Unlike so many sports, Formula 1 offers its viewers so many different options for how to follow the live action – albeit limited by region based on broadcast agreements.
The sport has evolved unrecognisably from the early 90s, where all that fans had available was a single world feed broadcast that provided all the coverage and information about the race that was available to viewers.Over time, Formula 1 and its broadcast partners expanded some of the viewing options available to audiences. The growth of the internet also had a major impact on how fans consumed the sport, with F1 and even the teams themselves opening up all new channels of data and information during races that had previously never been available before.
In modern times, there’s more choices and options available than ever before. For many fans, F1 is no longer just a ‘single screen’ experience, as many will watch along with multiple windows on their computers or with their phones or tablets as well as their television.
So in 2024, how do you, the readers of RaceFans, like to follow the live action from a grand prix? Is simplicity best, or is there no such thing as information overload when it comes to following F1?
Radio commentary
One less common avenue of following Formula 1 live that does not involve any images at all is radio commentary. Broadcasters like BBC Radio 5 Live in the United Kingdom provide live radio commentary of races, describing the action without the benefit of pictures.
This is convenient for those fans who want to follow along live but are unable to watch, such as those stuck at work on Sundays or out driving when the races are on. But they also allow fans who might be happy to carry on with their weekend activities from home the opportunity to keep doing what their doing while listening along to how the race is progressing, without having to sit down on the sofa to watch.
Some viewers might also prefer the commentary teams available on the radio to the television crews and may mute their TVs to listen to their preferred announcers.
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World feed
The quintessential form of watching Formula 1, the world feed curated by FOM is shared to all networks who broadcast the sport and is how the vast majority of fans follow along with what is happening.
Providing an overall picture of how the race is progressing, the world feed attempts to cover the key and major action throughout the field. A timing tower to the left of the screen provides the live race positions at all times, while regular replays are used to ensure viewers don’t miss any of the action.
Over time, team radio clips have become a critical part of the world feed coverage. FOM selects which excerpts from driver radio they share with the viewers.
Live timing
A quintessential ‘second screen’ feed for many fans, live timing offers an detailed level of insight into the on track action that often can’t be gained from simply watching the world feed coverage.
Giving live data on gaps between cars, sector times, lap times, tyre compounds and tyre life, speed trap data and more, living timing provides viewers with much of the same information that the teams themselves are using to make critical race decisions on the pit wall.
As well as an official service on the F1 website and app, there is also a live timing feed available on many broadcast services including F1 TV, FOM’s own direct-to-consumer service.
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Onboard cameras
Few sports offer as close a view of the action from the competitors’ perspective as motorsport. Over the decades, the onboard camera has gone from occasional gimmick to a ubiquitous part of the broadcast with all 20 cars offering live feeds to the world feed.
Many F1 broadcast services offer some kind of access to selected onboard camera feeds. Whether that is a single curated feed that swaps between selected drivers based on the whim of a director, or F1 TV, where viewers can select which driver they want to follow along with during the race.
As well as being able to watch the race from the perspective of the viewer’s favourite driver, onboard feeds also provide the team radio chatter between driver and engineer – albeit slightly delayed and subject to censorship from FOM.
Driver tracker
A more recent addition to the options available to viewers compared to many others, the driver tracker is effectively a live map of the circuit that allows viewers to follow where each driver is on track throughout the race.
While live timing provides gaps between cars, the driver tracker offers a visual representation of where they physically are on the circuit. Not only can this help to show whether a driver is likely to emerge from the pit lane in front or behind a rival, it can also be used to track any drivers who might not be featured in the world feed coverage, such as the teams towards the back of the order.
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Social media feed
Like every form of entertainment in the current age, watching Formula 1 is a social experience if you want it to be. With so many social media platforms like Reddit, Threads or X (formerly Twitter), fans can react and debate the race live as they watch.
Although the quality of discourse on social media platforms can become fairly toxic to say the least, especially as many users are incentivised to say the most provocative and outrageous things for easy attention, a lot of fans do get extra enjoyment from participating in live discussions with other fans while watching.
