Paul di Resta will be part of Sky Sports F1’s line-up for the 2016 season, it has been confirmed.
Speaking as part of a short piece filmed in Stuttgart with Mercedes (currently available via Sky’s On Demand service), Simon Lazenby interviewed di Resta and noted that he would be joining Sky “for a large part of 2016.”
di Resta first appeared with Sky at last year’s Monaco Grand Prix and was seen frequently on screen as the year progressed, analysing incidents on the Sky Pad alongside commentating on practice. As I noted in my Channel 4 prediction pieces a few months ago:
To my surprise, I found myself warming to di Resta more than I expected and he was welcoming to hear a different voice in Sky’s coverage.
I’m happy to see that di Resta is returning for 2016, as always it is good to hear a variety of voices in the coverage. Anthony Davidson, Johnny Herbert, Damon Hill and Martin Brundle have all been providing analysis since the inception of Sky Sports F1 in 2012, a change to the status quo is overdue and hopefully di Resta can help in that respect.
It will be fascinating to see how Sky fare against Channel 4 this season, the latter choosing to go down a rotation route with a range of pundits appearing on screen during 2016.
Update on March 13th – BBC are reporting that di Resta will be reserve driver for Williams this year, so this news makes a lot of sense now as di Resta will be in the paddock for the majority of the year.
Update on March 14th – Official confirmation from Sky. di Resta said: “I’m very excited to be joining the Sky Sports F1 team, the coverage is excellent and I hope I can play my part to help excite and educate everyone watching at home. It’s a huge season, more races than ever and working with both Williams and Sky Sports I’m going to give it everything and enjoy being part of an amazing sport that provides drama and excitement at every turn.”
Martin Turner, Sky’s Head of Formula 1, said: “Paul brings huge experience to Sky Sports F1 and having someone embedded within a current F1 team is going to add a new level to our coverage this season. He has raced against most of the drivers on the grid this season, and that competitive knowledge will help take viewers closer to the action and provide a deeper level of insight.”
Just over three months ago, Nico Rosberg won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to finish the 2015 Formula One season. Meanwhile, in the pit lane both BBC and Sky Sports went off the air to conclude another year of racing. Unbeknown to the viewing public at the time, that race would also mark the end of BBC’s television coverage.
Fast-forward to March, and in just a few days, a new era of Formula 1 broadcasting begins in the United Kingdom. Enter Channel 4. A mix of new and old will greet viewers when their first programme hits the air on Saturday 19th March. Whilst commentary will continue to be provided by David Coulthard and Ben Edwards, Steve Jones is the new face at the front of Channel 4’s coverage.
Karun Chandhok and Lee McKenzie will be patrolling the pit lane. Both of them will be in Melbourne, the latter finishing her Six Nations Rugby commitments with the BBC this weekend. Coulthard, Edwards, Jones and Chandhok will be part of Channel 4’s team for round one, alongside (presumably) one or two of the pundits that the corporation have announced. Who that will be out of Channel 4’s range of analysts, we don’t yet know.
Their qualifying highlights programme is 105 minutes long, with the race programme a whopping two and a half hours long. The main reason for the extended length is commercial breaks. As I’ve discussed before, Channel 4 will be taking breaks as usual meaning that the length of the highlights programming will be longer than their predecessor. Based on previous years, the highlights edit will consist of around 65 to 70 minutes of action. Factor in adverts, and this increases to around 85 to 91 minutes of air-time (of which 20 minutes is adverts), which is the length of your typical Formula 1 race.
In other words, this will feel like an ITV F1 programme from back in 2008. The slot length for the race indicates that the race edit will start at exactly 14:00 and finish around 15:25/15:30. In my opinion, the only edits Channel 4 will make are to trim 5 minutes of action every time they wish to take an ad-break, giving an ‘as live’ feel to it. Qualifying is different: there will have to be edits within the individual sessions that will be noticeable to the viewer. Qualifying has three natural commercial break points and it makes little sense to force an ad-break in half way through a session. So, expect the qualifying session itself to be a bit more ‘sliced’ than the race edit…. which in itself may be a tricky task under the new format.
