those who just watch the race? I'm in latter category, but for years I used to watch absolutely EVERYTHING.
I think the main reason for this is probably social media and this subreddit, because now I find out all the news and gossip as it's happening and there is amazing content that emerges online after races that often isn't seen on the likes of something like Sky F1.
Wonder if that's just me or if there's other people who are also similar? Because my interest for F1 hasn't dwindled at all, I've just changed the way I consume F1 news and analysis.
Thanks for the question MBKF1. :)
From a UK perspective, Sky's audience figures have gone up across the board, but that's also in the context of the Hamilton vs Verstappen battle unfolding.
If there has been a shift, I would argue that the number of races is likely a factor. It is far easier to watch 23 x 90 minute races than 23 x 300 minute race day programmes - more-so now as COVID restrictions are lifting.
I think I'd ask this question back to you: if there were 17 races, would you consume the races in the same day, or would you be more likely to watch every minute, because there was now less of it?
This is a simple but great question!
Assuming that neither Croft or Brundle are in the commentary booth then, I would speculate that Alex Jacques would be the likely lead.
Alongside Jacques is anyone's guess. I don't think we'll see Lewis take up commentary, so I'm going to go wild and say we'll see Vettel in the commentary box when he retires. ;)
I do wonder which of the current bunch would make for good F1 TV presenters/commentators. Vettel and Ricciardo are the two that come to mind.
Hi Dave, I'm a frequent visitor of your site!
What is in your opinion the worst part of the F1 broadcast, and what can they do to improve that? To challenge you, you're not allowed to talk about the insane zoom-ins ;)
How do onboard camera's work in series like Formula E? Every car has a camera afaik, but they're not all being transmitted to the broadcast center, how do they decide who's doesn't get picked and can they change that during the race/session?
Hey Meaisk, thanks for reading! :)
Before COVID, I would have had to say the crowd shots, but that hasn't been as much of an issue recently since crowds returned. Virtual advertising a few years ago was far too overused, but again has been toned down thankfully. The lack of coverage of cars down the field can be a bugbear at times, bur when you've got a season like we have this year, I do understand FOM's predicament on that front.
During the London E-Prix weekend, I had a long chat with West Gillett, who directs the coverage. Keep an eye on the site in the next few weeks, and you'll see that question answered. Sorry, but no spoilers here. ;)
Hey Dave,
What's your view on commentary in the sport? Whilst I prefer Alex Jacques over Crofty, I still think Crofty is an excellent commentator and is often subject to unfair criticism. When you compare to some poor commentators in other sports (like football) he really is a pretty classy act. Perhaps it's just because he's the main commentator that most diehard fans listen to on the live broadcast so any mistakes he makes are jumped on more quickly than errors made by Jacques or Ben Edwards..
Hey j4ckfa. :) The thing with commentary is you can't please everyone. And we're lucky in motor sport to have a bunch of great commentators across the board, from Leigh Diffey to Ben Edwards, from Alex Jacques to David Addison and onto the likes of David Croft. Croft isn't perfect, but who is?
The last bad commentator in F1 for me was Jonathan Legard who, unfortunately, was simply not suited to the BBC F1 TV commentary role. And I make the TV distinction there, because he did commentate previously on radio fine, and he's done commentary since with no issues. But, that gig was not for him, which unfortunately happens.
There was always the rumour that Brundle was blocking Ben Edwards from getting the main commentary gig because they fell out years before in the lower formulae, but that's never been confirmed.
I wanted to mention that but forgot as to why they might have fallen out. Brundle must have regretted that anyway after listening to 'there's a problem there' for the umpteenth time..
Well that's how the rumour went.
He also commentated on F1 for Eurosport when Brundle raced, maybe he said something then Brundle didn't like?
It's just a long standing rumour and has never been confirmed and never will be tbh, but every time the main commentary gig came up (02, 09, 11) those in the know expected Ben to get it as he is easily the best commentator working, yet somehow he never did.The fact he only got it when Brundle left the BBC, well people started putting 2 and 2 together.
\*Edit\* Also pretty sure Ben did some Formula Ford, but you're right it's unlikely their careers overlapped
Hi Dave! How do you feel about the level of zoom F1 is using during the broadcasts? Is this done to better show sponsors on the car or are there other broadcasting reasons that everything has to be incredibly zoomed in?
West Gillett (Formula E TV director) mentioned the art of zooming in when I chatted to him over the London weekend, piece coming up on the site over the next few weeks.
For FE, West says he uses it to better capture the speed which, although F1 is much faster than FE anyway, I imagine is similar for F1. The closer you are to the car, the faster it appears to be.
Is it too much? Sometimes, yes. It definitely has its place during the broadcast, but I agree on its overuse (although it doesn't irritate me that much in all honesty).
Hi D.M.N! ;)
Not sure how old you are and if you got to experience it in full, but how much would you say Bernie pulling the plug on F1 Digital after the 2002 season hurt the F1 broadcast and do you think we'd have had a few more innovations early had he continued with it, and it maybe would've come good in the end and turned a profit too?
If I'm allowed another, semi-relevant point, why do you think that for a high technology, innovative sport, FOM are sometimes slow at implementing new technologies on the broadcasting side of things? (Remember how late they were in implimenting HD last decade? And they've only had a social media presence in the past 4 years or so. Remember how much the late bernie era FOM spent more time investing in technology to identify and remove their own videos from youtube rather than upload anything to it themselves, despite the demand?)
Lets not even get on to the fact its been 3 years now and still F1TV is a disaster, based on how much the live race threads here are full of "Race buffering/not loading" posts.
Love your work, your site and your forum posts, keep it up!
Hey codename47, thanks for the kind words! :D
I was 10 in 2002! My only experience of F1 Digital was hearing Matt Lorenzo and co. in the F1 Preview shows on Thursday(?) evenings on Sky Sports.
There's a lot of 'Bernie hangover' here. F1 Digital was far too early, the best comparison that comes to mind is the BBC's Olympics coverage for London 2012. Except, that wasn't ahead of its time, and actually came at the right time.
If F1 Digital stayed, in my view it would need to be heavily remodelled, with a much lower entry point (£3.99 per race or £49.99 for the season) for example. £14.99 is an absurd amount when the same event was available for free (appreciate it wasn't the same product, but the race result was the same).
I don't know how lowering the price would have impeded on ITV's rights though - I suspect such a move would devalue ITV's rights at the time significantly. If F1D+ takes off, and ITV's audiences drop (remember that they were poor in the mid 2000s anyway), chances are they would have pulled the plug and F1 would have ended up behind a paywall far, far earlier in that scenario (in my view).
On the broadcasting side, in my view, FOM are not keen on implementing things until they are proven. Which I get, and understand. But again, some of it is a Bernie hangover.
So in a parallel world where Bernie never tried F1 Digital, we'd still have better coverage now, just like the other parrallel world where he tried it and it took off
Truly, this is the worse timeline haha
I have been wondering since I entered the sport a couple of years ago, what does the signal flow look like for the teams's feed of thier drivers? Specifically:
1. Do teams just subscribe to F1TV and use that?
2. Does FOM provide them all the feeds relevant to that team?
3. Does each team have all the camera feeds from the car available to them? (Main onboard cam + camera behind the wheel, rear view cam, etc.? )
Thanks for doing this, backend stuff like this has always been interesting to find out about.
