The BBC will continue to broadcast Formula 1 exclusively across radio for the next three seasons, the broadcaster has confirmed.
Every session will air across BBC Radio 5 Live, 5 Live Sports Extra and BBC Sounds until the end of the 2024 season. By 2024, F1 will have aired on Radio 5 Live for 30 years, the new agreement extending an already long relationship between the two parties.
The free-to-air broadcaster continued to cover F1 on radio after they relinquished television rights at the end of 2015.
Jack Nicholls will lead the 5 Live commentary team, his seventh as full-time lead commentator with 5 Live, with Jennie Gow also remaining part of the line-up.
For the weekends which clash with Nicholls’ Formula E commitments, Motorsport Broadcasting understands that Harry Benjamin will substitute for Nicholls.
As reported earlier, Jolyon Palmer will remain with 5 Live, but in a reduced capacity, with Palmer moving to F1’s in-house team on a more permanent basis.
Instead, fans will hear from “a range of different voices from the world of motorsport throughout the season.”
Formula E driver Sam Bird, who races for Jaguar TCS Racing, will join Nicholls for the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, while two-time W Series champion Jamie Chadwick will work on a “number of races”, including Saudi Arabia on March 27th.
Jack Aitken and Marc Priestley will also feature this season as part of 5 Live’s commentary offering.
Joining 5 Live out in Bahrain this weekend for the season opener are Radio 1, in the form of BBC Newsbeat, who have increased their F1 coverage in recent years, with Christian Hewgill presenting the programme from Bahrain.
IMG will continue to produce to produce the BBC’s 5 Live Formula 1 offering, including the popular Chequered Flag podcast.
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In previous years some sessions and sometimes even races have only aired on the BBC Sports Web Site and when they do that, you cannot hear it or even listen again to it via the BBC Sounds app. the BBC Sounds app only covers radio stations, which the BBC Sports Web Site isn’t. It seems an odd arrangement for something so popular.
I wonder if they will ever depart from this setup and make it all available via BBC Sounds including listen again.
For the British Grand Prix race last year they worked around the problem by using BBC Radio Northamptonshire in order for it to appear on BBC Sounds app.