Scheduling: The 2015 United States Grand Prix / Malaysian MotoGP

Alongside the start of the 2015-16 Formula E season, next weekend could be the biggest weekend of the entire year. They call 2015 the year of the goat for a reason.

Next weekend, Valentino Rossi could become a eight-time MotoGP champion, his tenth covering all three classes. Over in America, Lewis Hamilton is on course to become a triple Formula One World Champion. It really could be huge, the former more than the latter. As usual, MotoGP will be exclusively live on BT Sport, with all the action live from Sepang. The crucial MotoGP race starts at 07:00 UK time. Assuming I have not jinxed it by writing the above text, if Rossi holds any sort of lead following the Australian Grand Prix at Philip Island, then it is possible that he could be crowned champion next weekend. BT Sport have extended their post MotoGP programme to 08:30, presumably pre-empting a potential Rossi championship victory.

Over in America, coverage of the United States Grand Prix will be exclusively live on Sky Sports F1, although the race is being simulcast on Sky Sports 1. If Hamilton does clinch the championship either in America or at the Mexican Grand Prix, it will be the first time that Sky have screened the title clinching race since the current deal started in 2012. I discussed this last year, but obviously there will be a substantial dent in viewing figures as a result. It should be Sky Sports F1’s highest ever ratings given the circumstances. Understandably, if Hamilton does win the championship next weekend, it is also a controversial moment from a broadcasting perspective given that there will be no live free-to-air coverage of that happening. BBC are repeating their highlights programme on Monday afternoon on BBC Two, which they have not done since the mid 1990s, in response to Hamilton potentially winning the championship.

Another beneficiary of no live BBC television coverage will be BBC Radio 5 Live, who should record some good numbers both online and DAB. One note about their coverage is that Jennie Gow will be joining them later in the weekend due to the aforementioned Formula E coverage on ITV on Saturday morning, so she will presumably be flying over to America later on Saturday.

Below are all the details you need…

NOTE: Clocks go back one hour on Sunday 25th October, with the change from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time. The times listed are for BST on Saturday and before; GMT for Sunday and afterwards…

BBC F1
BBC TV
24/10 – 21:45 to 23:00 – Qualifying Highlights (BBC Two England and Wales)
=> BBC Two Scotland: 22:00 to 23:15
=> BBC Two Northern Ireland: 22:15 to 23:30
25/10 – 22:30 to 00:00 – Race Highlights (BBC One)
26/10 – 13:00 to 14:30 – Race Highlights (BBC Two)

BBC Radio
22/10 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
23/10 – 15:55 to 17:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
23/10 – 19:55 to 21:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
24/10 – 16:00 to 17:00 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
24/10 – 18:55 to 20:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
25/10 – 18:30 to 21:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
23/10 – 15:45 to 17:50 – Practice 1
23/10 – 19:45 to 22:00 – Practice 2
24/10 – 15:45 to 17:15 – Practice 3
24/10 – 18:00 to 20:45 – Qualifying
25/10 – 17:30 to 22:15 – Race
=> 17:30 – Track Parade
=> 18:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 18:30 – Race
=> 21:30 – Paddock Live
=> simulcast on Sky Sports 1 from 18:55 to 21:30

Supplementary Programming
22/10 – 17:00 to 17:30 – Driver Press Conference
22/10 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: United States
23/10 – 22:00 to 22:45 – Team Press Conference
24/10 – 00:00 to 01:00 – The F1 Show
24/10 – 20:45 to 21:45 – Tales from the Vault: Amazing Achievements
28/10 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report

MotoGP – Malaysia (BT Sport 2)
23/10 – 02:00 to 04:45 – Practice 1
23/10 – 06:00 to 09:00 – Practice 2
24/10 – 02:00 to 09:15
=> 02:00 – Practice 3
=> 05:00 – Qualifying
25/10 – 01:30 to 03:15 – Warm Up
25/10 – 03:45 to 08:30
=> 03:45 – Moto3 race
=> 05:15 – Moto2 race
=> 06:45 – MotoGP race

MotoGP – Malaysia (ITV4)
26/10 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights

V8 Supercars – Gold Coast 600
24/10 – 05:15 to 08:15 – Race 1 (BT Sport 1)
25/10 – 04:00 to 07:00 – Race 2 (BT Sport ESPN)

I’m not anticipating any changes, but if there are, I will update the above schedule.

Update on October 21st – A very late addition to Sky Sports F1’s schedule for Austin. A new episode of Tales from the Vault will air, called ‘Amazing Achievements’. The show will be presented by Peter Windsor with Johnny Herbert and John Surtees joining him in the studio.

Update on October 23rd – A new BBC F1 show has turned up! Called F1 Focus and presented by Tom Clarkson, it is essentially a longer version of Inside F1 but at 25 minutes in length and more in-depth. Austin’s edition was filmed on Thursday. Whether this is a one off, a new thing, or a replacement to Inside F1, who knows. It could be a one off for Austin and Mexico – but Tom Clarkson’s tweet says “new preview show“, which certainly suggests it will be regular going forward.

Update on October 24th – Following the cancellation of Saturday’s qualifying session, please refer to this updated schedule for Sunday’s Grand Prix timings.