After an off-season that no one expected, F1 roars back into life for a marathon 24 race season beginning later this month.
For fans worldwide, and for those involved in the sport, 2024 will have an unusual feel right from the get go. The opening race takes place in Bahrain on March 2nd, not only the earliest start to a season since 1992, but also the first Saturday start since 1982! Likewise, Saudi Arabia takes place on a Saturday just one week later, both changes due to Ramadan.
From there, F1 heads to Australia, Japan, and China. Japan moves up the calendar from September to April, while China returns to the calendar for the first time since 2019. The first race that takes place in a European lunchtime slot is not until Imola on May 19th.
Despite the record 24 race season, the championship does incredibly well to avoid a clash with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the football European Championships and the Wimbledon tennis finals. Only the Belgian Grand Prix faces a major clash, facing the opening weekend of the Paris Olympics.
The year concludes with a triple header, beginning in Las Vegas on Saturday 23rd November and finishing in Abu Dhabi on December 8th which, thankfully, avoids the MotoGP finale this year.
Fan interest dipped during Verstappen’s dominant year
2023 was unquestionably Max Verstappen’s and Red Bull Racing’s year, in one of the most dominant displays by a single driver and team combination that F1 has ever seen.
Verstappen’s supremacy impacted worldwide interest in the sport, creating a mixed picture overall. Despite this viewing figures in the UK held up well compared to their neighbours. During 2023, Sky’s F1 channel reached 3.40 million viewers per month, a dip of 6% compared to the 2022 monthly reach figure of 3.62 million viewers.
It was a tale of two halves compared with 2022 for Sky: a poor spring followed by a good recovery through the summer and autumn. Audience figures slumped by 17% and 25% during April and May respectively, hindered by a disjointed start to the season thanks to the cancellation of the Chinese and Emilia Romagna rounds.
Nevertheless, audience figures rebounded by the summer, with increases in July (+5%) and September (+7%) and only marginal decreases in October (-5%) and November (-3%). Although Verstappen wrapped up the championship by early October, other stories such as McLaren’s resurgence and the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix kept fans engaged in Sky’s programming.
While it is fair to say that attention has dipped since the dramatic 2021 season, interest in the sport remains good in the UK and above the levels seen prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Audience figures also decreased slightly in the US, however the season remained the second most viewed ever stateside, only behind 2022.
Over 1 million viewers continued to watch F1 in France on Canal+, however audiences held up less well in Germany and Austria, according to data supplied to Motorsport.com. Austria’s average audience across two networks dropped by around 12%, while Sky’s average audience in Germany decreased by 21%, dropping from 740,000 to 593,000 viewers.
More races, more social responsibility for broadcasters
Sky and Channel 4 return as the two broadcasters airing Formula 1 on television in the UK, now in their 13th and 9th season respectively. Every race will air live on Sky and in highlights form on Channel 4, the latter also covering the British Grand Prix weekend live across the weekend of July 4th to 6th.
As well as winning the Formula E production contract during the winter break, Whisper retained the contract to produce Channel 4’s free-to-air F1 offering, with their new agreement stretching until the end of 2026.
Motorsport Broadcasting understands that Whisper faced tough competition from North One Television, who previously produced F1 for ITV and currently produce TNT Sports’ MotoGP coverage, with the incumbent winning out.
But this year, Whisper’s offering will look a little bit different on Channel 4, as broadcasters seek to increase their focus on sustainability while cutting costs across the board. Late-night highlights for races such as Brazil, Mexico, and Miami, will air from “an innovative, immersive studio location,” believed to be the F1 Arcade space in London.
Over on Sky, this site has learnt that coverage of the Australian, Chinese, and Japanese race weekends will come from London, with only a small team travelling to the events, like how ITV covered some fly away races during their period airing F1 live. It will be the first time ever that Sky have not had an expansive presentation team on-site.
They are not the first major production to do this, with recent examples (outside of C4 F1) including ITV’s Rugby World Cup coverage where the lead broadcaster has opted to present coverage from their “interactive, mixed reality studio” in the UK, while retaining some on-site presence at the same time. Sky did not comment on the change as of writing.