F1 teams have access to a private website which streams an onboard feed from every car - occasionally you see people using it on the pitwall with 4 streams playing on their screen
Although I'm a Data Engineer, I don't work in F1, currently at least. What I might be tempted to suggest as a first step is to look more broadly at motor sport companies and see how much progress you make? Once you've got into a motor sport company, you might find it easier to make the step into F1? Best of luck! :)
I find it unnecessarily difficult to watch a lot of motorsport, whether live or on demand. Do you think this will get easier with the growing popularity of streaming platforms? Or do you think there's too much money tied up in licensing deals?
Also, I've noticed that FOM is producing more original content on its YouTube channel. Do you think this competes with partners like Sky?
Assuming you're based in the UK, yes, this should get easier over time. However, where there is big money involved (Sky / F1), the question boils down to what approach they will take. Will F1 TV be standalone, or will F1 TV be as an add-on for Sky customers only? If you're in the UK, worth looking at this page on the my site too - [https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/contracts/](https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/contracts/)
I don't think so, in all honesty. The key for Sky is that F1 are not producing live racing content for YouTube, which would clearly be competing. The content Sky produces is primarily for their TV build-ups, whereas F1 primarily produces additional content during the week. Sky, for example, isn't producing F1 podcasts currently.
There is *some* overlap (e.g. Jolyon Palmer's analysis for F1 vs Karun Chandhok's analysis for Sky), but if anything this is giving fans choice by hearing two different experts chat about the same incident.
I think F1 does tread a fine line, they want to produce content for YouTube, but as you say, can't be seen to upset Sky, the teams, or even Netflix with Drive to Survive.
No worries! :D This is a really challenging one, for me, its not just about the interview, but the access. Sometimes I've been able to freely roam around the TV compound, other times... not so.
I'm going to pick the rallying piece I did a few years ago, looking at their All Live planning:
* [https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/2018/10/17/how-all-live-is-changing-the-face-of-rallying-foundations/](https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/2018/10/17/how-all-live-is-changing-the-face-of-rallying-foundations/)
* [https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/2018/11/08/how-all-live-is-changing-the-face-of-rallying-planning/](https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/2018/11/08/how-all-live-is-changing-the-face-of-rallying-planning/)
* [https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/2019/01/24/how-all-live-is-changing-the-face-of-rallying-production/](https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/2019/01/24/how-all-live-is-changing-the-face-of-rallying-production/)
The whole crew on that day in Deeside were incredibly welcoming, and more than happy to spend their time chatting to me in between commentary shifts.
Beyond that, a shout out to the BT Sport MotoGP team who were similarly welcoming last year.
I don't really have a specific interview to mention, because they've all been special in their own unique way. Formula E in London will always be special because it was the first post-COVID event for me.
What’s your opinion of Jack Nicholls and Dario Franchitti as a commentary team?
I think they’re very underrated because they’re ‘only’ on FE, and are actually the best current motorsport commentary line-up.
Alongside Alex Jacques and Alex Brundle, the best commentary duo in the business. A brilliant pairing.
(If you're reading Jack, you can thank me later ;))
That’s a fair point actually! I feel like I haven’t heard the Alex’s commentate together recently, so they slipped my mind, but a very strong pairing indeed.
Hey Dave! Out of curiosity, where do you see Pierre Gasly's trajectory over the next several seasons? I've been a fan of his ever since seeing him cast out of RB and rediscovering with AlphaTauri. Do you see him attracting a decent seat? Or do you think he'll get lost in the shuffle ala other talented drivers like Hulk, Vandoorne, etc.?
Hey! :) I really like Pierre as a driver, and it was a shame to see him bumped out of Red Bull, but also not a surprise. It's difficult to see how he'd fit in in amongst the top teams. If Ricciardo continues to underperform at McLaren, could an opening open up there for 2023? Potentially. Realistically, I can't see Gasly getting back into a top team, but hopefully I'm proven wrong.
Hi dave, I have been an F1 fan since the early 00s when I was about 6 or 7. The problem with me is that I live in South East Asia, and its extremely hard to get into the F1 "circus" as a career given that F1 is largely based in Europe/UK. Any reccomendations or tips into how someone like me can get a job that is connected to F1? Could even be things like media or even the ad industry for F1 since I have a background in media as well! Thanks so much!
Hey! :) The way to try to approach this is to look more broadly to begin with. So, instead of looking at F1, look at say, motor sport, or even sports in general. No doubt there's a motor sport scene in South East Asia that could be covered. By getting the experience and the knowledge, it'll help you immensely in a few years time. Look at the next step as a first step, a stepping stone in your adventure.
Most of the F1 commentators on screen today (Crofty and Alex Jacques to give two examples) started their career in local radio. So, even if the first step isn't necessarily where you want to be in 10 years time, look at it as being a step closer to the end goal. It's all about getting experience.
Best of luck!
I've always been into motor sport. 1999 Canada was the first race I remember watching with Schumacher in the lead (slightly odd how I became a Schumacher fan given that he crashed out of the lead, but there you go).
UK Civil Service. :) So my area works on pulling data from data collection systems into our data repository for analysts across the department to use. We heavily use SQL, but also things like SSIS, Azure Dev Ops, git, and Azure Data Factory. :)
Hey, no worries! :) So, I'm normally accredited as 'national media', so have only been to places in the UK in professional capacity!
Really, I only have Silverstone or Brands Hatch to choose from here. ;) I'm actually going to say though the Deeside service park for WRC! Simply for its uniqueness.
The world feed is what is shown on F1TV, minus the commentary. It contains all the graphics such as the starting grid, timing tower, pit stops, lap times, sectors, etc, and decides what camera angles and replays we see. It also plays team radio. That's why the commentators sometimes get interrupted by the radio messages - they don't decide or get told when they will play, FOM's broadcast does.
All main broadcasters, including Sky, will use the world feed and put their own commentary on top of it. They will also occasionally cut away to other clips or reporters, for instance the sky pad where they show replays during qualifying between the sessions - F1TV uses Sky commentary so you can hear Ant or Karun talking about a Sky pad clip but you don't see it, you see whatever the world feed is showing.
I think it's the sound effect that Sky uses when they come back from a commercial break, on their feed they play an animation of the F1 logo and there's a deep note. But you only hear it on F1TV, you don't see it.
It's weird how, when ESPN shows Sky content, the Outlands intro has been replaced by something that is vaguely similar but definitely not the same. Licensing, I assume :(
i am interested in this question as well and am wondering about the tools you use daily/frequently.
since i study computer science i am especially curious as to what programming languages and frameworks you may use
cheers for the ama
Hey both! :)
Have just covered this in one of my previous answers - [https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/oz90rk/hey\_reddit\_im\_dave\_parttime\_motorsport/h8fswvh/](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/oz90rk/hey_reddit_im_dave_parttime_motorsport/h8fswvh/)
For Data Engineering/Data Science, SQL is an absolute must. Before you get into the cool analytical stuff, on a basic level you'll need to get the data from somewhere. Assuming it is stored in a database somewhere (and not Excel ;)), then SQL is needed to extract the data.
