The battle between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel rolls into Bahrain for round three of the 2017 Formula One season, in a busy weekend at home and abroad.
Bahrain marks Channel 4’s first live Grand Prix of the season. As revealed last week, in a change to their structure from last season, the broadcaster has opted to follow Sky’s approach by segmenting their programme into separate chunks. Mark Webber will be with Channel 4’s usual team fronted by Steve Jones and David Coulthard. Channel 4 will also air their first ‘F1 Meets’ programmes of the new season, with Lee McKenzie chatting to Murray Walker in an extended season.
Alongside Formula 1 in Bahrain is the return of the Formula Two Championship, which replaces the GP2 Series. As with GP2, every race of the Formula Two Championship will be live on Sky Sports F1. For the first time, the action will be covered in ultra high-definition.
Also returning this weekend is the World Endurance Championship, with Silverstone hosting the season opener. Live coverage will air across Motorsport.tv (was Motors TV), BT Sport and Eurosport, with Sky Sports News also airing news reports. Viewers watching across the first two networks will hear some slightly different voices compared to previous years. Toby Moody and Martin Haven will share play-by-play duties throughout the year, with Moody commentating on the season opener from Silverstone. Allan McNish will be present at six rounds, whilst Louise Beckett and Graham Goodwin are also part of the team.
Elsewhere, it is a very busy weekend on the domestic front, with a lot of racing within an hour and a half radius of one another across the weekend: the aforementioned WEC, BTCC from Donington Park, and the British GT cars are racing at Oulton Park on Bank Holiday Monday.
Channel 4 F1
Sessions
14/04 – 11:55 to 13:35 – Practice 1
14/04 – 15:55 to 17:35 – Practice 2
15/04 – 12:55 to 14:25 – Practice 3
15/04 – 14:55 to 17:30 – Qualifying
16/04 – 14:50 to 18:45 – Race
=> 14:50 – Build-Up
=> 15:35 – Race
=> 18:15 – Reaction
Supplementary Programming
15/04 – 14:25 to 14:55 – F1 Meets… Murray Walker
Sky Sports F1
Sessions
14/04 – 11:45 to 13:50 – Practice 1
14/04 – 15:45 to 18:00 – Practice 2
15/04 – 12:45 to 14:15 – Practice 3
15/04 – 15:00 to 17:45 – Qualifying
16/04 – 14:30 to 19:15 – Race
=> 14:30 – Track Parade
=> 15:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 15:30 – Race
=> 18:30 – Paddock Live
Supplementary Programming
12/04 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Preview
13/04 – 13:00 to 14:00 – Driver Press Conference
13/04 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut
14/04 – 18:30 to 19:00 – Team Press Conference
14/04 – 19:00 to 19:30 – The F1 Show
19/04 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Review
BBC Radio F1
13/04 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
14/04 – 11:55 to 13:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
15/04 – 12:55 to 14:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
15/04 – 15:55 to 17:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
16/04 – 15:30 to 19:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
=> updates also on BBC Radio 5 Live
British GT – Oulton Park (Frontrunner)
17/04 – Races
=> 10:45 to 14:00
=> 15:00 to 17:15
British Superbikes – Brands Hatch (Eurosport 2)
16/04 – 14:15 to 17:00 – Qualifying
17/04 – 12:30 to 18:00 – Race
British Touring Car Championship – Donington Park (ITV4)
16/04 – 10:45 to 18:15 – Races
Formula Two – Bahrain (Sky Sports F1)
14/04 – 09:30 to 10:15 – Practice
14/04 – 18:00 to 18:30 – Qualifying
15/04 – 11:10 to 12:15 – Race 1
16/04 – 12:15 to 13:05 – Race 2
Formula V8 3.5 – Silverstone (BT Sport/ESPN)
15/04 – 11:30 to 13:15 – Race 1
16/04 – 09:30 to 10:30 – Race 2
World Endurance Championship – Silverstone
16/04 – Race
=> 11:30 to 18:00 (BT Sport/ESPN)
=> 11:45 to 18:20 (Motorsport.tv)
=> 17:00 to 18:15 (Eurosport 2)
As always, if the schedules change, I will update the above times.H
Motorsport Broadcasting 
14/04 – 18:00 to 18:30 – Team Press Conference
14/04 – 18:00 to 18:30 – F2 Qualifying
Can’t both be on Sky F1 at the same time. I think in the past that they show the Team Principals presser delayed, not certain if the half hour slot for the F2 Qualy will be enough either.
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Also, still no broadcaster for the F3?
Woops, fixed now
Re F3 – i can only see highlights listed on Wednesday on Eurosport, or the live streams/YouTube links. Does anyone know different?
Off topic, but have you seen that Liberty have allowed CNN to film in the paddock for the first time this weekend? They don’t have any broadcast rights, it’s for their monthly magazine programme. See Amanda Davies’ tweets from yesterday. They usually get their shots by visiting circuits weeks in advance.
Not sure if this is a one off for one broadcaster or there might be a wider roll out some time (eg BBC filming clips for the website)
Not off topic at all for this blog 🙂
Certainly reading into the tweet that this is a blocker that Liberty themselves have lifted.
FOM used to allow it when MTV sponsored Simtek in the mid-1990s, and so you would have Davina McCall presenting a programme every weekend or so (https://vimeo.com/88888848). CNN sponsors McLaren and so I suspect it may be a similar deal.
A couple of things you can add to the schedule if you want to.
European Le Mans Series Silverstone (15/4/17):
BT Sport ESPN: 14:15-19:00
Motorsport TV: 14:15-18:35
The Grand Prix Show (14/4/17):
talkSPORT 2: 19:00-20:00
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think The Grand Prix Show is being aired on talkSPORT 2 on the Friday the GP weekend happens.
Yes, The Grand Prix Show has been going for a little while now. I’ll add ELMS for the remainder of the season.