Author: David Nelson

Channel 4 announces Formula 1 on-air team

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.”

Steve Jones confirmed as Channel 4’s Formula 1 presenter

Steve Jones will be presenting Channel 4’s coverage of Formula 1, it has been confirmed today. Jones succeeds Suzi Perry as lead presenter of Formula 1 on terrestrial television in the United Kingdom, Perry having presented BBC’s coverage from 2013 to 2015.

The appointment of Jones will come as a surprise to many Formula 1 fans given his lack of experience in presenting sporting events. As revealed though on the site, Jones has been widely expected to become lead presenter since late January. Channel 4 are going down the same route as they took with their American Football highlights coverage in 2013. In that instance, the corporation hired Vernon Kay as lead presenter.

Jones has had a long relationship with Channel 4, dating back to the early 2000s when he presenting their children strand T4 from 2003 to 2010. Since then, Jones has had stints with other broadcasters, such as presenting Let’s Dance for Comic Relief on BBC One and The X Factor USA on Fox. In recent years, Jones has returned to Channel 4, presenting Young, Free & Single: Live and My Kitchen Rules: UK.

Analysis
Inevitably, there will be people who see the appointment of Jones and instantly write off Channel 4’s coverage of Formula 1. It may remind readers of Melanie Sykes’s failed stint of presenting BT Sport’s MotoGP coverage, in that both did not present sport before their respective motor sport stints. What Jones will have on his side is that the Australian Grand Prix is a highlights weekend for Channel 4. As I discussed last month, Australia will be a dry-run for the whole team, it will be an opportunity for Jones to get used to presenting Formula 1 without the pressure of live television.

I think, in the very least, Jones should be given a chance. Just because Sykes did not work out in MotoGP, it does not mean Jones should be dismissed as Channel 4’s Formula 1 presenter. I’m optimistic that it will be successful. As always, time will tell but Jones has an experienced team of Formula 1 experts around him, including David Coulthard to help guide and steer the ship.

Channel 4 confirms Australian Grand Prix build-up programming

Channel 4 has revealed their confirmed schedules for up to, and including, Friday 18th March meaning that we now have official details about their build-up programming for the 2016 Formula One season.

There are two main programmes in the schedule. The first is a special edition of Speed with Guy Martin, which airs on Thursday 17th March at 21:00. The special sees Martin go head-to-head with David Coulthard, who himself will be part of Channel 4’s F1 coverage. Coulthard, in the Red Bull F1 car (I believe 2011 or 2012), with Martin in his Tyco BMW Superbike, filmed the episode at Silverstone in the middle of February. There are multiple head-to-head challenges pitting the Red Bull against the Tyco BMW, including a drag race, a brake test and a circuit race.

Martin and Coulthard also test their fitness and reaction levels during the one-hour special, with physical and mental challenges. The special was produced by North One Television, the first programme produced under the contract for them to deliver supplementary programming surrounding Channel 4’s Grand Prix coverage. In this instance, Speed with Guy Martin is normally produced by North One, so it made sense for them to produce a special Formula 1 edition alongside the other three editions commissioned for broadcast on Channel 4 this year.

The second show is a five-minute teaser on Friday 18th March at 21:00. The teaser, entitled Fast and Furious, will air directly before Channel 4’s biggest show Gogglebox, meaning that the slot will reach around 3.5 million viewers. The five-minute window is billed as “an exclusive preview of the epic launch to Channel 4’s coverage of the 2016 Formula 1 season”. Meanwhile, provisional schedules for the Australian Grand Prix weekend are now available. As with all provisional listings, the following is caveated as the schedules are subject to change.

Currently, highlights of the qualifying session from Melbourne are in a 105 minute slot from 12:30 to 14:15. Preceding it is an episode of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., with Channel 4 Racing following it at 14:15. Highlights of the race on Sunday 20th March are provisionally billed in a 135 minute slot from 13:30 to 15:45. Preceding it is Channel 4’s three-hour magazine programme Sunday Brunch (which has been pushed back an hour from 09:30 to 10:30), and following it is a repeat of Guy Martin’s programme Last Flight of the Vulcan Bomber.

At this stage, the main information to take out of the provisional schedules is the length of both programmes. Both shows are longer than their BBC counterparts in previous years. As discussed before, the highlights programming on Channel 4 will contain adverts. I don’t expect the weekend schedule to radically change when we see the finalised copy on Wednesday, nevertheless the above should give us an idea as to what to expect.