Live watchalongs
A relatively new phenomenon that has arisen over the last decade with the growth of streaming platforms like Twitch, some popular figures in the F1 fan community broadcast live watchalongs of races where they watch and react to the events in real time.
Channels like P1 with Matt and Tommy regularly have thousands of viewers watching their reactions to races and interacting on live chat. Although they are prohibited from showing any race footage, many fans clearly enjoy the shared experience of watching live action with their favourite creators.
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Private voice calls
A variation on the watchalong format, only limited to select group of friends or family as opposed to open channels with hundreds or thousands of viewers.
With so many F1 related Discord servers out there open to members to join at their leisure or private communities of friends, some fans will join together on live calls to talk to each other and react to what is happening on track. If friends are unable to physically be together to watch races, this is perhaps the next best thing.
You say
How do you consume live Formula 1 in the modern age? Do you like to access as much data as possible or prefer a minimalist approach?
Which of the following do you regularly use to follow a live F1 event? (Select all that apply)
- Live voice call (Discord, Skype, etc) (0%)
- Live watchalongs (Twitch, etc) (1%)
- Social media feed (Reddit, Threads, etc) (6%)
- Driver tracker (10%)
- Onboard cameras (9%)
- Live timing (19%)
- TV world feed (51%)
- Radio commentary (no video) (5%)
Total Voters: 133

A RaceFans account is required in order to vote. If you do not have one, register an account here or read more about registering here. When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.
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Debates and polls
- How much F1 will you watch in another packed, 30-race season?
- Which F1 drivers will beat their team mates in 2025?
- Norris says 2024 showed he can win a championship. Are you convinced?
- Verstappen banned? Alpine sold? Which of these 2025 predictions will come true?
- Is F1 doing the right thing by overhauling car design rules again for 2026?
cswilly (@cswilly)
13th October 2024, 15:33
Dumbest poll ever! Should be able to select more than one way to watch. Also, it should have included Multiview F1.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th October 2024, 15:40
I think there is an error in the poll since it clearly asks us to select “all that apply” it seems indeed impossible to actually do so!
BasCB (@bascb)
13th October 2024, 15:59
so @willwood, @keithcollantine, you might want to check the poll and correct it!
Will Wood (@willwood)
13th October 2024, 16:18
Apologies.
Should allow you to select as many as apply now!
BasCB (@bascb)
13th October 2024, 18:13
Thanks Will!
MudShark (@mudshark)
13th October 2024, 23:59
I agree – I use none of the above – limited to watching highlights on UK TV – but you can’t vote without clicking at least one answer.
TheDonz
14th October 2024, 8:59
Agreed, ‘I just watch highlights’ should be a option!
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
14th October 2024, 19:10
Which option does the F1TV fall under? As far as I can tell it doesn’t fit any of those options.
PT (@pt)
17th October 2024, 9:38
@drycrust
TV world feed
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
13th October 2024, 15:52
Poll not working folks – I should be selecting three.
I’ll be back ;)
Sumedh
13th October 2024, 15:58
The question says ‘modern age’ and doesn’t even list OTT platform as an option. What modern age does this writer live in
notagrumpyfan
13th October 2024, 22:07
It’s most likely still the world feed, although F1TV offers some PiP proprietary footage as well.
But I guess in ‘the modern age’ people tend to react before fully reading/understanding what is said or asked ;)
Sumedh
14th October 2024, 4:16
The question clearly says ‘consume’, which means it is asking for the consumers’ perspective. For the consumer, having world feed on regular TV vs having regular feed on OTT are 2 different things. For example, in India, Fancode now creates a highlights package of all the action about 2-3 laps after it has happened (so that means I can scroll back to watch the start from lap 3 onwards and I can do it when I want and not necessarily when world feed wants to show it to me). Several regular TV networks overlay local language commentary over the world feed.
The term ‘World feed’ comes from a ‘production’ perspective as that is the content that is produced for distribution across OTT platforms and networks. But those platforms and networks modify the content as required and hence, that changes how the consumers ‘consume’.