All details for Sky Sports F1 unless stated.
Wednesday 28th February
15:00 to 16:00 – The F1 Show: Season Preview
Thursday 29th February
11:00 to 12:55 – Practice 1 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
14:35 to 16:15 – Practice 2 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
16:15 to 17:15 – The F1 Show (also Sky Sports Main Event)Friday 1st March
12:15 to 14:10 – Practice 3 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
15:10 to 18:00 – Qualifying (also Sky Sports Main Event)
18:00 to 18:30 – Ted’s Qualifying Notebook (also Sky Sports Main Event)
19:30 to 21:00 – Qualifying Highlights (Channel 4)Saturday 2nd March
The full UK TV schedule for the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix.
13:30 to 18:30 – Race (also Sky Sports Main Event from 14:30 to 17:00)
=> 13:30 – Grand Prix Saturday
=> 14:55 – Race
=> 17:00 – Chequered Flag
=> 18:00 – Ted’s Notebook
19:50 to 22:20 – Race Highlights (Channel 4)
Alongside Sky’s F1 coverage, the F1 channel will also air Formula 2, Formula 3, the F1 Academy series, and IndyCar live this year. Formula 2 and 3 begin in Bahrain from March 1st, whilst F1 Academy and IndyCar kick off their campaigns a week later.
F1 Academy will also air live worldwide on YouTube, with Nicki Shields, a name fans may recognise from Formula E, leading the commentary line-up alongside Alex Brundle and Jordan King.
Both Sky and Channel 4 field largely unchanged punditry line-ups, with Simon Lazenby and Steve Jones leading Sky’s and Channel 4’s outputs respectively. David Croft and Martin Brundle will continue to commentate on Sky’s offering, with Channel 4 taking F1 TV’s commentary line-up featuring Alex Jacques, Jolyon Palmer, James Hinchcliffe, and David Coulthard.
For the first time though since Sky began broadcasting F1, Croft will not be part of their coverage for three races this season, with Harry Benjamin becoming Sky’s lead commentator for the Emilia Romagna, Austrian and Azerbaijan race weekends. Commenting on the change, Croft said “It’s more about keeping fresh for the whole season. I’m not getting any younger.”
In an interview with The Independent, he added “I’ve given up and sacrificed a lot for my career. I want to give a bit of time back to my family and not be on the other side of the world. I’m getting married this year as well, so I’ve got a wedding to organise!”
“But I also want to sit and watch a race at home. I want to enjoy it. Maybe I can learn something by not commentating on a race. I can spot a few things when I’m watching – I want to see what the viewer sees.”
BBC’s Radio 5 Live coverage of F1 continues, the station celebrating 30 years on the air this March, F1 forming part of its line-up during each of those years, with coverage of every session airing across BBC Radio 5 Live, 5 Live Sports Extra and the BBC Sport website.
RTL returns to the free-to-air folder whilst F1 increases the DTC prices
Meanwhile in Germany, F1 returns to free-to-air television as part of a sub licencing deal agreed between RTL and Sky. While Sky will continue to air every race live, RTL will also air 7 races live and 12 qualifying/sprint sessions live. Their old presentation team, including pit lane reporter Kai Ebel and presenter Florian König return, as well as former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner.
“For us, Formula 1 is an absolute highlight. The 30-year success story at RTL is directly linked to Florian König, Kai Ebel, Heiko Wasser and Christian Danner. Together with Laura Papendick we have the perfect grid for our motorsport fans,” explained Andreas von Thien, Head of Sports at RTL. “We are therefore very pleased that they are all at the start again!”
In Spain, DAZN will cover the sport for the next three years exclusively, while F1 has extended its partnership with RTBF in Belgium.
> Wonder how F1 TV is made? Take a look at Motorsport Broadcasting’s in-depth analysis behind the scenes at Biggin Hill (part 1, part 2, part 3) as well as our analysis comparing F1 TV and Sky F1.
