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Endless repetition, pointless speculation and then, when it came to the sharp end, 20 seconds of actual racing

Not feeling the spark for Extreme E

Following much anticipation, I tuned in to the inaugural Extreme E event. I am afraid to say coverage highlighted everything that has been wrong with live event broadcasting for the past 20 years, over-hyped and over-long. Endless repetition, pointless speculation and then, when it came to the sharp end, 20 seconds of actual racing.

People used to criticise 1990s Formula 1 for being all about the start, but at least there was a vague chance of something changing during the race. If the organisers want to effect real change in awareness, they have to attract an audience. On last weekend’s showing, I can’t see that happening. The format needs to change, and quickly, so the broadcast coverage can be condensed.

I cannot conceive that all but a few dyed in the wool petrolheads (the irony is intentional) would sit through seven hours of coverage for what amounted to four 20-second bursts of actual competition.

Phil Oakes

Portishead, North Somerset

Will sprint races risk skewing a whole season?

What if a crash similar to Romain Grosjean’s in Bahrain last year were to happen in a Saturday sprint race? And it involving a championship contender? Would we really want the outcome of a whole season skewed by such a happening? Then, also remembering how ‘crashgate’ did affect the 2008 final standings…

Graeme Innes-johnstone

Elland, West Yorks

Give Bottas a break

Really starting to be sick and tired that Valtteri Bottas (right) is being blamed for everything – all the time. Now Chief Editor Kevin Turner blames him for taking the fastest lap with new tyres (Leader column, 1 April). Never saw these writings when Lewis Hamilton or someone else does that. It’s all legal.

And why wasn’t he in the victory fight? Because he was having a coffee break while Merc messed it up for him – again. Would love to see a bit more fair writings from Autosport.

Cheers from Finland.

Ari Jakobson

Espoo, Finland

Our point about Bottas wasn’t that he did anything untoward, more that the way he was able to post fastest lap wasn’t in the original spirit of the regulations, even though it’s perfectly legal – ed

It’s worth repeating…

Please, please, please can commentators repeat what the drivers say on their pit radios during a race as it is very difficult to hear and very frustrating when they respond, without us knowing what was said in the first place? Geraldine Pickthall

Bromley, Kent