And request you to read the question again and see if it is asking about ‘production’ or ‘consumption’
notagrumpyfan
14th October 2024, 7:37
Even those ‘highlights packages’ are firstly not ‘live’ (the word straight after ‘consume’) and secondly are still based on the ‘world feed’.
I gladly help you with filling in this questionnaire; you should click ‘world feed’.
And then you can include in the comments that you (also) consume taped replays of snippets of that same world feed.
Vikrant
14th October 2024, 8:34
While a can understand your point but sumedh point is valid. The poll designer has not considered that how consumers think. A regular consumer will not consider OTT within the ‘world feed’ option.
Also your wording “taped replay” does not sync with today’s audience. It is the similar point, keep consumers in mind before asking for such poll.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th October 2024, 15:59
As I could only choose one, I went for the world feed coverage, & typed the other ones here separately, which are the official F1 site’s Live Timing (a regular thing for me ever since early-2011) & consequently, its in-built driver tracker, although text commentary as well, for that matter.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
13th October 2024, 16:02
Since 2006 I had been watching the world-feed with the OnBoard-Mix alongside it. Initially via Premiere sport (Now Sky Germany), Then the BBC & finally Sky.
However now that I don’t watch via Sky I don’t have access to the OnBoard-Mix so i’ve started basically directing my own using the OnBoards on F1TV. I still wish the OnBoard-Mix was part of F1TV though as i’d rather just put that up & not have to think about switching around the feeds myself.
There was a time when i’d have the live timing up as well as a message board open to comment during the race but now I just stick to the world-feed and an OnBoard feed.
ryanoceros (@ryanoceros)
13th October 2024, 16:16
I watch the sky sports “international” feed which is a separate option from the default F1TV feed. Sometimes the commentary doesn’t match the images shown but on the video, but it’s better than the new F1TV default.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th October 2024, 16:38
I’ve always noted UK’s Sky using the same world feed coverage as well.
notagrumpyfan
13th October 2024, 22:12
I think that the F1TV commentary is way better, and especially less biased, than whatever Sky produces.
Simon
14th October 2024, 16:58
I prefer the F1TV team too, available (albeit in edited form) on the Channel 4 shows
Bob C.
13th October 2024, 16:17
For the races I watch(*), TV world feed, I believe (it is a national broacaster with local commentary, but I believe that the acutal TV feed is just the world one). For the rest, highlights from qualy and race on youtube.
I am just not sufficently anorak to run all sorts of data ‘n stuff in parallel with the plain race viewing. Too much like being at work, I guess.
(*) 16 was bad enough, now, given 24, I find myself saturated at about 10-12.
Anon A. Mouse
13th October 2024, 16:32
These days I use just about everything available to me.
Back when I first got into watching motorsport in 2009 all I had available in the States was Speed Channel. It began by watching a Grand Am race at Road America and was solidified by watching the ALMS series conclusion (On YouTube see: IMSA Throwback: 2009 Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca ALMS Final Laps). Getting into Formula 1 was purely by chance, as I happened to catch a rebroadcast of Suzuka I think in 2010. Speed Channel carried me for a couple years, but when I went to college I didn’t have TV access so there wasn’t much I could do. But thank goodness for the internet.
When Facebook was still rising in popularity and relevance I followed a handful of drivers’ pages. Whoever the admin was for Jensen Button’s page dropped the link to a pirated Sky Sports F1 stream and that completely changed the game for me. Until then I did not know that practice was broadcast. I had NEVER seen ANY sporting event broadcast in its entirety without commercials. Some of you Brits like to complain about Sky F1, but you truly don’t understand how good you have it. So from watching a commercial riddled race broadcast from Speed Channel (I’ll forever respect the trio of Bob Varsha, Steve Matchett, and David Hobbs – and Will Buxton was a terrific pit lane reporter. Fight me.), I went to watching all three practice sessions, qualifying, and the race, not to mention the pre/post race programming. While I would try to defer to Speed Channel, they simply could not compete with Sky Sports F1.