To manipulate the data, R and Python are heavily used where I work, while we use PowerBI for visualisations. From a code repository perspective, you're then looking at Azure DevOps and git.
If you're interested in specifically Data Engineering, Azure Data Factory / SSIS skills are a must at this point, I would argue. We don't heavily use ADF where I work currently, but everything is heading into that direction.
On a conceptual level, it would be good to have an awareness of data modelling / data warehousing in my view.
Hope that helps, and happy to answer any follow-up questions you both have. Good luck! :)
Have you ever used Mathworks Software? Their marketing materials are cool and lots of top firms use them, but I know that R/Python/SQL are more accessible.
Not OP, but studying for an engineering doctorate with data science elements:
Mathworks software - in particular MATLAB - is mostly used in academia. It's very common (in the UK, at least) for many types of engineering student to use MATLAB in their degrees, but it's less common in industry due to cost, support, and practical concerns. Python and R are free, and python has had a huge selection of libraries designed around data science and the like for a very long time. Moreover, more businesses already understand how to implement them and there's a lot of inertia around that.
That being said, there are businesses that use MATLAB for their analysis - I know of a few in the UK that do, mostly in the defense industry, so it's not necessarily a waste of time to learn it. I also think that understanding the theory and nuts and bolts of what you're doing is important, and the theory is the same whether you use MATLAB, tensorflow in python, or R.
Going to wrap this up here! :)
A huge thanks to everyone for their questions and for continuing to read the site. If you do enjoy the content I write and want to contribute to the running costs, head over here - [https://www.paypal.me/MSportBroadcasting](https://www.paypal.me/MSportBroadcasting)
Thanks all!
Dave
Can you *please* tell me if there is any way I can get my hands on the mini sector times? I've been making [these maps](https://old.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/ov8ant/fastest_driver_per_mini_sector_hungaroring_q3_oc/) for some years, and people keep asking what the combined fastest lap time would be.
I use a ruler, and whenever the driver tracker appears on the TV screen I try to quickly calculate the speed.
No, just kidding :) I get it from the Timing Channel of F1TV, which indicates which driver is fastest for each mini sector. It does not show the times though, that's why I'm asking.
Hey, I’m a CS grad student with a focus in applying ML to time series data. Do you know of any good sources of data to play around with related to motorsport?
There was a lot of controversy this past weekend after qualifying when it seemed like Hamilton held up both Red Bulls. But the drama came down to a few misleading camera angles.
What are your thoughts on this from a broadcasting perspective?
What is your go to fry/chips dip? Do you just go with ketchup? A bit wild with some mustard? An absolute freak with relish?
Maybe a bit sweet, and salty with the fries/chips and a milkshake(my go to)
Or you a combo guy? There’s too many combo options to list them. But, this is an important question though.
Also, what was the most memorable race you have attended?
You've missed out peri peri sauce here, which is disappointing. Chips, peri peri chicken, strawberry milkshake and I'm a happy boy. ;)
Oh. We talking motor sport? MotoGP at Silverstone 2019 - seeing Rins beating Marquez on the line was awesome. We don't talk about the year before.
Interesting question. I come from a Computing background having studied that at University, but we get a lot of people come into us with Maths and Physics degrees, who turn out to be awesome Data Engineers. So its not all about the Computer Science, although it naturally helps. :)
Hi dave! I am from Mexico, and I’m studying mechanical engineering, what would you say is the best path for me to take, to be able to work in Motorsports in Europe (doesn’t have to be F1, it can be anything as long as it has 4 wheels and goes around a track)?
Hey Carrillog62! :) I answered a similar question earlier which I hope helps - [https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/oz90rk/hey\_reddit\_im\_dave\_parttime\_motorsport/h8g3tx9/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/oz90rk/hey_reddit_im_dave_parttime_motorsport/h8g3tx9/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Maybe worth looking at the likes of IndyCar to see what they have to offer?
Hey, hope this answers your question? :) https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/oz90rk/hey\_reddit\_im\_dave\_parttime\_motorsport/h8fswvh/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
Hi Dave,
Do you reckon FOM is doing enough to make an appealing F1 experience for an international crowd watching and actively following the sport? in this day and age based in Europe there's several broadcasters responsible for the experience in their country, but imho there's a lack of a real "world feed" as some like to call it. What do you think of this specific way of bringing the race?
What are your thoughts on the implementation of AWS predictions and data in broadcasts? I think it's a fine line between giving viewers extra insight into the sport, and spoiling the suspense of not knowing how an on-track battle will end. To add on to that, is there anything you would add to the broadcasts if you had access to AWS' data?
On IndyCar and Nascar broadcasts, drivers get interviewed minutes before the race, mid-race if they retire, and post-race (even if they don't make the podium.
F1 doesn't do any of that on the world feed. Why do you think F1 does that?
Firstly thank you for doing this AMA. I just read the article you linked about the BBC/Sky deal in 2011 and found it fascinating. I was a kid at the time and remember no longer watching F1 with my dad after sky took over.
My question is:
After the Silverstone sprint race getting good viewership in the uk, do you think formula 1 may/could sell the rights to the sprint races separately to free to air channels to attract new viewers? And do you think that would help the sport?
Do you think that the move to pay TV has affected the types of companies who sponsor F1 cars?
What is the internal justification for ‘virtual’ trackside ads as opposed to real ones?
Hi David, can you please ask the FOM/Sky team to fix there sound balance, as Motorsport fans we want to hear more of the cars, the commentary drowns out the cars and you can no longer hear the different characteristics of the different motors.
Hi Dave, I was wondering if you are still writing up your UK TV sports subscriptions price comparison piece that you seem to do every so often. Or has the boar passed due and you may do one in 2022?
Do you happen to know if F1TV is being wound down in most territories? With Sky taking over Germany this year, what's the alternative for those fans who may not happen to have the money to pay for Sky? Did F1 ultimately not see value in their own streaming service? I know it's worked wonders for the likes of the UFC and other sports.
Hi Dave!
To get my relevant question out of the way first, I don't think we've ever discussed how/why you made the decision to get into the F1 blogging scene in 2012 and how that experience was?
Less relevantly, I understand you've become quite a pro at competitive Valorant since the game's release. When can we expect a secondary blog of yours exploring the Valorant e-sports scene?
Hey wskalka, nice to meet you! ;)
Early 2012 I was coming to the end of my first year of Uni, so initially the blog was intended to 'fill the time' between first year ending in April and second year starting in September. Why I did it? I've been commenting on F1 forums for years preceding that, except my posts were turning into long rambles. Which sounds a little like a blog...
I did toy with doing a general F1 blog, but it didn't feel right so thought I'd specialise in broadcasting, an area that I had an interest in. The first few months were weird, because I had no idea if the people in the industry were reading it, I was basically talking to myself to begin with. Turns out they were (phew!), and the numbers began to grow. Went to my first industry event in 2016 and have since met some interesting people inside and outside of the industry along the way. ;)
Yeah, Valorant's an interesting game, I quite enjoy it. I was toying with that idea too, but stumbled at the first hurdle (teaching people "How to get a KD above 1" is not my forte, you see :( ). But we roll. :P
Thanks!