“It’ll make it that little bit harder to make sure that drivers and teams optimise the performance of their cars to get the best lap time out of it. The good thing about it is that the grid we’re going to get left with won’t be quite as refined and that means we’re going to have a few of the better drivers further back and there will be more action in the race as they gradually carve their way to the front.” – Jonathan Palmer, commenting on the then-new format during the 1996 Australian Grand Prix Qualifying session for BBC TV. Some things don’t change…
In terms of supplementary programme, Channel 4 have a special with Guy Martin as well as an extended 5-minute preview entitled Fast and Furious. Over on Sky, there are several significant changes to their portfolio. The F1 Show during each race weekend has been reduced to 30-minutes and I believe those episodes will no longer be live. Furthermore, the studio editions of The F1 Show have been axed, with the F1 Midweek Report being renamed to the F1 Report. The F1 Report will be airing on a weekly basis, with Natalie Pinkham presenting and Marc Priestley featuring as a regular guest. For Australia at least, every session will be simulcast on Sky Sports 1, continuing a trend that started last season.
Sky’s F1 team is similar to previous years. Simon Lazenby presents all the action alongside pundits including Damon Hill, Anthony Davidson and Johnny Herbert. Martin Brundle and David Croft will be commentating on all 21 races, with Ted Kravitz roaming the pit lane. Rachel Brookes and Craig Slater are primarily covering the action for Sky Sports News, but expect the former to turn up frequently on the channel during 2016 whilst Pinkham is on maternity leave. The only difference for Sky is that Bruno Senna, who was part of their team, has moved over to Channel 4. I don’t think Sky are bringing in anyone else, but I imagine the likes of Paul di Resta will appear in their programming as the year progresses.
For the first time since 2002, we have three broadcasters covering Formula 1 in the UK. Back then, it was Sky (through F1 Digital+), ITV and BBC. Now, it is Sky, Channel 4 and the BBC. Yes, the BBC are still covering Formula 1, but from 2016 through radio only. Independent of BBC dropping Formula 1 from television, the corporation also decided to replace James Allen with Jack Nicholls as lead commentator for their radio coverage. Nicholls will commentate on 20 of the 21 rounds, the exception being Austria, which clashes with the London ePrix II. Nicholls will be joined on commentary throughout the season by Allan McNish and Mark Gallagher, with Tom Clarkson and Jennie Gow down in pit lane.
Even if the on-track action does not live up to the hype, it promises to be a fascinating year off-track as Channel 4 embed themselves within the paddock and try to challenge the opposition. The thrills and spills start in Australia, and as usual the full schedule can be found below.
Channel 4 Sessions
19/03 – 12:30 to 14:15 – Qualifying Highlights
20/03 – 13:30 to 16:00 – Race Highlights
Supplementary Programming 17/03 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Speed with Guy Martin
18/03 – 21:00 to 21:05 – Fast and Furious
Sky Sports F1 Sessions
18/03 – 01:00 to 03:20 – Practice 1 (also Sky Sports 1)
18/03 – 05:15 to 07:30 – Practice 2 (also Sky Sports 1)
19/03 – 02:45 to 04:15 – Practice 3 (also Sky Sports 1)
19/03 – 05:00 to 07:45 – Qualifying (also Sky Sports 1)
20/03 – 03:30 to 08:15 – Race
=> 03:30 – Track Parade (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 04:00 – Pit Lane Live (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 04:30 – Race (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 07:30 – Paddock Live
Supplementary Programming
16/03 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Report: Australia Preview
17/03 – 04:00 to 04:30 – Driver Press Conference
17/03 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Australia
18/03 – 07:30 to 08:00 – Team Press Conference
18/03 – 08:00 to 08:30 – The F1 Show
23/03 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Report: Australia Review
BBC Radio F1
17/03 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
18/03 – 01:25 to 03:05 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
18/03 – 05:25 to 07:05 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
19/03 – 02:55 to 04:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
19/03 – 05:55 to 07:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
20/03 – 04:00 to 07:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)
As always, if anything changes, I will update this post. Given the size of the above text, MotoGP’s schedule for Qatar will follow early next week.
