F1's technical boss Ross Brawn has apologised for the numerous issues that blighted the first race weekend of the sport's new live streaming service.

As previously reported, fans around the world were left frustrated by a whole range of issues surrounding the service whose original launch for the season opener in Melbourne was scrapped as the service underwent further testing.

Taking to social media to voice their frustration at the weekend, fans were subsequently promised a refund as officials sought to get the service working properly in time for the next race, less than two weeks later.

In his post-race debrief for the official F1 website, F1 technical boss Ross Brawn acknowledged the issues and apologised.

"I confess social media is not a big part of my world," he said, "but I do appreciate its importance in reaching new audiences, especially among our younger fans.

"Three initiatives made their debut in Barcelona: F1 TV, the Twitter Live Show, and F1 Vision, the most advanced handheld device on which to follow the race.

"The launch of the former did not go very smoothly, and apologies to our fans, but we are dragging our sport from a place where none of these initiatives previously existed and we will get there.

"In some ways that's what Formula 1 is about," he added, "a sport where things are developed on the move and on the track with technology that is always cutting edge. We're in the front line with the aim of unleashing the greatest spectacle on the planet and we want to take you with us."

Ignoring the fact that the sport's cutting edge technology is paid for by the teams, as opposed to the fans, Brawn, who appears to be the PR-friendly, public face of the sport these days, launched into a hard-sell of the various ideas introduced as part of the core TV coverage this season.

"We have new camera angles, an all-new graphic design that we are constantly evolving and the new halo graphics which has managed to make the halo less intrusive on television to our viewers and fans.

"There's a specially-made microphone placed to enhance the sound of the power units, and we are interviewing the drivers immediately after qualifying, following the heat of the battle.

"We are doing that after the race too," he added, "capturing the emotions of the drivers on screens around the world."

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by C5, 16/05/2018 1:23

"Edit: I just realized they've stopped doing the sit-down press conference altogether. Must have been awhile since I looked for it Oh, well. :-)"

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2. Posted by C5, 16/05/2018 1:14 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 16/05/2018 8:04)

""We have new camera angles, an all-new graphic design that we are constantly evolving and the new halo graphics which has managed to make the halo less intrusive on television to our viewers and fans.
There's a specially-made microphone placed to enhance the sound of the power units, and we are interviewing the drivers immediately after qualifying, following the heat of the battle.
We are doing that after the race too," he added, "capturing the emotions of the drivers on screens around the world."

Well, this is exactly the problem.

New camera angles: Meh.

New graphic: Meh. The halo overlay is pretty cool though (but the background should match the car; it's pretty confusing "seeing" a blue halo on a Haas car, for example).

Special exhaust microphones: I could not care a fraction of a micro-ounce less. I actually appreciate the engineering efficiency of a quiet engine (noise is essentially wasted energy). The Audi Le Mans diesels were pretty awesome machines, and the fact they were virtually silent even when standing right next to the track doesn't detract anything from that.

Interviews on the track, immediately after the session: I absolutely hate it. No-one can be expected to say anything intelligent immediately after hopping out of a race car. So we always skip the interviews and maybe read read the comments from the proper sit-down post-race press conference on Pitpass instead.

All in all, it's a pretty pathetic "improvement" list, frankly. With that low a bar, I'm surprised they didn't also include the new (worse) logo and new (much worse) theme music. You know, the important stuff...

Liberty Media are basically a bunch of empty marketing suits, and this press releases certainly more evidence of that.
"

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3. Posted by mickl, 15/05/2018 23:16

"Who actually does the race commentary on F1.TV?

I don't really think a 'specailly made' microphone is of much use when a lot of people probably will stream it on a mobile or laptop/pc device and their tinny speakers. Would have been money better spent on sorting out how to actually make the service work."

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4. Posted by Editor, 15/05/2018 18:39

"@ ESTM PRFT

Two things...

First off, it's nothing more than a dressed up press release... the PR team at F1 know that Ross's words will cut more ice with fans than the dreaded marketing speak of Carey and Bratches.

Secondly, he's the only one there that actually knows anything about the sport... which basically fits in with the first point.

After 9 years the timing app still has issues, F1 TV isn't going to be fixed in a fortnight."

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5. Posted by ESTM PRFT, 15/05/2018 18:26

"Is the TV coverage actually in Ross's area (as a car technical guy) to comment on? Is he now a apologist stooge and sacrificial lamb for the powers that be that are currently running F1?"

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Brawn apologises for F1 TV issues

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