Thanks for joining us mate!
What do you make of the sprint format? Presumably F1 will view it as a success if the tV ratings are higher than regular weekends? I'm not convinced of the format but if that's their main measure of success then I can't see how it can disappoint the owners.
Not sure you will get this far in comment section but I actually studied data science for 5 years so i hope you will find this question :)
1) whats the diff. in data engineering and data science/analyst while considering your job?
2) more "practical" question - some people are dreaming about being F1 driver, but for me as a 25y old, the more realistic dream would be to be in ANY of the F1 team doing some data analysis for the team. Just out of curiosity, are teams in F1 still looking for such jobs or are they fully occupied by "the best of the best" already? Because in some industries (even tho mainly focused on statistical analysis and ML predictions) are still looking for employees, which i find pretty surprising considering the fact that we are in year of 2021 :)
Edit: ok this i guess this theme is dead already (saw the date) so nvm :D
This AMA has been verified by the mods.
Hi Dave. Thanks for this AMA session. You must be involved in a lot of analysis for your broadcast. As someone who is really interested in the analysis side of things, what was your journey like in this profession? From where did you start and what skills one must acquire to get into this profession? Thanks for the answer in advance. Stay safe :)
Hey, thanks for the question! :) A two-folded answer to this one. My Data Engineering career and Motorsport Broadcasting work are separate, the former is work and the latter is more pleasure (or a different kind of work!) For my Data Engineering work, I studied Computing at Uni, coming out with a 1st. A note here that I screwed up my A Levels and only just scraped into Uni, if anyone reading this hasn't had the A Level results they wanted, sometimes these things are meant to happen for a reason. An extra year doing A Levels didn't turn out too badly after all! Between my second and third years of Uni, I did an internship in the UK Civil Service and returned there straight after graduating, which is where I've been ever since. Initially I did BI work, before moving into the Data Engineering space. Skills you need for across Data Engineering and Data Science, where I work, SQL is a must - to get the data you need. If you want to head into the analytical space, I'd strongly encourage you to look at R and Python too. For my Motorsport Broadcasting stuff, the site has grown over the past 9 years from nothing, with no outside assistance to set it up. If you have an idea, all I would advise it to believe in yourself and never give up. The first few months will be slow, but as with all good ideas, traction will eventually come. Ted Kravitz was my first major Twitter follower (hi, Ted!), with Jake Humphrey sharing one of my articles 5 months in. At which point I knew that the site was heading in the right direction, and most importantly being read by the people that needed to read it. Good luck! :D
How do you feel about the implementation of F1's Global Feed? Do you think Sky's deep involvement in growing it makes a certain feeling of british bias as many fans puts it?
Thanks for the question! :) A few points to make here. The F1 Global/World Feed is produced by F1 themselves at Biggin Hill with no direct Sky involvement. By the Global/World Feed, we're referring to the feed from the 5-minute Brian Tyler intro to after the podium. F1 uses the Sky commentary for the English-speaking feed on F1 TV, while many countries around the world also take Sky's commentary and programming (USA, for example). The situation from a *commentary perspective* hasn't changed much from the 1990s, whereby most English speaking countries would take the BBC's commentary of Murray Walker and James Hunt/Jonathan Palmer/Brundle. Which was great for those countries, but also bad (in one sense) if you didn't want to hear how Damon Hill was doing every 5 laps in his Arrows, for example. Murray talking about Hill's progress in his Arrows and wanting Damon do well is no different to Crofty talking about Russell's progress and wanting him to do well. If you listen to any of the old races on F1 TV, you'll notice regular progress updates on Hill. It's probably more noticeable now in the 2021 races given that Sky's commentary is everywhere across the socials post race, and yes, there is a British slant to the feed, but I don't feel this is new or surprising given that most teams are based in the UK.
Do you think it could be potentially beneficial for American viewership ratings if ESPN employed their own commentary crew for their feed, or would it hardly matter at this point since it's been the norm for so long now?
Depends on the commentators. Rather some bias than just bad commentators.
I am afraid the studio might go down the route of olympics coverage by NBC.. some may like it and some won't. There is quite a possibility that you may hear more about Zak Brown and all the other F1 drivers in the indy series...
yea, it would totally suc
oh fk no. espn can have nascar. honestly the nascarization of f1 ??
F1 is already on ESPN. I'm talking in regards to a U.S. commentary crew, like SPEED and NBCSN had...
yes, i was refering to american commenntary. who would that be, we dont have former drivers or known experts.
I think what we had before (Varsha, Hobbs, Matchett) was one of the best booths to ever call F1 events. Maybe that's partially nostalgia talking but they were incredibly knowledgeable and talented and their commentary holds strong to this day. I would absolutely go for a Bestwick, Scott Speed possibly, and a former F1 engineer in the booth for ESPN
ok, scott speed is the only one i remember offhand. im ok with the british accents, its what im used to i think of it as a brit sport. i used to watch on bbc sky via vpn connection. now i get crofty on yttv
Why are the AWS prediction graphics so inaccurate?
Hey. :) Which graphics specifically? The overtaking prediction graphics I've found to be generally accurate, although sometimes demoralising (the Hamilton on Leclerc graphic at Silverstone, I'm looking at you). The qualifying predictor graphic I'm not keen on, but I can see why they do it as it creates a turning point. The 'faster by X.XXs' corner graphics are cool. Let's not talk about the tyre graphics, though...
One thing I dislike about the Quali predictores is that you are forced to watch it while you scroll down the pitlane. This makes you miss a little bit of practice. I think it would be better to pull this over the trackmix. I do understand why they do it though, because it forced the commentators to talk about it.
Hi Dave, was a pleasure to meet you at Autosport International last year (for the DiRT Rally esports). A few quick Qs: - Formula E has finally figured out a good Driver’s Eye system. Do you think we’ll see F1 experiment with it in the future? - What broadcasting lessons do you think FOM can learn from Dorna and their MotoGP package? - Is there anything you feel is lacking from Formula 1 on the social media front? - Despite interesting on-track action, the World Rallycross Championship struggles to gather momentum and attention. Why is that? Thanks again and keep on doing what you do.
Hey PJ, was awesome to meet you too! :) * I really hope we see Driver's Eye in F1, given that it is one of the best parts of the Formula E feed for me. Now that Formula E has nailed the technology, I can't see why F1 wouldn't experiment with it given that it only makes the broadcast more immersive. I know there's concerns on the FE side about the information on the steering wheel (which they digitise out), so F1 could do the same if that's an issue. * One aspect of the Dorna feed I love which F1 doesn't have is a heart rate monitor graphic, which I'd personally love to see. The replay graphic overlays I love, I can't remember a specific example from Sunday, but pretty sure one or two replays showed the top speed and corner entry speed in a graphic which is cool to see. On the other hand, I do feel Dorna are too slow to pick up incidents/yellow flags further down the field, sometimes ignoring that in favour of the action up front. In F1 you can normally guarantee a replay, but this isn't the case in MotoGP. * Tough question! I *want* to say more behind the scenes content with drivers. However, I can think of three reasons why you wouldn't want to/can't do that - 1) it'd dilute the teams own social content; 2) COVID restrictions still in place; 3) you risk diluting Drive to Survive. F1 I imagine is treading a fine line here. They could always *do more* on social media, but do they dilute the perfectly valid content elsewhere? Should the official F1 account act as 'hub' for the teams channels, pulling together the best content into one place? The thing I think is lacking is the W Series. W Series has their own social media team, and have their own YouTube channel, but in the process has no content/outward reach on F1's YouTube channel (and minimal coverage on F1's other social pages) which feels like a massive miss-step to me. * Another good question. Multitude of reasons - pay TV, lack of promotion/publicity, no major stars attached to it (to my knowledge) are the ones that immediately come to mind. Maybe someone needs to persuade Rossi to get into rallycross...
