Debating the stoppages

There is always a lot of debate when a Qualifying session or a Race gets stopped in Formula 1, with the usual debates being brought in. Today, we have had this reoccur again with the Australian Grand Prix, the 2013 season opener. There were two separate delays here. The first delay eventually meant that Q1 went ahead half an hour later than schedule. The second delay was to Q2, in ten minute intervals, before it was decided that Q2 and Q3 will take place on Sunday morning. But was it the right decision?

Personally, I don’t think you can question the delay to Q1 really. Before the session started, it was pretty evident that there was a significant amount of standing water, some kerbs being left under water, so this was a very sensible move by the FIA. There is no point of sending out cars if all they are going to do is tip-toe around the circuit. I don’t think there is much to debate here.

The problem, for me, comes with the second stoppage. The track at the end of Q1 was drying, drivers were setting competitive lap times and were clearly in the intermediates window. After the session, there was a spell of heavy rain. Would that spell of heavy rain for two to three minutes left the track in a worse condition than what it was in at the start of Q1? I don’t think so. If the drivers had gone out at the normal time (seven minutes after Q1 for Q2), the track would have been driveable. From the pictures, it looked like the drivers would have been able to use the racing line created towards the end of Q1.

It felt to me like a knee-jerk decision. I did not really understand the reasoning either – FIA were waiting to see what the predicted heavy rain showers would do and some of the lines were proving tricky. Is Formula 1 not meant to be a challenge? These drivers are the best of the best, the weather conditions after Q1 looked driveble in my opinion. The FIA’s reasoning about the predicted weather I don’t agree with, they would not delay a race if rain was predicted, so why delay qualifying? They should have started Q2 and let the drivers clear the track. If the drivers miss the window, then that is their fault. I think FIA have set a dangerous precedent by delaying Q2 because of potential rain.

A final point is with regards the start time for Australia and Malaysia. Malaysia is next weekend, and I hope we don’t find ourselves in the same situation. Malaysia use to be an early afternoon race, until 2009 when it was moved to early evening. It smacks of over-commercialisation to cater for European audiences. As someone who lives in the UK, I have benefited from it, but on the counter point, it won’t help them break until America who are starting a new broadcasting deal this weekend. With the changing climatic conditions, delaying sessions or red flagging races appears to be becoming an occurrence once every year.

I don’t think postponing Qualifying due to the rain does Formula 1 any good. Martin Whitmarsh talks about Formula 1 moving away from the television model and looking towards the internet. Someone should point out to Whitmarsh that people can watch other motor sports via the internet. Other motor sports that would have raced in the conditions Formula 1 did not this evening. It doesn’t make the sport look good, in my opinion. There needs to be a ‘level’, a few years ago, we were at the perfect ‘level’ between safety and entertainment. Now, on days like today, it feels we’re veering towards safety too much, to the detriment of the sport.

‘GP Uncovered’ added to Sky schedule

A new strand of shows has been added to the Sky Sports F1 schedules starting this Sunday at 09:00. GP Uncovered will look back at Formula 1’s early days.

The first edition, entitled ‘1967 – Nine Days In Summer’ will air following the Australian Grand Prix, lasting an hour. The description is as follows: “The story of the Lotus 49, the revolutionary car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe and driven with startling success by both Jim Clark and Graham Hill.”

Furthermore, the Sky website says that the programme will air following race weekends, so presumably as soon as the main race programme has finished. The films come from the Beaulieu archive.

Rolex become Sky F1 title sponsor

Watching practice two this morning, and I note that the Rolex sponsorship is present during break bumpers on Sky Sports F1. Santander, their previous title sponsor, pulled out at the end of last season.

Given Rolex’s increased presence in Formula 1 this year, the move makes logical sense. I will hunt around for something official later.

Update at 06:09: Shell are also a sponsor for 2013 it appears, so they have multiple sponsors. That is reminiscent of the Eurosport days in the mid 90s where they had multiple sponsors.

The new face of Formula 1

From Rider to Rosenthal, back to Rider and onto Humphrey to front Formula 1 on terrestrial television. In came Lazenby for Sky. And now from Humphrey to Perry. In comes Suzi Perry, the new face of Formula 1. Perry will, on Saturday, become the new face of BBC’s Formula 1 programming. But will she be as successful as those before her?