Perry, who presented BBC’s MotoGP coverage from 2003 to 2009, and then their Formula 1 coverage from 2013 through to the end of 2015, confirmed last month that she would not be part of Channel 4’s F1 team. The BT news was first reported by Charles Sale last week. Perry will be part of their MotoGP presenting line-up alongside Craig Doyle.
The press release states that Perry will “showcase her knowledge across BT Sport’s coverage, including the FIM MotoGP™ World Championship, FIM Speedway and the World Rally Championship.” Perry will present other strands on the channel, which will be announced in the forthcoming weeks.
Commenting on the news, Perry said: “I’m really excited to be joining BT Sport and working with their tremendous team. Motorsport continues to be massive in the UK and I can’t wait to bring BT Sport viewers all of the action from in front of the camera.”
Simon Green, Head of BT Sport, added: “Suzi is an extremely popular and well respected TV presenter and I’m delighted she is joining our team. Our viewers will really benefit from her vast motorsport knowledge and experience across our growing portfolio of motorsport.”
It is a great move by BT to bolster their MotoGP line-up, and a logical move given that Perry became a free agent with no Formula 1 to occupy her time. Perry and motor cycling are a natural fit as we have seen in the past. Notably, BT Sport’s press release omits Iwan Thomas and Abi Griffiths from their MotoGP presenting team.
It appears Thomas is remaining part of BT’s output, as he is listed as presenter for The Chequered Flag (also staying) following the first race of 2016 in Qatar. It looks like Griffiths has had her role reduced, or she has been dropped altogether from the MotoGP presenting team. I hope it is not the latter, as it was Griffiths improved significantly across the year and a half that she was part of the team.
Update on March 12th – I note that Thomas is no longer listed as presenter of The Chequered Flag on the TV guides, so it seems his status is unclear.
Update on March 16th – Both Thomas and Griffiths are no longer part of BT’s team for 2016.
If you have not already, I suggest you read the full Channel 4 announcement regarding their Formula 1 team from this morning before diving into this piece. I was going to cram quotes and thoughts into there, but realised that this probably justified a separate more thought out piece. I’m listening back to the recording as I write this, so it may be in a jumbled order or look like a ramble.
Arriving at 09:00 for a scheduled 09:30 start, Jay Hunt (Channel 4’s Chief Creative Officer) started proceedings around 09:50. She mentioned what Channel 4 had done to cricket and horse racing in the past, and that she wanted the broadcaster to do the same with Formula 1. This led into a trailer showing what Whisper Films have produced so far interspersed with the Channel 4 team shots and The Chain. The trailer included clips from an RAF feature with McLaren and Jenson Button, which will air during the Australian Grand Prix weekend. “We really believe that it is the greatest, extraordinary and most dynamic line-up yet for Formula 1,” Hunt said. Hunt introduced Steve Jones to the stage.
On-air talent
Jones described himself as “hugely excited” to be Channel 4’s presenter and I think that was noticeable throughout the morning. Jones blended in with the remainder of the line-up, there was no “us and them”, it felt like “we” and that was important, cracking jokes with the remainder of the team. Jones said that since he found out he was the chosen one at the beginning of January, he has watched every race from last season back-to-back. I’m confident that Jones will translate well to viewers on the television. Jones went through the line-up one-by-one. Given that I run this blog, there were names on the screen that were not too surprising!
As I discussed in the main piece, the surprises were Eddie Jordan, Bruno Senna, Nicolas Hamilton and Alessandro Zanardi. Senna has defected from Sky, what we don’t know is whether he was poached by Channel 4 or if Sky dropped him. Hamilton and Zanardi will link in with the Paralympics coverage, whilst Jordan will be juggling both Top Gear and Channel 4. Lee McKenzie was not necessarily a surprise, but given her other commitments, was inadvertedly ruled out by myself in the beginning. McKenzie will not be present for the races that clash with Six Nations and Wimbledon. Only three members of the team will be at every race, they are Jones, Coulthard and Edwards. Karun Chandhok is the other permanent member but will be missing Montreal and Baku due to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Chandhok is being billed as a ‘Technical Analyst’. I have no problem with that, but does it do a disservice to the likes of Craig Scarborough and Giorgio Piola by adding him to the same category?