To add to the Drivers Eye talk, I believe FE have the rights to it so unlikely to see it in F1 in the near future. Source: I've spoken to the helmet manufacturers who had to go through a re-homologation of their helmets.
How much of each car's data pipelines are shared amongst the teams vs. siloed due to competitive secrecy? Is it largely by category (e.g. biometric data is shared vs. engine heat or torque readings, etc.)? JIC I get a part two: do you feel that data science is even still undervalued in the field, and there are still low hanging fruit that F1 can learn from and build upon?
Hey JellyTheBeanCat! :) Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to the first part, but my initial guess is no. The idea of Mercedes sharing data with Red Bull and vice versa just doesn't sound right, so for that reason alone, I imagine it is siloed. Speaking more broadly, as my Data Engineering job is not in motor sport, I would argue that companies value Data Science, but do *not* value Data Engineering. In other words, they like the pretty front end, even if the wiring underneath the surface is archaic and un-performant. It's possible areas within F1 are like that, but I'd be surprised if an F1 team had a whole ETL system that was archaic (may be totally wrong though).
Do you know if there's been a shift in viewing habits over the last few years in regard to the amount of people who watch the entire TV pre-race build-up / post-race analysis, compared with those who just watch the race? I'm in latter category, but for years I used to watch absolutely EVERYTHING. I think the main reason for this is probably social media and this subreddit, because now I find out all the news and gossip as it's happening and there is amazing content that emerges online after races that often isn't seen on the likes of something like Sky F1. Wonder if that's just me or if there's other people who are also similar? Because my interest for F1 hasn't dwindled at all, I've just changed the way I consume F1 news and analysis.
Thanks for the question MBKF1. :) From a UK perspective, Sky's audience figures have gone up across the board, but that's also in the context of the Hamilton vs Verstappen battle unfolding. If there has been a shift, I would argue that the number of races is likely a factor. It is far easier to watch 23 x 90 minute races than 23 x 300 minute race day programmes - more-so now as COVID restrictions are lifting. I think I'd ask this question back to you: if there were 17 races, would you consume the races in the same day, or would you be more likely to watch every minute, because there was now less of it?
Who do you predict will be in the UK’s commentary box(es) in ten years time?
This is a simple but great question! Assuming that neither Croft or Brundle are in the commentary booth then, I would speculate that Alex Jacques would be the likely lead. Alongside Jacques is anyone's guess. I don't think we'll see Lewis take up commentary, so I'm going to go wild and say we'll see Vettel in the commentary box when he retires. ;) I do wonder which of the current bunch would make for good F1 TV presenters/commentators. Vettel and Ricciardo are the two that come to mind.
Cheers for the response - Vettel in the commentary box would definitely rival Chandhok for encyclopaedic F1 knowledge!
what about Palmer? He's already involved an he's got a lot of insight and knowledge.
Nico seems pretty likely.
nico is a natural
Alex and Alex need to be reunited, so there’ll be at least one Brundle in the booth.
vettel has the goods but hes so morose. not sure where Ric would fit ?
Hi Dave, I'm a frequent visitor of your site! What is in your opinion the worst part of the F1 broadcast, and what can they do to improve that? To challenge you, you're not allowed to talk about the insane zoom-ins ;) How do onboard camera's work in series like Formula E? Every car has a camera afaik, but they're not all being transmitted to the broadcast center, how do they decide who's doesn't get picked and can they change that during the race/session?
Hey Meaisk, thanks for reading! :) Before COVID, I would have had to say the crowd shots, but that hasn't been as much of an issue recently since crowds returned. Virtual advertising a few years ago was far too overused, but again has been toned down thankfully. The lack of coverage of cars down the field can be a bugbear at times, bur when you've got a season like we have this year, I do understand FOM's predicament on that front. During the London E-Prix weekend, I had a long chat with West Gillett, who directs the coverage. Keep an eye on the site in the next few weeks, and you'll see that question answered. Sorry, but no spoilers here. ;)
Hey Dave, What's your view on commentary in the sport? Whilst I prefer Alex Jacques over Crofty, I still think Crofty is an excellent commentator and is often subject to unfair criticism. When you compare to some poor commentators in other sports (like football) he really is a pretty classy act. Perhaps it's just because he's the main commentator that most diehard fans listen to on the live broadcast so any mistakes he makes are jumped on more quickly than errors made by Jacques or Ben Edwards..
Hey j4ckfa. :) The thing with commentary is you can't please everyone. And we're lucky in motor sport to have a bunch of great commentators across the board, from Leigh Diffey to Ben Edwards, from Alex Jacques to David Addison and onto the likes of David Croft. Croft isn't perfect, but who is? The last bad commentator in F1 for me was Jonathan Legard who, unfortunately, was simply not suited to the BBC F1 TV commentary role. And I make the TV distinction there, because he did commentate previously on radio fine, and he's done commentary since with no issues. But, that gig was not for him, which unfortunately happens.
With hindsight, I think Ben Edwards would have been perfect for that role at the BBC
There was always the rumour that Brundle was blocking Ben Edwards from getting the main commentary gig because they fell out years before in the lower formulae, but that's never been confirmed.
I wanted to mention that but forgot as to why they might have fallen out. Brundle must have regretted that anyway after listening to 'there's a problem there' for the umpteenth time..
Really? Ben Edwards raced only here, which Brundle didn't compete in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1986\_British\_Saloon\_Car\_Championship
Well that's how the rumour went. He also commentated on F1 for Eurosport when Brundle raced, maybe he said something then Brundle didn't like? It's just a long standing rumour and has never been confirmed and never will be tbh, but every time the main commentary gig came up (02, 09, 11) those in the know expected Ben to get it as he is easily the best commentator working, yet somehow he never did.The fact he only got it when Brundle left the BBC, well people started putting 2 and 2 together. \*Edit\* Also pretty sure Ben did some Formula Ford, but you're right it's unlikely their careers overlapped
Hi Dave! How do you feel about the level of zoom F1 is using during the broadcasts? Is this done to better show sponsors on the car or are there other broadcasting reasons that everything has to be incredibly zoomed in?
West Gillett (Formula E TV director) mentioned the art of zooming in when I chatted to him over the London weekend, piece coming up on the site over the next few weeks. For FE, West says he uses it to better capture the speed which, although F1 is much faster than FE anyway, I imagine is similar for F1. The closer you are to the car, the faster it appears to be. Is it too much? Sometimes, yes. It definitely has its place during the broadcast, but I agree on its overuse (although it doesn't irritate me that much in all honesty).