Not too long after, Fox shuttered Speed Channel and broadcast rights went to NBC. NBC was, is, and probably always will be the absolute worst motorsports broadcaster. Races wound up being more commercial than action. So I kept up with my pirated stream for several years. Eventually NBC would lose rights, and ESPN would pick them up. ESPN took the lazy, albeit better approach by just simulcasting the Sky Sports F1 broadcast. So then I would flip flop between the two, often using the pirated stream for all the extra content surrounding F1.
When F1TV came on the scene, and was finally available to the United States, that was yet another game changer for me. That allowed me to watch both the broadcast of the session AND a driver’s onboard (witness the fruits of that in the Radio Jargon post). I had long been a fan of race car onboards, stretching back to 2010 when I watched my first Daytona 24H. So to be able to watch F1 onboards in real time was “simply lovely”. Up until 2020ish I would still use a pirated Sky stream for the extras. These days I take advantage of Multi Viewer, so I’ve got the race broadcast, track map, timing and scoring (from F1TV), and Multi Viewer’s telemetry on one screen, and a driver’s onboard on another. I’m spoiled.
Asd
13th October 2024, 16:39
I watch the British or German broadcasts. I avoid USA-ian broadcast as they interject live sports with advertisments, which is just unacceptable.
I only watch Live Timings, social media and Onboard transmissions for the LeMans 24h. F1 races are too short and small in number of participants to need any extra info beyond the normal broadcast.
Neil (@neilosjames)
13th October 2024, 17:13
Just the world feed, standard TV option.
Partly because it seems the best way to me, and partly because things being out of sync bother me. It’s bad enough on the normal TV feed through Sky… onboard cameras are about 0.5-1 second behind the standard TV feed (I only really notice when they flick to/from them mid-overtake), and Sky’s pitlane reporters, when giving a report on a pit stop, are about 2-3 seconds ahead of the TV images. Again, only noticable when the TV feed picks up the same pit stop, but enough to bother me a bit.
Adding something like live timing or driver tracking would not only be an extra thing to take away my already limited attention, it’d probably be another thing that’s not perfectly in sync.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th October 2024, 19:43
I’ve also noticed the seemingly time-jump thing when flicking happens from T-cam view to any trackside one, for example, the winning 2021 Abu Dhabi GP winning overtake or Hamilton-Vettel in the 2018 Russian GP, & admittedly, the live timing isn’t perfectly in sync with the TV footage & hasn’t been at least as long as I’ve used it.
However, I still prefer having it beside me as that makes keeping up with positions further down the field easier or otherwise positions outside the world feed coverage, not to mention the gap to both the current leader & position ahead is shown rather than only the latter as is the case with the graphic timing tower.
Of course, sector & lap times can be viewed for each driver for every single lap, which doesn’t happen in the graphic form either, as well as the current tyre compound, so definitely some added benefits, but each to their own.
Simon
14th October 2024, 16:59
Each to your own, you mean…
MichaelN
13th October 2024, 17:30
I’ll usually have the radio on while doing something else around the house, and then check the highlights on YouTube later in the day.
Had an F1TV subscription in 2022, but found that it’s a bit too much time to really sit down and watch nearly two hours of coverage in the middle of the day. The switch to a 15.00 start in Europe definitely didn’t help with this; it barely leaves any time prior or after it.
Jere (@jerejj)
13th October 2024, 19:46
The switch to 15:00 for (most at the time) European rounds back in 2018 barely makes any difference regarding how much free time is both before & after, so I don’t see how having 15:00 as the local start time for any given European location, especially ones in Central European Time, could realistically have a massive overall impact.
MichaelN
13th October 2024, 21:38
All of this is of course personal, that seemingly goes without saying.
My experience back in 2022 when I had an F1TV subscription was that I often found myself being inconvenienced by the timing of the European races, such that I often skipped them. Which sort of defeated the purpose of paying for a subscription when I ended up watching the YouTube Highlights anyway.
notagrumpyfan
13th October 2024, 22:21
But F1TV offers you the option to start the broadcast any time you like. Just make sure you don’t get any spoilers.