When this blog asked Mark Webber how many races he will be doing with Channel 4, he said around half a dozen… although his jaw did drop when I informed him that there were 21 races this season! My understanding is that the amount of on-air talent will differ race-by-race, irrespective of whether it is live or highlights. If a story dictates that more on-air talent is required (or talent need to be switched around/mixed up), then Channel 4 will adapt. I’m a fan of that. When there were 16 or 17 races, having the same people was fine. But with 21 races, you have to mix up the faces and bring in different opinions. Having the same opinions across 21 race weekends will end up getting samey. What Channel 4 need to be careful about is that they don’t go down the opposite route and have too many talking heads. There will no doubt be some experimentation in Bahrain, and there will be room for improvement, but as always in this game, it is a learning curve, no matter how experienced you are.
The expansive team supports what we heard a few weeks ago about Channel 4 taking one extra camera to each race, allowing them to mix things up and change things where necessary. Regarding Zanardi and Hamilton, I think both will only be appearing in features around Channel 4’s coverage (cross promoting with the Paralympics), but I cannot confirm that.
Younger viewers and making it different
A phrase that was heard multiple times amongst different fora. Tapping into Channel 4’s younger audience. The press release references Channel 4’s presenters putting “celebrities through their paces on the tracks”. My opinion on this is quite clear: if a celebrity adds value to the coverage, go for it. If they don’t, then leave it. You have celebrities who are genuine fans of Formula 1. See Benedict Cumberbatch. See Chris Hoy. Then you have people who may turn up to races, but in reality are only there to promote their latest product. I have no problem with category A, but the moment you drift into category B, you are adding no value.
Channel 4 want to make their coverage different from the predecessors and also different from Sky’s current output, although as Murray Walker stated, you can only do so much. Having a wider range of personalities can only help in that respect. Jones describes as wanting to make the coverage “more fun” and “cooler”. In terms of cross-promotion, we are already seeing link ups with Guy Martin. Coulthard explained “There are things we’ve been working on, that we can’t say today, that will broaden the appeal. Formula 1 is very entertaining, but there’s still an opportunity to add layers to that entertainment whilst using the Formula 1 theme. With Guy Martin we did bike versus car. There’s some obvious limitations for the bike but that doesn’t take away from the fact that we had a really fun time discovering that. Hanging out with people, sharing passion for motor sport is entertaining.” Coulthard suggested that there could be further episodes with Martin to come down the road.
It was alluded as well that there are ideas floating around for the week leading up to the British Grand Prix in that regard (a potential Come Dine with Me Special won’t surprise those that were looking at Channel 4’s F1 Twitter feed during testing), but nothing has been finalised as of writing. Any cross-promotion that can bring new fans to Formula 1 is a great thing in my opinion. One change is that there will be a third commentator for some of the live races. Although he did not specify who the third person would be, Coulthard said that there will be other view points in the commentary box “during the race”.
Expect Channel 4 to focus more on the human element. As Mark Webber described it, “more colour and flavour” to get under the skin of the personalities and gladiators involved. “You look at the people they’re talking about, Alain [Prost], Alex Zanardi who haven’t done a lot in the UK. I think they will offer a completely different perspective. You’ve got a different type of audience with terrestrial viewing, we have to be conscious of the audience that are watching Channel 4. We’re trying to draw entertainment viewers, football viewers,” explained Chandhok. Chandhok went on to explain that Channel 4’s viewers (and a new audience) will be wowed by Formula 1 the first time they see it, a reference to Jones being wowed when he watched testing from Barcelona.
Scheduling, interactive and was I right?