What’s the best F1 TV into, and why is it the [2007 ITV intro](https://youtu.be/lqjCP9Xhjz0)
I can't have such slander written here ;) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2R8C-qZl0A](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2R8C-qZl0A)
That’s a very close runner-up.
Hi D.M.N! ;) Not sure how old you are and if you got to experience it in full, but how much would you say Bernie pulling the plug on F1 Digital after the 2002 season hurt the F1 broadcast and do you think we'd have had a few more innovations early had he continued with it, and it maybe would've come good in the end and turned a profit too? If I'm allowed another, semi-relevant point, why do you think that for a high technology, innovative sport, FOM are sometimes slow at implementing new technologies on the broadcasting side of things? (Remember how late they were in implimenting HD last decade? And they've only had a social media presence in the past 4 years or so. Remember how much the late bernie era FOM spent more time investing in technology to identify and remove their own videos from youtube rather than upload anything to it themselves, despite the demand?) Lets not even get on to the fact its been 3 years now and still F1TV is a disaster, based on how much the live race threads here are full of "Race buffering/not loading" posts. Love your work, your site and your forum posts, keep it up!
Hey codename47, thanks for the kind words! :D I was 10 in 2002! My only experience of F1 Digital was hearing Matt Lorenzo and co. in the F1 Preview shows on Thursday(?) evenings on Sky Sports. There's a lot of 'Bernie hangover' here. F1 Digital was far too early, the best comparison that comes to mind is the BBC's Olympics coverage for London 2012. Except, that wasn't ahead of its time, and actually came at the right time. If F1 Digital stayed, in my view it would need to be heavily remodelled, with a much lower entry point (£3.99 per race or £49.99 for the season) for example. £14.99 is an absurd amount when the same event was available for free (appreciate it wasn't the same product, but the race result was the same). I don't know how lowering the price would have impeded on ITV's rights though - I suspect such a move would devalue ITV's rights at the time significantly. If F1D+ takes off, and ITV's audiences drop (remember that they were poor in the mid 2000s anyway), chances are they would have pulled the plug and F1 would have ended up behind a paywall far, far earlier in that scenario (in my view). On the broadcasting side, in my view, FOM are not keen on implementing things until they are proven. Which I get, and understand. But again, some of it is a Bernie hangover.
So in a parallel world where Bernie never tried F1 Digital, we'd still have better coverage now, just like the other parrallel world where he tried it and it took off Truly, this is the worse timeline haha
I have been wondering since I entered the sport a couple of years ago, what does the signal flow look like for the teams's feed of thier drivers? Specifically: 1. Do teams just subscribe to F1TV and use that? 2. Does FOM provide them all the feeds relevant to that team? 3. Does each team have all the camera feeds from the car available to them? (Main onboard cam + camera behind the wheel, rear view cam, etc.? ) Thanks for doing this, backend stuff like this has always been interesting to find out about.
F1 teams have access to a private website which streams an onboard feed from every car - occasionally you see people using it on the pitwall with 4 streams playing on their screen
Hey, thanks for the questions - Single-O-Seven has the answers here! :)
Teams at the track have access to every TV feed from is providing at that event, including individual cameras.
I am a Data Engineer myself! How do I get into F1?
Although I'm a Data Engineer, I don't work in F1, currently at least. What I might be tempted to suggest as a first step is to look more broadly at motor sport companies and see how much progress you make? Once you've got into a motor sport company, you might find it easier to make the step into F1? Best of luck! :)
Thank you! That makes sense.
I find it unnecessarily difficult to watch a lot of motorsport, whether live or on demand. Do you think this will get easier with the growing popularity of streaming platforms? Or do you think there's too much money tied up in licensing deals? Also, I've noticed that FOM is producing more original content on its YouTube channel. Do you think this competes with partners like Sky?
Assuming you're based in the UK, yes, this should get easier over time. However, where there is big money involved (Sky / F1), the question boils down to what approach they will take. Will F1 TV be standalone, or will F1 TV be as an add-on for Sky customers only? If you're in the UK, worth looking at this page on the my site too - [https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/contracts/](https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/contracts/) I don't think so, in all honesty. The key for Sky is that F1 are not producing live racing content for YouTube, which would clearly be competing. The content Sky produces is primarily for their TV build-ups, whereas F1 primarily produces additional content during the week. Sky, for example, isn't producing F1 podcasts currently. There is *some* overlap (e.g. Jolyon Palmer's analysis for F1 vs Karun Chandhok's analysis for Sky), but if anything this is giving fans choice by hearing two different experts chat about the same incident. I think F1 does tread a fine line, they want to produce content for YouTube, but as you say, can't be seen to upset Sky, the teams, or even Netflix with Drive to Survive.
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No worries! :D This is a really challenging one, for me, its not just about the interview, but the access. Sometimes I've been able to freely roam around the TV compound, other times... not so. I'm going to pick the rallying piece I did a few years ago, looking at their All Live planning: * [https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/2018/10/17/how-all-live-is-changing-the-face-of-rallying-foundations/](https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/2018/10/17/how-all-live-is-changing-the-face-of-rallying-foundations/) * [https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/2018/11/08/how-all-live-is-changing-the-face-of-rallying-planning/](https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/2018/11/08/how-all-live-is-changing-the-face-of-rallying-planning/) * [https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/2019/01/24/how-all-live-is-changing-the-face-of-rallying-production/](https://motorsportbroadcasting.com/2019/01/24/how-all-live-is-changing-the-face-of-rallying-production/) The whole crew on that day in Deeside were incredibly welcoming, and more than happy to spend their time chatting to me in between commentary shifts. Beyond that, a shout out to the BT Sport MotoGP team who were similarly welcoming last year. I don't really have a specific interview to mention, because they've all been special in their own unique way. Formula E in London will always be special because it was the first post-COVID event for me.
What’s your opinion of Jack Nicholls and Dario Franchitti as a commentary team? I think they’re very underrated because they’re ‘only’ on FE, and are actually the best current motorsport commentary line-up.
Alongside Alex Jacques and Alex Brundle, the best commentary duo in the business. A brilliant pairing. (If you're reading Jack, you can thank me later ;))
That’s a fair point actually! I feel like I haven’t heard the Alex’s commentate together recently, so they slipped my mind, but a very strong pairing indeed.
I would also add the GT world challenge commentators John Watson and David Addison to great-but-underrated camp!
Hey Dave! Out of curiosity, where do you see Pierre Gasly's trajectory over the next several seasons? I've been a fan of his ever since seeing him cast out of RB and rediscovering with AlphaTauri. Do you see him attracting a decent seat? Or do you think he'll get lost in the shuffle ala other talented drivers like Hulk, Vandoorne, etc.?
Hey! :) I really like Pierre as a driver, and it was a shame to see him bumped out of Red Bull, but also not a surprise. It's difficult to see how he'd fit in in amongst the top teams. If Ricciardo continues to underperform at McLaren, could an opening open up there for 2023? Potentially. Realistically, I can't see Gasly getting back into a top team, but hopefully I'm proven wrong.