I normally watch it live, but still arrive a few minutes late (and delay the start) and/or pause the broadcast for a refreshment/toilet break.
This comes in handy when ff through a SC or Red Flag event ;)
David BR (@david-br)
15th October 2024, 1:49
The worst offender for me was the BBC Sports app push notifications. I sometimes watch qualifying or a race an hour or more later on F1TV, especially the eastern hemisphere races: getting excited little spoiler messages telling me who’s won pole or the race definitely isn’t a smart feature. Uninstalled. (OK so I could have silenced the notifications but I always forgot.)
sam
13th October 2024, 17:52
F1tv International feed, driver tracker and 1 for onboard
Mayrton
14th October 2024, 7:32
Also depending on the session. In quali I only use the Live Timing. During the race I use the Live Feed, Live Timing and onboards.
Nick T.
13th October 2024, 17:58
This is a question I proposed be asked a long time ago as it has massive effect on how people interpret events, performances, etc.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
13th October 2024, 18:13
Only F1TV broadcast is good enough for me. I don’t like watchalongs. While F1 qualifying is now interesting with gyro cam, for the race, I feel the overall broadcast is better. But this is F1. If it was WEC, I would prefer live timings along with broadcast to know what is going on in different classes. If it was oval racing in IndyCar, I would also prefer onboards along with broadcast. I guess the preference changes with the series.
Mike Davies (@nanotech)
13th October 2024, 18:26
Multiviewer, which includes F1TV (both F1TV and Sky feeds), onboard cameras, live timing/scoring/race control messages, driver tracker, team radio transcripts, and a bunch more stuff. I have main video plus live timing/scoring mostly going, flip around onboards once in a while if they aren’t tracking a good battle.
Heri Potar (@teo77)
13th October 2024, 21:36
This is the best i found too. Im using TV main feed (usually Sky one) on one monitor and Live Timing and another 2-4 small onboard feeds on the second monitor. Radio feed is filtered on drivers/teams i follow.
Nick T.
13th October 2024, 20:28
I listen to my own commentary.
It’s honestly amazing how many strategies and developments all the different crews seem to miss. It’s also boring how they only seem to focus on Mercedes, McLaren, Ferrari and Max. They treat the rest like they don’t even exist.
Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
13th October 2024, 20:29
Why isn’t there an option for “none of these”? Not voting doesn’t count. Because I won’t indulge in paying to watch F1 live and have to make do with “highlights”, as they call them. So all of the other live options are out, and there aren’t equivalents with the edited version.
notagrumpyfan
13th October 2024, 22:27
I guess that as the question is “ How many feeds do you use to watch Formula 1 live?” it is limited to inputs from people who actually DO ‘watch’ :P
Picasso 1.9D FTW (@picasso-19d-ftw)
14th October 2024, 8:54
Well yes, you’re right of course but I do watch! So my objection is precisely to the fact that the poll is “live” only. If a poll is to have any meaning it should reflect all of us, at least all the RF readers, or the numbers mean nothing. The proportion of RF readers that, say, use the on-boards, according to this poll, will be a lot higher than the true figure since the poll has no way of recording the existence of people who can’t watch live, only catch-up/highlights. Just adding an option for “only watch catch-up” would suffice.
MurasamaRA300 (@murasamara300)
14th October 2024, 9:14
I don’t pay to watch live TV either.
But some of the live timing channels on Youtube are pretty good, and occasionally I have one of them going – usually in the background. Although the days of watching entire GP races are long gone and I seldom watch more than very short highlights on Youtube.
I do read the race reports afterwards – just like I did back in the 1960s. With race reports being published very quickly on the Internet, I don’t even have to wait until the motoring magazines have been printed. It’s all good.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
14th October 2024, 19:31
Should one pay to watch F1 or not? Would you buy a magazine on F1? If you would, then what if the price of watching F1 was about the same price as a magazine? I live in New Zealand, where subscribing to F1TV is about $100 for a full year, which equates to about $9 per month (because the season doesn’t last a whole year).
