Streaming service is OFFICIAL!!!

[Armchair Expert]

They had well over 12 months to get it ready and yet still failed. The more things change, nothing really changes. F1 is a laughing stock now and it will get only worse.

[mds]

Lmao. In Belgium, where half of the country speaks Dutch with the other official languages being French and a minority speaking German, we will get commentary in French, German and... Spanish!

I have no idea who decided that or how they went about their decision-making, but that is ridiculous. Even if they can't offer Dutch, English would be so much better.

Idiots.

[Exediron]

Lmao. In Belgium, where half of the country speaks Dutch with the other official languages being French and a minority speaking German, we will get commentary in French, German and... Spanish!

I have no idea who decided that or how they went about their decision-making, but that is ridiculous. Even if they can't offer Dutch, English would be so much better.

Idiots.

I doubt there are enough Dutch speakers worldwide to make it cost effective, so I can see their point for not offering Dutch as an option. That said, I do think they could have done at least a little research before deciding on Spanish as the third language...

[mds]

Lmao. In Belgium, where half of the country speaks Dutch with the other official languages being French and a minority speaking German, we will get commentary in French, German and... Spanish!

I have no idea who decided that or how they went about their decision-making, but that is ridiculous. Even if they can't offer Dutch, English would be so much better.

Idiots.

I doubt there are enough Dutch speakers worldwide to make it cost effective, so I can see their point for not offering Dutch as an option. That said, I do think they could have done at least a little research before deciding on Spanish as the third language...

Well yes, I can live without the Dutch, we're pretty used to not having it as an option. But then English should be a no-brainer as third language. Baffling choice to make it Spanish. They probably let a monkey throw a dart at a board with some languages on it to decide.

[Zoue]

Lmao. In Belgium, where half of the country speaks Dutch with the other official languages being French and a minority speaking German, we will get commentary in French, German and... Spanish!

I have no idea who decided that or how they went about their decision-making, but that is ridiculous. Even if they can't offer Dutch, English would be so much better.

Idiots.

I doubt there are enough Dutch speakers worldwide to make it cost effective, so I can see their point for not offering Dutch as an option. That said, I do think they could have done at least a little research before deciding on Spanish as the third language...

Well yes, I can live without the Dutch, we're pretty used to not having it as an option. But then English should be a no-brainer as third language. Baffling choice to make it Spanish. They probably let a monkey throw a dart at a board with some languages on it to decide.

[UnlikeUday]

The launch of the streaming service that was planned for the Australian Grand Prix weekend has been postponed:
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/formula-one ... ng-service

[vlad_t]

Looks like they royally effed it up. I was so hoping to be able to use it for season opener

[lamo]

Lmao. In Belgium, where half of the country speaks Dutch with the other official languages being French and a minority speaking German, we will get commentary in French, German and... Spanish!

I have no idea who decided that or how they went about their decision-making, but that is ridiculous. Even if they can't offer Dutch, English would be so much better.

Idiots.

I doubt there are enough Dutch speakers worldwide to make it cost effective, so I can see their point for not offering Dutch as an option. That said, I do think they could have done at least a little research before deciding on Spanish as the third language...

Well yes, I can live without the Dutch, we're pretty used to not having it as an option. But then English should be a no-brainer as third language. Baffling choice to make it Spanish. They probably let a monkey throw a dart at a board with some languages on it to decide.

Sí estoy de acuerdo

[ShaneM]

Is anybody yet using this service? If so how is it working?

[Liket]

They've postponed the launch, said they were using the first GP for stress testing the service.

[speedy_bob]

Well yes, I can live without the Dutch, we're pretty used to not having it as an option. But then English should be a no-brainer as third language. Baffling choice to make it Spanish. They probably let a monkey throw a dart at a board with some languages on it to decide.

mds, practically, how do you watch F1 at the moment? My default is RTBF, I quite like Gaetan Vigneron's comments. I've tried Telenet in the past, but the commentators are just so un-enthusiastic that I was glad my free trial period was..wel...free.

I've got RTL Germany as a second option, but they just have too many add breaks.

Telenet keeps trying to lure me back, but Kris Wauters just doesn't show the enthusiasm needed to fulfill my need. I want to listen to someone that actually seems to care about the racing, not someone that tries to stay calm and unimpressed the whole time.