Over in the direct-to-consumer space, F1 has made their first significant price changes since launching the platform in May 2018, with the cost increasing in multiple territories.
In the Netherlands, the yearly price of F1’s premium tier service, F1 TV Pro, has increased by €30.00 from €64.99 to €94.99, a 46% rise. To the north of Netherlands, in Norway, the price has increased from by a similar amount, with rises also seen in territories such as the US, France, Poland, Brazil and Canada.
Justifying the price rise, F1 themselves have noted that one reason for the price rise is that there are more races in 2024 compared to previous seasons. Responding to fans, the series says “We continue to focus on making F1TV even more valuable to fans. We have increased the number of races from 22 races in 2023 to 24 in 2024, making this the biggest season ever!”
“We are also introducing F1 Academy along with more in-depth shows and a fantastic new interface,” the message concludes.
Although price rises are understandably frustrating, on a per race basis, the cost remains very small considering the content that fans get in return. The most expensive F1 TV price in each territory is likely still cheaper than the cheapest price for MotoGP’s Video Pass, which costs fans €199.99 worldwide.
Announcing their plans for the new season, Will Buxton and Laura Winter return as F1 TV’s lead presenters, with the in-race commentary line-up identical compared with last year, led by Alex Jacques.
Jacques will also continue his Formula 2 duties alongside Alex Brundle, while Chris McCarthy returns for his first full Formula 3 season as lead commentator. Experts, including Brundle, former race engineer Julien-Simon Chautemps and 2012 GP2 Series champion Davide Valsecchi will join the core F1 TV team throughout 2024.
For UK fans, F1 TV Pro is still inaccessible, meaning that the only way for fans to watch every race live in 2024 is via Sky Sports F1. Nevertheless, fans in the UK can access the vast archive as well as F1 TV’s supplementary content during a race weekend, such as their pre-race and post-race analysis and Tech Talk segments with Sam Collins.
Into the podcasting world
After a successful first year, The Fast and The Curious podcast continues into 2024. Fronted by Greg James, Betty Glover and Christian Hewgill, the podcast series aims to shine light on F1 from a different perspective.
The trio between them had many high profile F1 guests on the podcast during 2023, including both McLaren stars Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, and seven-time Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton.
“We wanted to try and create a podcast that didn’t already exist,” explains Hewgill. “And for us the key to that was humour, it was making a bit of a community like Greg’s [Radio 1] breakfast show does so well. It was bringing people on the journey and that was where Betty really came in because she is a sports fan, but was only just starting to know and learn and love Formula 1.”
“I didn’t feel that there was a podcast that lent into the humour of the sport and the silliness of the sport, because the sport is mad! This travelling circus that goes around the world, there’s so much humour and funniness to it. I didn’t think there was a podcast that lent into the, for want of a better word, the Drive to Survive era, in that there were more people coming into F1 who knew a bit, but didn’t know loads.”
“Some people say that motor racing drivers are quite dull, I couldn’t disagree any more. Motor racing drivers are fascinating.”
2024 promises more of the same from the podcast and, already as of writing, the show has featured both Williams drivers, triple F1 drivers champion Sir Jackie Stewart, Toto Wolff, George Russell and, yes, even having a dinner date with Karun Chandhok!
Away from The Fast and The Curious, Hewgill’s other podcast vehicle, F1 Explains returns, Hewgill presenting alongside Katie Osbourne, the show helping to explain F1’s nuances to newer audiences of the sport.
Thursday 29th February
11:25 to 12:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
19:30 to 20:30 – Bahrain Grand Prix Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
14:55 to 16:05 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)Friday 1st March
12:25 to 13:35 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
15:55 to 17:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)Saturday 2nd March
The full UK radio schedule for the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix.
14:45 to 17:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
You might be thinking, quite rightly, why podcasts are continuing to proliferate the motor racing world. Analysis released last month by YouGov shows that podcasts are most popular with those in the 18 to 34 demographic, the same demographic F1 is attracting thanks to Drive to Survive.
Sky Sports’ in-house F1 podcast returns this year, with Matt Baker continuing to lead the podcast alongside a range of guests from their F1 team and beyond. Also returning is the BBC’s usual post-race output Chequered Flag.
