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TEN dumps F1 commentator Cameron McConville

Cameron McConville has been dropped from motor racing commentary after five years with TEN.

mcconvilleFormula 1 commentator Cameron McConville has been dropped from motor racing coverage  by TEN.

McConville has covered F1 alongside Greg Rust for the past two years but says the network wants head in a different direction.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve been working with TEN for five years if you include the Trackside program, but at the end of the day, I respect their desire to go down a different path. I suppose the media can be as fickle as motor racing!” he told motoring website Speedcafe.

“I’ve been doing it since Super Touring, so I’ve probably been doing it for at least seven years, and the experience that I gained at TEN through co-hosting live TV with Rusty is invaluable. I think I’ve come to a certain level that I don’t want to give it away.”

McConville’s replacement is expected to be Craig Baird.

Source: Speedcafe

19 Responses

  1. I watched the channel ten coverage of Bahrain, I can’t believe that Baird has a job. He added nothing, less than nothing in fact.
    I’ll never understand why they dumped McConville. Sure, he wasn’t an absolutely polished presenter, but he certainly shows up the rest of the chumps we have to listen to.
    Ten, dump Baird and do it soon (it’s bad enough to not get BBC full coverage, it’s worse still if we have to listen to a Kiwi).

  2. to david fishlock i looked at the other drivers. apparently about sixteen men have driven in the past in f1. it would be nice if ch 10 did get an insight from sir jack.

    to peter h and shelly and above i have to agree that channel 10/one hd would be better off if they take a direct feed from the host network.

  3. The best shows were the ones where Greg Rust wasn’t messing it up with his amateurish overenthusiasm, i.e When McConville and Beattie had a chance to impart some meaningful insights without Greg yapping like an excited puppy. I hate the way Ten ruins the BBC show with their own miserable, worthless commentary. For Christ’s sake just shut up and let us watch the race with the globally recognised and award-winning commentary team.

  4. Mark, I think Shelly’s comment wasn’t necessarily suggesting an Australian driver as co-commentator – plenty of Australians, like Ferrari’s Chris Dyer, work or have worked on the business side of the pitlane, and would offer a far more informed voice than any V8 Supercar driver can.

    As far as McConville goes, good start Ten, but dump Rust as well. Eddie, Martin, DC, and the BBC feed that starts around 45 minutes prior to the race would be just fine thanks.

  5. Shelly other then alan jones, mark webber, jack and david brabham there is no other drivers from australia who have done f1.

    Alan is busy trying to get money back from the disaster that was a1 racing. Mark webber of course still driving as is david brabham in the le mans catagory. Jack brabham i’m guessing would be happily retired.

    So there is no other option for drivers to host with greg rust with f1 pedigree. It seems like a cash cutting move to me.

  6. They want Baird because he’s willing to be controversial. I think if they were going to dump anyone it should be that halfwit Windsor who I think will have plenty of free time on his hands when his team folds twenty minutes into the season. I’d take Cam over Rust any day and I was impressed by his improvements over the years.

    But yes, I’d love to see MB’s grid-walk, it’s epic TV and worth Ten paying a few extra bucks for it.

  7. I have to say that ‘D’ has hit the nail right on the head, altho’ I found Greg Rust acceptable as the “non-expert” host. They seriously missed Neil Crompton, who was excellent, when he moved with V8Supercars to 7.

    Cam seems like a nice, if whiny, guy but he was a sub-par commentator just as he was a sub-par racing car driver at the national level. While commentating he often vacillated when asked for an opinion, and when he gave one it was more often wrong than right. I remember when, while discussing the Renault race-fixing controversy, he stated categorically that there was no way that a professional racing driver would deliberately crash his car. He obviously had forgotten about Schumacher’s numerous incidents and how a large enough pile of money will encourage people to influence sporting outcomes in all sorts of ways (boxing, Italian football, boxing, Indian cricket and, er, boxing to name a few).

    David Coulthard has did a good job with various motorsport categories during 2009, including F1. He’d get my vote.

  8. @Shelly and D: I couldn’t agree more. When I am sitting up late in winter watching my favourite sport I want good hosts that have a clue. It really drives me nuts when they get things wrong. If a suburban housewife like me can keep on top of F1 news they had bloody well at least do the same.

  9. Having a current V8 driver – no matter who – is problematic as every time the two series have a clash of dates, their driving committments are always going to get preference. I certainly don’t want Alan Jones back, but with all the Aussies who have worked in F1 over the years, it can’t be that hard to find someone who actually knows what they are talking about… Can it??

  10. They were both (Rust and McConville) pretty poor. It took MConville about 2 months to figure out some of the basics (such as the weight of the car and KERS).

    I dont really think that having driven an F1 car for a few laps for tv purposes makes someone an expert. I agree with JM, give us Coultard and Eddie Jordan or find someone better than what we have now

  11. I thought Cam McConville did a great job this year. With One’s extended programming, he did much better than host Greg Rust – and showed great professionalism hosting when Rusty was away……

    Replacing a Melbourne lad with a kiwi……mmm……

  12. That’s a pity. Cameron was a pretty good commentator. Fact, when he hosted on his own a couple of times, he did better than Greg Rust. Rusty comes across as slightly OTT with his comments at times.

  13. Bad choice Ten he’s the only one that knows anything, knows more than the puppet Greg Rust does…………. Best thing u could do is get rid of the Aussie Commentators all together and just have the BBC….. wat was that slogan a month or so ago… You Blog We Listen??

  14. Oh thats crap! he had more knowledge about F1 than Rusty, he even drove the Honda F1. What has Craig Baird done in F1? nothing. Get someone with experience or keep Cam!

    um, what is Alan Jones doing at the moment?

  15. Finally some good news from Ten. Sorry Cam but you need some work in presenting and given the number of complaints about the coverage this year not really a surprise.

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