[mds]

Well yes, I can live without the Dutch, we're pretty used to not having it as an option. But then English should be a no-brainer as third language. Baffling choice to make it Spanish. They probably let a monkey throw a dart at a board with some languages on it to decide.

mds, practically, how do you watch F1 at the moment? My default is RTBF, I quite like Gaetan Vigneron's comments. I've tried Telenet in the past, but the commentators are just so un-enthusiastic that I was glad my free trial period was..wel...free.

I've got RTL Germany as a second option, but they just have too many add breaks.

Telenet keeps trying to lure me back, but Kris Wauters just doesn't show the enthusiasm needed to fulfill my need. I want to listen to someone that actually seems to care about the racing, not someone that tries to stay calm and unimpressed the whole time.

La Une/La Deux usually, commentary is OK, not a lot of commercial breaks and they are usually well-timed. I sometimes mute it and listen to the English live timing app commentary - which includes more team radio fragments which I like.

Telenet is OK for the extra content they give, I could also use the commentary from the app to not have to listen to Wauters, but I refuse to pay up for Play Sports when F1 is all I would use it for. They used to have Motors TV in Play Sports and I had it for half a year back then, but then they dropped it and it's just not worth it anymore now to me.

[shay550]

I subscribed to the service this year hoping they ironed out the kinks after one year. Generally pretty good. The on-screen graphics are useful. When watching a replay fast forward on your phone is difficult with my butter fingers, also - it would be cool if they added a +30 sec, - 30 sec like netflix and other video apps have. The archive isn't as extensive I thought - also there is no commentary so you are just watching the cars whizzing by without much context which takes the excitement out of it to be honest. I'm sure BBC/ITV will charge an arm and leg to license Murray Walker/James Hunt commentary. I wouldn't mind the US commentators Hobbs/Varsha/Matchett. Some commentary versus no commentary would greatly make that archive feature better. I experienced some buffering with the live stream - not sure if that's my internet or others have experienced it too? With a few more improvement they should be able to make this app more sticky.

[sandman1347]

I subscribed to the service this year hoping they ironed out the kinks after one year. Generally pretty good. The on-screen graphics are useful. When watching a replay fast forward on your phone is difficult with my butter fingers, also - it would be cool if they added a +30 sec, - 30 sec like netflix and other video apps have. The archive isn't as extensive I thought - also there is no commentary so you are just watching the cars whizzing by without much context which takes the excitement out of it to be honest. I'm sure BBC/ITV will charge an arm and leg to license Murray Walker/James Hunt commentary. I wouldn't mind the US commentators Hobbs/Varsha/Matchett. Some commentary versus no commentary would greatly make that archive feature better. I experienced some buffering with the live stream - not sure if that's my internet or others have experienced it too? With a few more improvement they should be able to make this app more sticky.

can it be run directly from a smart tv or using a game console or do they only have a smart phone app and a desktop version?

[shay550]

I don't think it can unless you use airplay. I'm hoping they roll this out soon.

[Lord Crc]

Anyone tried it out?

Getting Sky isn't an option for me, so this looks like a nice way to get official access. The onboard options look interesting too, like in China just now I'd rather want to follow Kimi's fight than watch a Ferrari drive around with no-one around him for the 15th lap in a row.

[Liket]

It's good enough for me, been using it since Melbourne and mostly watched it as a replay an hour or so after the race has finished, or more. But the replay is available fairly quickly after the race so that's nice. It could definitely be a lot better, there are several things that I take for granted since several years when it comes to streaming services that aren't there, the player is very bare bones.

It costs less than 1/5th of what the TV alternative costs in my region, though, so I mean... And on that service you can only watch each session within 3 hours or so after race start, then it's gone. Big minus for me who has small children and would rather watch the race when I can do it in peace, with a beer or something.

Haven't played around with anything but the main feed, so can't comment on that.

[Lord Crc]

Thanks for the feedback!

[F1Oz]

sky isn't in Australia - we had until this year only 'Foxtel' which charged a substantial monthly charge and a connection charge meaning races cost about $100 each (bit less when they removed all but the Australian GP from normal TV except a 35-40 min highlight a day later (including qualifying) - one hour but with more adds than technically is legal it seemed - but we have Kayo now that has F1 at under $13 a month and can cancel - Foxtel is a total rip off and I'll never subscribe - but son wanted AFL and with a few devices possible - it's been better for the first time in years.

The reality is that F1 is shooting itself in the foot - if younger interested fans can't watch - they won't get interested and F1's audience will drop off markedly in about 10 years as will most of the money for F1 - already it may be too late - by 2030 F1 may be - what's that / who cares?