Jockey Ewing
13th October 2024, 21:06
Recently (during this season) I have found
https://f1-dash.com
It is like the live timing, but without a registration process, and with more features than the free version of the live timing.
So, I am not sure, if F1’s bean counters are truly happy about its existence, because it is quite nice for an indie preoject.
For example one can set a delay to have it in sync with the broadcast one sees. Imo it is a nice feature, because sometimes the live timing was ahead, and that spoilered events for me.
On the downside, as most likely more and more users have found this service, there were some performance issues with the continuos refreshing of it, or even with connecting to it / changing the delay. But overall it is very promising, and configurable, so hopefully, the dev who tries to do this will have the ideas or the funds to solve these problems.
Jockey Ewing
13th October 2024, 21:17
Until F1 tried to provide a simplified version of their live timing, I have used that. Now I am trying to use this.
Imo there are cloud services which could easily solve the scalability issues of it (connected user-count-wise, even dynamically altering the number of CPU cores rented at a given moment is available at some providers for example), but of course it is not granted that an indie/hobby dev can pay more to achieve that.
pluk (@peteleeuk)
14th October 2024, 0:40
I no longer get to watch live, because I refuse to pay Sky for their terrible product and that’s the only real option in the UK.
I have to stick my fingers in my ears until the edit us on Ch4 later in the day.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
14th October 2024, 9:21
And me. Avoiding radio and TV news and the internet. It’s quite a challenge. But C4 commentators are superior.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
14th October 2024, 9:22
I should also note that I think F1 has badly let down fans of F1 in the U.K. We must be one of its largest markets.
Stephen Crowsen (@drycrust)
14th October 2024, 19:33
@peteleeuk Have you looked at F1 TV? How much does it cost to subscribe to that in the UK?
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
17th October 2024, 21:34
@drycrust The “full” version of F1TV (F1TV Pro) is unavailable in the UK due to the Sky deal, and the archive option (F1 TV Access) doesn’t have any races from this season, nor 2023. So the cost would be the amount to move to another country that does have F1TV Pro.
ppzzus (@ppzzus)
14th October 2024, 1:02
vipbox or torrents
kcrossle (@kcrossle)
14th October 2024, 2:39
Others may have said this, and it it’s a most interesting aspect to me, but there is a differentiation between
o World feed (Sky / over local delivery e.g. ESPN)
o World Feed (local broadcast channel)
o World Feed (F1TV)
Personally I enjoy Sky, but in the USA I deeply dislike ESPN and that horrible woman who cuts off the broadcast. So she can chat with stick and ball player people.
Tristan
14th October 2024, 6:01
1… No way to access feeds :(
Palindnilap (@palindnilap)
14th October 2024, 8:49
I would like to try features like live timing or driver tracker, but since I always watch replays – I don’t like being dependant on watching at a specific time – I don’t think any of the mentioned options is easily syncable with replays. Or are they ?
Matt (@hollidog)
14th October 2024, 9:34
Not sure if I can post links so it might get deleted, but f1.tfeed.net have an archive you can access that goes back about 15 seasons.
Andy (@andycz)
14th October 2024, 8:56
Ussualy I watch only live TV feed via F1TV with F1TV commentary. But if something interesting happened in the GP, I’ll go back and watch the onboard or driver tracker as well. For example this year Baku and what happened to Hulk on the last lap. I was really used to listen to SkyF1 commentary (I really like Brundle) but last couple of months I switched to F1TV. Palmer is great!
