The first triple header of the 2020 Formula One season concludes with the teams and drivers taking a 260-mile trip across the border from Austria into Hungary for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The main change from a TV perspective this weekend is that Channel 4’s highlights programme airs an hour later, from 19:30 to 22:00. The change is likely to cover up gaps in Channel 4’s own programming schedule arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unusually, the 5 Live schedule for F1 is blank, because every session is airing on the BBC website only, and there is no Preview schedule on BBC Radio 5 Live either, as Premier League football, FA Cup semi-finals and cricket pushes F1 down the BBC’s pecking order.
On the personnel front, Jenson Button is not with the Sky team in Hungary, but will be rejoining the team in Silverstone.
Over in Spain, the MotoGP season gets underway with a double-header at Jerez, as Marc Marquez looks to triumph once again.
For MotoGP, it is the first round of the year, however for Moto2 and Moto3 it is round two of the year after they managed to kickstart their season in Qatar back in March.
BT’s coverage comes from Triumph’s main base in Hinckley, with the usual team of Suzi Perry, Gavin Emmett, Keith Huewen, Neil Hodgson amongst those guiding viewers through the championship this year.
As with F1, some pay TV broadcasters are travelling to Jerez, however Dorna have prohibited all other journalists from the circuit itself.
For those that did not watch Moto2 or Moto3 from Qatar, keep an eye on MotoGP’s new graphics set for 2020 during the Jerez weekend.
Free-to-air highlights of MotoGP again air on Quest in a Monday evening time slot.
Elsewhere, in an interesting development, Sky Sports F1 are airing live coverage of the Ferrari Challenge series where possible this year, as they continue to grow their non-F1 motor sport portfolio.
It is not Sky Sports F1’s only acquisition recently: they are also airing extensive coverage of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance and Sprint Cup championships this year for the first time.
Channel 4 F1
18/07 – 18:45 to 20:15 – Qualifying Highlights
19/07 – 19:30 to 22:00 – Race Highlights
Sky Sports F1
Sessions
17/07 – 09:30 to 11:50
=> 09:30 – Welcome to the Weekend
=> 10:00 – Practice 1
17/07 – 13:45 to 15:45 – Practice 2
18/07 – 10:45 to 12:10 – Practice 3
18/07 – 13:00 to 15:35 – Qualifying (also Sky Sports Main Event)
19/07 – 12:30 to 17:30 – Race
=> 12:30 – Grand Prix Sunday
=> 14:05 – Race
=> 16:00 – Chequered Flag
=> 17:00 – Notebook
Supplementary Programming
17/07 – 16:30 to 17:00 – The Story so Far
22/07 – 21:00 to 21:30 – Midweek Debrief
BBC Radio F1
All sessions are available live on BBC’s F1 website
MotoGP – Spain (BT Sport 2)
Also airs live on MotoGP’s Video Pass (£)
17/07 – 08:00 to 10:45 – Practice 1
17/07 – 12:00 to 15:00 – Practice 2
18/07 – 08:00 to 15:45
=> 08:00 – Practice 3
=> 11:00 – Qualifying
=> 15:00 – MotoE
19/07 – 07:15 to 14:30
=> 07:15 – Warm Ups
=> 08:45 – MotoE
=> 09:30 – Moto3
=> 11:00 – Moto2
=> 12:30 – MotoGP
=> 14:00 – Chequered Flag
MotoGP – Spain (Quest)
20/07 – 18:00 to 19:00 – Highlights
Ferrari Challenge – Catalunya (Sky Sports F1)
18/07 – 17:10 to 18:10 – Race 1
19/07 – 17:30 to 18:30 – Race 2 (tape-delay)
Formula Two – Hungary (Sky Sports F1)
17/07 – 11:50 to 12:40 – Practice
17/07 – 15:55 to 16:30 – Qualifying
18/07 – 15:35 to 16:55 – Race 1
19/07 – 10:00 to 11:05 – Race 2
Formula Three – Hungary (Sky Sports F1)
17/07 – 08:30 to 09:20 – Practice
17/07 – 13:00 to 13:45 – Qualifying
18/07 – 09:20 to 10:10 – Race 1
19/07 – 08:35 to 09:35 – Race 2
IndyCar Series – Iowa (Sky Sports F1)
17/07 – 22:30 to 23:30 – Qualifying 1
17/07 (Friday night) – 01:30 to 04:30 – Race 1
18/07 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Qualifying 2
18/07 (Saturday night) – 01:30 to 04:00 – Race 2 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
Porsche Supercup – Hungary (Sky Sports F1)
19/07 – 11:20 to 12:05 – Race
Virgin Australia Supercars – Winton
Also airs live on SuperView (£)
18/07 – 06:30 to 08:00 – Race 1 (BT Sport 3)
19/07 – 02:30 to 04:00 – Race 2 (BT Sport 2)
19/07 – 05:30 to 07:00 – Race 3 (BT Sport 2)
This post will be updated if details change.
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I would assume the later start on Channel 4 is due to the FA Cup semi-final kicking off on BBC 1 at 6pm – assuming the football doesn’t go to extra time, it’ll be perfect to turn over to C4 after the final whistle, as the actual race edit shouldn’t have begun by around 7.50pm.
Freesports have highlights only of Virgin Australia Supercars from Winton. These are currently due to air on Saturday 25th July, from 10am to 12 noon (2x 1 hour highlights as usual). It should be noted that the schedule this far out is subject to change, particularly as Freesports are airing Major League Soccer that morning, which will be a mixture of live and tape delay.
Virgin Australia Supercars Winton rounds have been moved to Sydney, some of the races next weekend will now be run at night. This means BT Sport schedule as published now goes out the window. Freesports schedule for the following weekend, as I mentioned earlier, shouldn’t be changed that much.
Announcement from the website: https://www.supercars.com/calendar/?fbclid=IwAR1CAvlRN4VF7YlzQb-10sdFz5vxQWHh_RU_x_Ks8m1uyay1VIzW7vS81Ls
I’m not sure whether here is the right moment to comment on this but for goodness sake what on earth is F1 up to at the moment? OK, I get no spectators but no reporters in the paddock? The drivers are barely audible when being interviewed by wearing masks and why do they need to wear one when being interviewed by a remote TV interviewer – it’s laughable! And as for the robot delivering the trophy to the ‘podium’ well, me and my wife fell about yesterday! My thoughts went back to Doctor Who and K9. In terms of presentation Ch4 need to be reminded that the studio team do not have to be 4m apart when even 2m is debatable. Sorry, this season is shaping up to be a complete dud – it should have been cancelled from what I’ve seen so far. The world’s gone bonkers.
Hello David, Drivers’ Press Conference Hungary now on Sky EPG = Thu 16th Jul, 8:00pm
OK no more feedback from me if not heeded
Apologies, I didn’t see this comment straight away. This site is not my only responsibility (I have a day job too), so no guarantee that I can edit posts straight away.
Am I right in thinking that Quest pulled the Monday 6pm MotoGP highlights at the last minute? When I looked at the weekend it was in the listing for this evening but as I write it’s 6pm and Wheeler Dealers is on, with no mention now of MotoGP anywhere.
Thanks for the quick response!
Well that sucked….I just recorded some outback gold mining crap. What technical difficulties can they have putting on highlights of an event that occurred 24hrs previously? Did someone in the office records Coronation Street over the tape? I bet they put it on again at about 3am with zero advanced notice.