The noticeable absentee from any of the material released today concerned anything surrounding the interactive extras that the BBC had previously, including the popular post-race F1 Forum and Red Button feeds. I am chasing up an official word on this, but based on comments made by Lee McKenzie, it appears that Channel 4 will stay on their main channel longer on Sunday afternoons to compensate for no ‘formal’ Forum. McKenzie confirmed that Baku will air on Channel 4, with the final day of Royal Ascot being bumped to one of the supplementary channels (More4). Practice sessions will air on Channel 4, where possible, with Lee McKenzie presenting these. I’ve asked the question on the whole scheduling aspect, and I will update this part as and when I hear anything.
Lastly, to end on a fun note. I predicted Channel 4’s team on January 2nd, consisting of eight people. Of those eight, three people are in Channel 4’s final team (nine and four if you include Susie Wolff). I’ll take that! Overall, my initial thoughts surrounding Channel 4’s coverage are positive. The first time we will see some of the new team on screen is Saturday 19th March. Not long to wait now.
Channel 4 and Whisper Films have today confirmed the line-up that will cover Formula 1 throughout the 2016 season.
As noted, and analysed in a separate article, Steve Jones is presenting Channel 4’s coverage. Alongside Jones in the pit lane will be a plethora of pundits.
How The F1 Broadcasting Blog has covered the Winter story
> December 21st: Channel 4 in, BBC TV out
> January 11th: Whisper Films and David Coulthard confirmed
> January 11th: Your Channel 4 F1 team revealed
> January 16th: Suzi Perry out
> January 18th: 2016 scheduling confirmed
> January 29th: Steve Jones in the presenter hot-seat
> February 12th: ‘The Chain’ confirmed
> February 20th: No technical expert expected
> March 8th: Steve Jones (and everyone else) confirmed
Ben Edwards joins from the BBC, where he was lead commentator from 2012 onwards. Edwards will again be joined in the commentary box by Coulthard. In pit lane, Karun Chandhok will be interviewing the drivers up and down the grid (his role is billed as ‘technical expert’), with Lee McKenzie also jumping over from the BBC.
On the punditry side will be Eddie Jordan, Mark Webber, Susie Wolff, Bruno Senna, Alain Prost, Alessandro Zanardi and Nicholas Hamilton, all of who will be used in rotation through the season. Like his previous role at the BBC, Murray Walker will be interviewing stars of Formula 1 away from the race circuit. There are three main surprises here. The first is that Jordan and McKenzie will be part of Channel 4’s coverage despite early suspicions that both would not be involved, the former having recently signed up for Top Gear.
Furthermore, Bruno Senna has defected from Sky Sports to Channel 4. Lastly, Hamilton may be a surprise, but he has presenting experience having presented Channel 4’s coverage of the Race of Champions last November which was produced by Whisper Films. Overall, this looks like a fantastically strong team that Channel 4 have put together.
In other news today, it was announced that Channel 4’s coverage will be sponsored by the travel search engine website KAYAK.co.uk. Jay Hunt, Channel 4’s Chief Creative Officer, said: “This is the dream team – we’ve brought together the very best on screen and off screen talent to make Channel 4’s coverage unmissable.”
David Coulthard said: “I’m very proud to be a part of this exciting line up which will give F1 fans who choose to watch the most creative and innovative free-to-air coverage of the season a totally fresh perspective. This season promises to be the most competitive for years and viewers can look forward to extensive coverage of all the races, expert punditry, unrivalled paddock and pit access as well as exhilarating stunts and features throughout to bring the audience right into the heart of the race action.”
Update on March 13th at 12:00 – In what I can only describe as a very bizarre development, Alex Zanardi has denied that he will be part of Channel 4’s Formula 1 team. This is odd because there was a VT shown with him talking during the press morning last Tuesday. I’m chasing up word from Channel 4 and will update this when I get word.
Update on March 13th at 19:00 – Pitch PR have re-iterated that Zanardi will be part of Channel 4’s coverage. They say: “Alex is very much part of the coverage. As per the press pack from Tuesday, which gives more details on each person’s role in the coverage, he will be filming features with DC during the season but will not be presenting at any races as he is in training for the Rio Olympics.”
Motorsport Broadcasting 