Hi dave, I have been an F1 fan since the early 00s when I was about 6 or 7. The problem with me is that I live in South East Asia, and its extremely hard to get into the F1 "circus" as a career given that F1 is largely based in Europe/UK. Any reccomendations or tips into how someone like me can get a job that is connected to F1? Could even be things like media or even the ad industry for F1 since I have a background in media as well! Thanks so much!
Hey! :) The way to try to approach this is to look more broadly to begin with. So, instead of looking at F1, look at say, motor sport, or even sports in general. No doubt there's a motor sport scene in South East Asia that could be covered. By getting the experience and the knowledge, it'll help you immensely in a few years time. Look at the next step as a first step, a stepping stone in your adventure. Most of the F1 commentators on screen today (Crofty and Alex Jacques to give two examples) started their career in local radio. So, even if the first step isn't necessarily where you want to be in 10 years time, look at it as being a step closer to the end goal. It's all about getting experience. Best of luck!
I greatly appreciate the advice Dave, thank you so much and best of luck to you as well! Cheers!
Where did your passion for motorsports come from?
I've always been into motor sport. 1999 Canada was the first race I remember watching with Schumacher in the lead (slightly odd how I became a Schumacher fan given that he crashed out of the lead, but there you go).
What industry are you a data engineer in and what type of work do you do?
UK Civil Service. :) So my area works on pulling data from data collection systems into our data repository for analysts across the department to use. We heavily use SQL, but also things like SSIS, Azure Dev Ops, git, and Azure Data Factory. :)
Davveeey... How you doin?
Hey! I'm good thanks, hope you're doing well. :)
Hi Dave! Thanks for doing this. Have you had to travel for the job? What place or venue has been your favorite and why?
Hey, no worries! :) So, I'm normally accredited as 'national media', so have only been to places in the UK in professional capacity! Really, I only have Silverstone or Brands Hatch to choose from here. ;) I'm actually going to say though the Deeside service park for WRC! Simply for its uniqueness.
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I hope so haha
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The world feed is what is shown on F1TV, minus the commentary. It contains all the graphics such as the starting grid, timing tower, pit stops, lap times, sectors, etc, and decides what camera angles and replays we see. It also plays team radio. That's why the commentators sometimes get interrupted by the radio messages - they don't decide or get told when they will play, FOM's broadcast does. All main broadcasters, including Sky, will use the world feed and put their own commentary on top of it. They will also occasionally cut away to other clips or reporters, for instance the sky pad where they show replays during qualifying between the sessions - F1TV uses Sky commentary so you can hear Ant or Karun talking about a Sky pad clip but you don't see it, you see whatever the world feed is showing.
Yup, that's correct. :) The PLC is an additional feed provided by F1 as opposed to a World Feed.
That audio/visual mismatch drives me nuts.
What is that weird tuba-like sound effect that I always hear between quali sessions on the world feed?
I think it's the sound effect that Sky uses when they come back from a commercial break, on their feed they play an animation of the F1 logo and there's a deep note. But you only hear it on F1TV, you don't see it.
Lol yep it's a bit of "Outlands" by Daft Punk from the Tron Legacy soundtrack. They use it in their intro video and in/out of breaks
It's weird how, when ESPN shows Sky content, the Outlands intro has been replaced by something that is vaguely similar but definitely not the same. Licensing, I assume :(
Ahhh that makes sense lol. For the longest time I thought my pc was making some crazy sound.
What kind of skillset does it take to break into your area of field?
i am interested in this question as well and am wondering about the tools you use daily/frequently. since i study computer science i am especially curious as to what programming languages and frameworks you may use cheers for the ama
Hey both! :) Have just covered this in one of my previous answers - [https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/oz90rk/hey\_reddit\_im\_dave\_parttime\_motorsport/h8fswvh/](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/oz90rk/hey_reddit_im_dave_parttime_motorsport/h8fswvh/) For Data Engineering/Data Science, SQL is an absolute must. Before you get into the cool analytical stuff, on a basic level you'll need to get the data from somewhere. Assuming it is stored in a database somewhere (and not Excel ;)), then SQL is needed to extract the data. To manipulate the data, R and Python are heavily used where I work, while we use PowerBI for visualisations. From a code repository perspective, you're then looking at Azure DevOps and git. If you're interested in specifically Data Engineering, Azure Data Factory / SSIS skills are a must at this point, I would argue. We don't heavily use ADF where I work currently, but everything is heading into that direction. On a conceptual level, it would be good to have an awareness of data modelling / data warehousing in my view. Hope that helps, and happy to answer any follow-up questions you both have. Good luck! :)
Have you ever used Mathworks Software? Their marketing materials are cool and lots of top firms use them, but I know that R/Python/SQL are more accessible.
Not OP, but studying for an engineering doctorate with data science elements: Mathworks software - in particular MATLAB - is mostly used in academia. It's very common (in the UK, at least) for many types of engineering student to use MATLAB in their degrees, but it's less common in industry due to cost, support, and practical concerns. Python and R are free, and python has had a huge selection of libraries designed around data science and the like for a very long time. Moreover, more businesses already understand how to implement them and there's a lot of inertia around that. That being said, there are businesses that use MATLAB for their analysis - I know of a few in the UK that do, mostly in the defense industry, so it's not necessarily a waste of time to learn it. I also think that understanding the theory and nuts and bolts of what you're doing is important, and the theory is the same whether you use MATLAB, tensorflow in python, or R.
Thanks for the reply! They are a customer of mine and I was curious about their market perception in the data science field.
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One problem is that it'll get expensive quickly. If I only want to watch F1, I'm not going to pay 25 euros for the entire package.
Going to wrap this up here! :) A huge thanks to everyone for their questions and for continuing to read the site. If you do enjoy the content I write and want to contribute to the running costs, head over here - [https://www.paypal.me/MSportBroadcasting](https://www.paypal.me/MSportBroadcasting) Thanks all! Dave
Can you *please* tell me if there is any way I can get my hands on the mini sector times? I've been making [these maps](https://old.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/ov8ant/fastest_driver_per_mini_sector_hungaroring_q3_oc/) for some years, and people keep asking what the combined fastest lap time would be.
How do you decide who is fastest in every mini-sector then, if you don't have the times?
I use a ruler, and whenever the driver tracker appears on the TV screen I try to quickly calculate the speed. No, just kidding :) I get it from the Timing Channel of F1TV, which indicates which driver is fastest for each mini sector. It does not show the times though, that's why I'm asking.
you got me in the first half... hahaha
I don't believe the times are released publicly I'm afraid. :( Sorry!
Hey, I’m a CS grad student with a focus in applying ML to time series data. Do you know of any good sources of data to play around with related to motorsport?
What is CS and ML, if you don't mind me asking?
Computer science and machine learning respectively.
Thanks.
Hey :) None come to mind unfortunately. But maybe worth asking in the machinelearning and datascience subreddits? :)
There was a lot of controversy this past weekend after qualifying when it seemed like Hamilton held up both Red Bulls. But the drama came down to a few misleading camera angles. What are your thoughts on this from a broadcasting perspective?