A pre-season addition for the Beeb this year has been the launch of a standalone eight-part podcast series. Narrated by actor Joseph Fiennes, F1: Back at Base series takes fans behind the scenes of the Mercedes and Williams team from the chequered flag in Abu Dhabi last year through the off-season and into lights out for F1 testing.
The launch of the BBC’s new podcast series is their latest effort in the F1 world, following the series in late-2022 analysing the Spygate scandal in Sport’s Strangest Crimes across ten episodes. Expect more podcasts from the likes of Autosport, The Race and P1 with Matt and Tommy as 2024 progresses.
For the second year running, The Race Media has opted to overhaul their WTF1 brand. Content creators Amber Jones and Haydon Gullis will lead the brand this year, with the company saying that now “is right to relaunch the brand, creating the perfect platform for new and younger fans to engage with motor racing.”
“We’re all looking forward to this brave new era of WTF1, Haydon and Amber work fantastically together and our fan first approach to F1 will be central to the content we’ll be releasing over the coming weeks and months,” explained Tim Silvey, Head of Talent for WTF1.
“We have significant plans for channel growth and look forward with renewed enthusiasm to this new iteration of the brand.”
The challenge for anyone generating F1 content this year worldwide, whether that be broadcasters or podcasters alike, is to keep fans engaged throughout 2024. And, based on the early evidence from testing, that might be a challenge.
Can someone take the challenge to Max Verstappen and Red Bull, or will the Dutchman take his fourth Drivers’ Championship in a row? It is time to find out…
Article last updated on Monday 26th February, with a further update made on Wednesday 6th March covering F1 Academy’s coverage plans.
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Sky should spend the money not doing a virtual greatest track ever, but sort out the piece of crap that is Sky Go.
Sky F1’s haphazard coverage of the far better for fans IndyCar is shameful- esp. on catch-up. Urgently needs sorted.
Formula E has been killed in the UK since the move to TNT Sports and no even free catch-up option. Shame for Jaguar, and the rest of the UK based teams, and Nuneaton’s own Jake Dennis – 2023 Champion.
There is a free Formula E catchup option, albeit it’s race only and a week after each event, which is via the Formula E website
thx. Last I looked there was nothing. and comms from FormulaE have been poor.
It’s still pretty bad for a tech led event, corporate domiciled in the UK and with leading UK Teams.
… dumping to TNT will not drive any revenues growth and alienates previous views. If they had put on the lowest Discovery+ tier …. Not the TNT Sports premium tier.
In my opinon, Sky F1 have always treated IndyCar coverage badly. Yes, I know it is called Sky F1, but please, more of IndyCar, especially in the off-season. Yes, they have IndyCar highlights, but nothing else. The viewing figures for Indy are getting better, but it’s not helping having little or no talk of it in the off-season. And, as for the Indy 500, the race actually started on time last year on Sky Sports F1, but the previous year, even after the Monaco GP had finished, plus the aftershow, Ted’s Notebook overran, so they showed the last hour and a half! What’s that all about – not showing one of the triple crown live, and talking about the Monaco GP? I do agree, Sky Go needs an overhaul. Indy needs more promotion and far better treatment!
I do wish the BBC would broadcast all F1 commentaries on BBC Sounds.
I’m sure the podcasts, available in BBC Sounds, are really interesting but it would be nice to be able to listen to all the live coverage via BBC Sounds rather than only some of it.
yea it can be heard elsewhere but only BBC Sounds content is publicly archived.
I forgot to add the example. At this weekends Saudi Arbian Grabd Prix you can listen again to every part of the F1 sessions, except the most important part, the race itself.
So FP1; FP2; FP3 and qualifying can be heard again afterwards but if you aren’t able to hear the race live then tough.
The only way people get to listen to the British Grand Prix race delayes is that BBC Radio Northamptonshire broadcast it live and they are available via BBC Sounds after the event.
What do other people think of the BBC not broadcasting everything on BBC Sounds?