Steve Rider fronted Formula 1 for both BBC and ITV. Rider was the host of BBC’s coverage from the early 1980s to 1996. Back then, there was no laborious travelling around the world to present the sport as the majority of Rider’s presenting was part of BBC’s Grandstand strand, coming from their London studio at Television Centre. Staying in the UK was part of the reason why Rider held the role for so long. Towards the end of BBC’s contract, the team did travel to European races more, Rider still hosting alongside Tony Jardine in the pit-lane and on the grid.

When ITV picked up the rights to Formula 1, the production rights went out to tender. Chrysalis initially had Steve Rider as part of their bid to produce ITV’s coverage, but in the late stages, the two went in different directions. After considering Philip Schofield and John Leslie for the presenter’s role, Rider suggested to Jim Rosenthal that he should put himself forward to present. Chrysalis won the bid, and produced Formula 1 for ITV from 1997 to 2008, later becoming North One Television. Rosenthal held the presenting role from 1997 to 2005 before stepping aside at the end of that season. His tenure at ITV F1 began with him, Jardine and Simon Taylor presenting the show from an on-site studio, before moving into the paddock at the start of the 2004 season in an effort to bring viewers closer to the action. Rosenthal for ITV was a safe pair of hands, and was the right choice for them as he steered them through difficult years whilst Michael Schumacher dominated proceedings.

Rosenthal was succeeded by a familiar face though as Rider returned to the fray for three seasons. Unlike his first stint, Rider presented the action alongside Mark Blundell from the pit-lane. Whilst Rider was, again, a safe pair of hands, the pairing of him and Blundell was not the most riveting pair ever and soon the build-up discussion between the two became a bit ‘dull’. That would be no fault of Rider’s, but probably of the production team who did not seem to push the boundaries at this point, with Rider and Blundell seemingly situated in the same place in pit-lane for the entire pre race build-up.

Rider’s second spell ended in 2008 as BBC won the rights back from ITV. Instead of going with experience like ITV, BBC went for youth in 2009 as they made Jake Humphrey their new face of Formula 1. On the face of it, it was a potentially risky move going for youth instead of a veteran who held years of experience. But you can also see the logic in it, a younger presenter can help bring a new generation of viewers with him, in turn increasing viewing figures. The product, partly thanks to Humphrey’s presenting style, was a hit with viewers with the BBC programme well received. Humphrey was also helped by two fantastic pundits in David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan. Had you replaced Humphrey in Steve Rider, the results may have been similar in nature, although having a new, fresh look helped them.

Thanks to the broadcasting changes in 2011, Simon Lazenby was next to join the vast array of Formula 1 presenting talent for Sky last year. This year, he is joined by Suzi Perry, as the two will be presenting Formula 1 for Sky and BBC respectively. To her advantage, Perry has a significant amount of motor sport presenting experience having presented MotoGP for BBC for over ten years. Personally, I think Perry will do well as BBC presenter. It helps for her as well that the first two races are not live so that she can gel with the remainder of the team. At the end of the 2012, there was a question of whether the BBC team would be weaker without Humphrey. If anything, with the introductions of Perry and Tom Clarkson, their television production should be stronger than ever before.

A few Sky Sports F1 schedule updates

Ahead of this weekend’s season opening Australian Grand Prix, I have spotted a few updates to the previously published Sky schedule, with a few extra additions.

– On Thursday at 20:00, there is a half hour programme entitled The Martin Whitmarsh Interview, which does what it says on the tin.
– On Friday at 08:30, there is an airing of The Petrol Age by Paul McGann. Whilst the programme is new to Sky Sports, the programme is not new to Sky, as it was aired on Sky Atlantic this time last year.

Both programmes are repeated on the channel throughout the weekend. Elsewhere, the 2009 German Grand Prix and 2008 Italian Grand Prix will be shown on Saturday 30th March and Sunday 1st April at 21:00 to conclude the “Debut Wins” strand.

Later in that week, the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix is on Friday 5th April at 21:00 to begin the Chinese five races. One thing to note is that The F1 Show for that week is listed on the Friday at 20:00, so I am unsure why the previous week is listed as Thursday at 20:00.

I will update the blog if anything changes.