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
14th October 2024, 9:19
There should be a none of the above. Watch TV highlights on C4 in the U.K. We don’t want to pay for Sky just to watch F1.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
14th October 2024, 10:22
@phil-f1-21 Paying for a Sky package is indeed extortionate and you are unable to subscribe for F1 only, which was the reason I didn’t previously subscribe. But since they put F1 on NowTV I can subscribe for a reasonable monthly fee (can’t remember what it is exactly), which I would probably be willing to pay even if I only watched F1 on it. If F1TV was available in the UK without the use of a VPN, I would also consider that as an alternative.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
14th October 2024, 10:18
@willwood Just a bit of hopefully constructive feedback. I think for this type of poll, it would make more sense to have each option displayed as a ‘percentage of respondents’ chose this option, rather than a percentage of the total number of votes across all options. I think it would be more interesting to view the data as say ‘90% of respondents watch the live world feed, and 20% watch live timing’ etc, rather than what is showing currently which is ‘51% of total votes went to watching the live world feed’. Don’t know how technically difficult it is to change the way votes are tabulated on the site, but I think this would be a good feature for some other types of polls as well as this one.
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
14th October 2024, 17:39
I watch the the live feed. I have had other windows open before but it can be distracting. I prefer just to focus on the race. There is enough information on the graphics to figure how your fav driver is doing usually.
Peter Bakalor (@toastiejoe)
14th October 2024, 18:25
Poorly designed poll.
that said, F1TV is great if you are somewhere that it’s offered, plus live timing. Other feeds used depending on the race situation
David BR (@david-br)
14th October 2024, 19:21
Live world feed on F1TV, sometimes I switch the channel to UK (Sky) to hear their take if there’s some incident. I prefer a more minimalist interaction really, focused on the screen action and commentary, but the fact that the F1TV app doesn’t work on a smart TV (!) means that I have to watch on a PC monitor or other smaller screen, which usually means I’m following on my tablet while keeping the BBC F1 website open on my PC for live commentary, plus live timing if it’s important. In qualifying, at the race start and if the race is good, I usually put the feed on the monitor and watch fairly immersively. If the race is bad, it tends to get relegated into the background. I could watch onboards more I guess.
Chris Coppulotta
14th October 2024, 21:55
F1TV + ROKU + Smart TV for full size picture in US.
David BR (@david-br)
15th October 2024, 1:37
+1 Thanks, good tip
KaIIe (@kaiie)
14th October 2024, 19:48
I have F1TV Pro, but for 95% of the time I only use the world feed. It gives me everything I need, and I can see things from the timing tower quite easily. Or maybe the races just aren’t that complex these days?
Back in 2013…2021 I used to watch on two computer screens with a combination of main feed + pit lane channel + onboard mix + live timing. I suppose I got bored of that, and prefer the minimalistic approach these days.
Dale
15th October 2024, 21:12
Whatever combo people use, the most useful and valuable has become the live timing.
The broadcaster focuses on the same few drivers and cars at (or near) the front every race, and the commentators work off those pictures, so the majority of what’s actually happening elsewhere is missed.
Sometimes the main feed will snap to a replay of an overtake elsewhere down the field, which the commentators will most likely fumble or trip-and-faceplant with by completely misidentifying the driver or calling a fight back as an overtake (or visa versa).
In races like Silverstone where the conditions were wet / dry / wet /dry / wet etc, the live timing is the only way to follow who is doing what in a given condition of the track, and also over race distance it’s the only way to see who is using their tyres and strategy different to others, and then other coming back at the field or dropping away towards the end of the race.
I have a whole TV wall with a 85″ in the centre for the main feed, flanked by a 50″ on the left rotated into portrait for timing, and 2x 40″ stacked on the left which cover additional feeds or graphics … or on days when there’s a motorsport overload MotoGP, DTM, SRO GT3’s, WEC, IMSA, WSBK, get rotated onto one of them.
But in all cases, my eyeballs invariably spend more time on the live timing screens.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
17th October 2024, 21:38
I sometimes get to watch the world feed live, sometimes radio and sometimes social media.
Mostly I have to wait for Channel 4, and for the next couple of races I might have to skip the races altogether because they’re on at times that clash with work (and my current office is such that spoilers are inevitable).
Even if I had consistent access to live, I wouldn’t be able to use the official live timing because the F1 official site doesn’t work very well in my experience. Fortunately, by the time I want to do the post-Channel 4 analysis, there’s usually plenty of data on the internet I can use to help me.