Buh-Bye!

With the end of the Formula One season, we now say goodbye to the ITV Sport coverage of the sport.

I for one am quite happy to see them go. I have made no secret of my annoyance towards the coverage over the past few years. There is very little good that can be said about the coverage. After starting out on such a high in the early days, to finish off in such a way is disappointing. As they always say, you are always remembered by what you last did. For ITV, in the eyes of many including myself, that will be painful.

Why am I harsh on the coverage? Well, in college I was taught that the role of a journalist is to be impartial and to produce the facts. What ITV have done over the past few years is to pepper these facts that made Hamilton out to be some sort of racing messiah. Don’t get me wrong, they are fully entitled to support Hamilton. But their job, as journalists, is to give fair, unbiast commentary and I honestly don’t believe they have given that.

Heck, I remember back in late 2006, when Allen couldn’t keep quiet about Hamilton – even before he had ever signed a contract to run the next year. This all going on when he should be following the race at hand. The off mention, fine – but his constant shoving it down our throats, it is easy to see why people had a dislike to Hamilton even before arrived.

Their final broadcast was no better. To paraphrase what Allen claimed Raikkonen’s job on the day was, he said something along the lines that Raikkonen had to get between Raikkonen and Hamilton. Gee, James, there are two Raikkonen’s in F1 now?

Even more glaring was Jenson Button’s release from the pit-lane. Remember only a few races ago that they were all over it like flies onto shit when Massa was involved in such incident. Was a single word said? Of course not! It is that sort of double-standards that I am glad to see the back of ITV coverage from the sport.

Is it so hard to ask for impartiality once you live? Britain is a proud nation; they don’t need you guys trying to cajole support around Hamilton. His driving skill alone would’ve garnered the fan base he now has. Actually I’m sure a lot more people might find Hamilton a tad bit more likeable if you didn’t insist of shoving it upon us.

Of course, there is a chance the BBC could be just as bad if not worse than ITV. Believe me, that thought has crossed my mind. Maybe this time next year, I will be saying that perhaps we were better with the devil that we knew. But if it comes to that point, I don’t think I’d be watching the sport in 2011.

The funny thing is, or maybe, the sad thing is, that they actually get paid quite well for this. And I find myself hoarse from shouting at the television every grand prix weekend as I correct their obvious errors.

Happy days.