Ben Holmes

Literally the funniest thing about the Winter Olympics is everyone assuming this is the first time alpine sports have been covered in 4 years. Those drone shots of skiing have been in use for several years. There’s an actual World Cup series etc.

F1 accidentally making timing data available at the start of a secret test and only shutting it down at lunchtime is peak F1.

All 19 seconds of it! I’m willing to bet that was originally 60 seconds before engineering got hold of it.

The livestream lost most of its viewers after the reveal. I mean I get your point, but this event was very much about Ford, hence the timing for a US audience. What else were they going to do?

Available on Prime at the moment. Added to list!

I think silly is about right. Love Crudup who was excellent in Harry Clarke, not to mention Denise Gough, but nothing about this show hung together, clunky immigration storyline included. Given the era we live in, this seemed like a missed opportunity to put it mildly.

Good find. But contracts like that are renegotiated all the time. Renault/Alpine could simply change the terms if they thought the sale was in their interests. A sweetener/penalty for early release of shares would be the most obvious way.

Lovely bloke too.

Not saying it’s not still a LOT of money, but over 60% of that will go on tax, and expenses etc. I’m pretty sure however he’s making good money doing exhibitions and appearances as well so - tiny violin.

He’s special. But they don’t all survive the tour. So let’s see if he can keep his head.

Could have said the same thing about MVG at one point. Remember the Rob Cross hype? The extraordinary thing about Taylor was his longevity. Littler has to show staying power in my book.

I bet FIFA feel pretty stupid right now.

There are odd days I miss my years working on Sky Darts. Then I thought “I could have just spent 4 hours making a Ryan Searle promo” and I calmed down.

Had a disgusting reply to this which led to me blocking someone here for the first time. Once again your perceived dislike for a team, or love of another driver should not be a factor in how you feel about this. I’m sick of the online discourse around a bloody sport.

if I’m honest that any of this is ANYONE’s business except theirs. But people will make it about the sport when it isn’t. I made sacrifices for my job in sport and F1 I regret now my sons are grown. We ask too much of people who travel and work generally. More so in F1 than is reasonable. Rant ends

everyone in F1. It’s almost like you can’t say it because “you’re lucky to work in it”. And seriously - fuck anyone who says that. How dare you presume to choose what someone should or should not do with their lives because of your favourite driver? Yes I’m a bit angry today and heartbroken

Whilst F1 news is full of rumours and angry comments about a certain race engineer going to Aston Martin, the same man (one of the nicest and most private people I’ve ever met) has been through every dad and husband’s worst nightmare. I have spoken before about the toll the F1 life takes on

Love it when the realities of broadcast workflows gets in the way of censorship. Willing to bet that’s now the most viewed segment in 60 minutes history.

Made by Richard’s son Linus. He’s been working on it for years.

Then keep it to sports where it matters is the answer surely? Not trying to be an arse about it, but it has to mean something otherwise what’s the point? It genuinely feels like something from the 1980’s to me.

Nonetheless I doubt a single one of the candidates could care less.

I struggle to think of any award with less relevance than SPOTY in 2025. Apart from the FIFA peace prize.

It’s like winning a Blockbuster Award.

MBS is the person most likely to give Trump a peace award next isn’t he?

Bloody woke fonts.

So farewell then Helmut. No one will miss him on a personal level, and many will be relieved he’s gone to put it mildly. The question is will Austria now replace him with a racer? Or corporate the team into the ground?

I loved the early footage of Oscar and the interview with their early team bosses and mechanics.

I think if most fans had a real understanding of what it is to produce hundreds of hours of live broadcasting they’d have a different perspective. Nothing is perfect. No one is going to be happy with everything. But ultimately everyone just wants the sport covered the best they can.

I’ll take that. Have a good christmas mate.

Fine to have a go at what it costs (I have to pay it too) but by god if you love the sport and want it covered you’ve never had it so good. And they spend their time trying to be fair and accurate whilst maintaining access and relationships with teams. If you think that’s easy, here’s a bridge.

One more F1 post for the year: I had the pleasure of working with the Sky F1 team again this year, and thought today’s show was great. I cannot emphasise enough how a relatively small team is put so much effort into so much TV. Easy to sit on your sofa and criticise but it’s hard and they CARE.