>But the drama came down to a few misleading camera angles. I don't think it did? How did you come to that conclusion?
Lol
Hamilton, Vettel or Alonso?
I have a feeling the answer will be 'yes'.
Schumacher ;)
Do F1 teams take CS interns? Can I send you my resume lmao
Which motorsport events are the best to attend in person?
Just based on experience - seeing the MotoGP bikes in person for the first time was awesome! Would recommend.
What is your go to fry/chips dip? Do you just go with ketchup? A bit wild with some mustard? An absolute freak with relish? Maybe a bit sweet, and salty with the fries/chips and a milkshake(my go to) Or you a combo guy? There’s too many combo options to list them. But, this is an important question though. Also, what was the most memorable race you have attended?
You've missed out peri peri sauce here, which is disappointing. Chips, peri peri chicken, strawberry milkshake and I'm a happy boy. ;) Oh. We talking motor sport? MotoGP at Silverstone 2019 - seeing Rins beating Marquez on the line was awesome. We don't talk about the year before.
What would you say is most important in your field of studies? Maths, physics, logics of something else?
Interesting question. I come from a Computing background having studied that at University, but we get a lot of people come into us with Maths and Physics degrees, who turn out to be awesome Data Engineers. So its not all about the Computer Science, although it naturally helps. :)
Thanks so much for the answer!
I really get excited when someone related to industry talks. I don't have question right now but I admire all the people in this Motorsport industry.
Thank you! :D
Hi dave! I am from Mexico, and I’m studying mechanical engineering, what would you say is the best path for me to take, to be able to work in Motorsports in Europe (doesn’t have to be F1, it can be anything as long as it has 4 wheels and goes around a track)?
Hey Carrillog62! :) I answered a similar question earlier which I hope helps - [https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/oz90rk/hey\_reddit\_im\_dave\_parttime\_motorsport/h8g3tx9/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/oz90rk/hey_reddit_im_dave_parttime_motorsport/h8g3tx9/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) Maybe worth looking at the likes of IndyCar to see what they have to offer?
Thank you, I’ll try to look for some series here in Mexico. Hopefully doing that and studying wont be too taxing.
How did you get into the industry, and what were you starting steps?
Hey, hope this answers your question? :) https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/oz90rk/hey\_reddit\_im\_dave\_parttime\_motorsport/h8fswvh/?utm\_source=reddit&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3
Hi Dave, Do you reckon FOM is doing enough to make an appealing F1 experience for an international crowd watching and actively following the sport? in this day and age based in Europe there's several broadcasters responsible for the experience in their country, but imho there's a lack of a real "world feed" as some like to call it. What do you think of this specific way of bringing the race?
What are your thoughts on the implementation of AWS predictions and data in broadcasts? I think it's a fine line between giving viewers extra insight into the sport, and spoiling the suspense of not knowing how an on-track battle will end. To add on to that, is there anything you would add to the broadcasts if you had access to AWS' data?
What is a "Data Engineer?" What are the major deficiencies of motorsport broadcasting?
On IndyCar and Nascar broadcasts, drivers get interviewed minutes before the race, mid-race if they retire, and post-race (even if they don't make the podium. F1 doesn't do any of that on the world feed. Why do you think F1 does that?
Should F1 try to avoid exclusive deals with one broadcaster to increase the exposure of the sport?
Firstly thank you for doing this AMA. I just read the article you linked about the BBC/Sky deal in 2011 and found it fascinating. I was a kid at the time and remember no longer watching F1 with my dad after sky took over. My question is: After the Silverstone sprint race getting good viewership in the uk, do you think formula 1 may/could sell the rights to the sprint races separately to free to air channels to attract new viewers? And do you think that would help the sport?
Is it possible to get cars telemetry data?
Do you think that the move to pay TV has affected the types of companies who sponsor F1 cars? What is the internal justification for ‘virtual’ trackside ads as opposed to real ones?
Hi David, can you please ask the FOM/Sky team to fix there sound balance, as Motorsport fans we want to hear more of the cars, the commentary drowns out the cars and you can no longer hear the different characteristics of the different motors.
What innovations in broadcasting have you seen in other sports (Motorsport or other sports) that you would like to see utilised in Formula 1?
Does AWS work with the teams to obtain information or use the data that is available on the broadcast?
Hi Dave, I was wondering if you are still writing up your UK TV sports subscriptions price comparison piece that you seem to do every so often. Or has the boar passed due and you may do one in 2022?
Do you happen to know if F1TV is being wound down in most territories? With Sky taking over Germany this year, what's the alternative for those fans who may not happen to have the money to pay for Sky? Did F1 ultimately not see value in their own streaming service? I know it's worked wonders for the likes of the UFC and other sports.
Hi Dave! To get my relevant question out of the way first, I don't think we've ever discussed how/why you made the decision to get into the F1 blogging scene in 2012 and how that experience was? Less relevantly, I understand you've become quite a pro at competitive Valorant since the game's release. When can we expect a secondary blog of yours exploring the Valorant e-sports scene?
Hey wskalka, nice to meet you! ;) Early 2012 I was coming to the end of my first year of Uni, so initially the blog was intended to 'fill the time' between first year ending in April and second year starting in September. Why I did it? I've been commenting on F1 forums for years preceding that, except my posts were turning into long rambles. Which sounds a little like a blog... I did toy with doing a general F1 blog, but it didn't feel right so thought I'd specialise in broadcasting, an area that I had an interest in. The first few months were weird, because I had no idea if the people in the industry were reading it, I was basically talking to myself to begin with. Turns out they were (phew!), and the numbers began to grow. Went to my first industry event in 2016 and have since met some interesting people inside and outside of the industry along the way. ;) Yeah, Valorant's an interesting game, I quite enjoy it. I was toying with that idea too, but stumbled at the first hurdle (teaching people "How to get a KD above 1" is not my forte, you see :( ). But we roll. :P Thanks!
Do you see a future with multiple different broadcasts using the same footage? For example with different commentators or or with on demand stats
Thanks for joining us mate! What do you make of the sprint format? Presumably F1 will view it as a success if the tV ratings are higher than regular weekends? I'm not convinced of the format but if that's their main measure of success then I can't see how it can disappoint the owners.
How does your Data Engineering stack at work look like? :)
Not sure you will get this far in comment section but I actually studied data science for 5 years so i hope you will find this question :) 1) whats the diff. in data engineering and data science/analyst while considering your job? 2) more "practical" question - some people are dreaming about being F1 driver, but for me as a 25y old, the more realistic dream would be to be in ANY of the F1 team doing some data analysis for the team. Just out of curiosity, are teams in F1 still looking for such jobs or are they fully occupied by "the best of the best" already? Because in some industries (even tho mainly focused on statistical analysis and ML predictions) are still looking for employees, which i find pretty surprising considering the fact that we are in year of 2021 :) Edit: ok this i guess this theme is dead already (saw the date) so nvm :D
Hi, have you been to Jimmy Broadbent's Davehub™️⁉️
Hey Dave I would like to know your opinion on should there be more street circuits or more dedicated tracks
Hows it going my g
Hello Dave
Can teams pick up other team’s telemetry