Scheduling: The 2016 Mexico City ePrix / IndyCar opener

Formula E heads into new territory in more ways than one for round five of the 2015-16 season. Next weekend is the first race for the series in Mexico, but also is the first race not to be shown live on ITV in the UK. Due to a snooker event, ITV4 will be airing delayed coverage later in the evening.

ITV’s delayed coverage will have the usual studio build-up and race reaction with Jennie Gow presenting alongside Jaime Alguersuari and Marc Priestley. On the Formula E World Feed, Scott Speed is deputising for Dario Franchitti, the latter is in St. Petersburg for IndyCar next weekend. It means that Jack Nicholls and Franchitti will now not be together until the Paris ePrix on April 23rd, as Nicholls will be missing the Long Beach round due to his Formula 1 commitments with BBC Radio 5 Live.

> FREE Full Race Replay – 2015 Beijing ePrix
> FREE Full Race Replay – 2015 Putrajaya ePrix
> FREE Full Race Replay – 2015 Punta del Este ePrix
> FREE Full Race Replay – 2015 Buenos Aires ePrix

As a result of ITV4 not showing the race live, it means that the race will be available for UK viewers to watch online as well as BT Sport Europe. It is the first time that BT have shown a Formula E race live. Obviously the viewing figures for both that and the YouTube stream will be interesting to monitor as a comparison to ITV4’s usual numbers.

Next weekend marks the beginning of the aforementioned IndyCar Series from St. Petersburg. The series will again be broadcast on BT Sport in 2016 as part of a deal that runs through to the end of 2022.

The schedule as usual can be found below:

Formula E – Mexico City (online via FIAFormulaE.com and YouTube)
12/03 – 14:10 to 15:10 – Practice 1
12/03 – 16:25 to 17:10 – Practice 2
12/03 – 17:45 to 19:10 – Qualifying
12/03 – 21:30 to 23:30 – Race

Formula E – Mexico City
12/03 – 21:30 to 23:30 – Race Live (Virgin Media – channel 997)
12/03 – 21:45 to 23:30 – Race Live (BT Sport Europe)
12/03 – 23:15 to 01:15 – Race (ITV4)
13/03 – 09:30 to 10:25 – Highlights (ITV)

IndyCar Series – St. Petersburg (BT Sport//ESPN)
13/03 – 16:30 to 19:30 – Race

As always I will update the schedule if anything changes.

Update on March 11th at 19:40 – Virgin Media will be showing the race live in the channel slot 997 tomorrow evening. The reason for the strange channel number is for Virgin Media customers that do not have access to BT Sport Europe. It will be interesting to see if the programme has the BT Sport Europe DOG. If it does not have BT Sport graphics, then this is a clean feed straight from Formula E, which will be the first time we’ve had that happen for Formula E in the UK. There’s clearly some flexibility in the contract that allows this to happen.

Webber, Wolff and Chandhok set to feature in Channel 4’s F1 line-up

Mark Webber, Susie Wolff and Karun Chandhok are all set to feature in Channel 4’s Formula 1 line-up for the 2016 season.

The word on the ground
Channel 4 and Whisper Films have only officially announced one person so far, that being David Coulthard. The remaining announcements, along with coverage plans, are set to come at this coming Tuesday.

As reported multiple times over the past month on this site, Steve Jones will be presenting Channel 4’s coverage. Jones is currently in Barcelona for the second week of testing preparing for the start of the season and has already conducted interviews with the likes of Nico Rosberg. Coulthard will be alongside Jones and also up in the commentary box with Ben Edwards, the two moving straight across from their BBC F1 partnership. In the pit lane will be Karun Chandhok. Chandhok is also out in Barcelona, with AUTOSPORT. This blog learnt yesterday that Chandhok will be Channel 4’s pit lane reporter, something that has been supported in F1 Racing’s season preview magazine.

Chandhok will not be the only person in the pit lane for Channel 4 as Lee McKenzie will also be reporting from track side. McKenzie was first reported by James Allen’s website a few weeks ago. It is great that McKenzie will be continuing to cover Formula 1, although it is assumed McKenzie will not be at every race due to her BBC duties this year covering Wimbledon and the Olympic Games (the latter does not clash with the F1, but will require some preparation).

On the punditry side of things, according to The Guardian, Mark Webber and Susie Wolff will be part of Channel 4’s team. Speaking to The Guardian, David Coulthard said “We’ll have a professional presenter. Then we’ll have a mix of diverse people, some of whom will be recognisable to the masses, some will not. We will have a range of different views. The full team will be announced next week, but as a fan of motorsport, which is what I am, I am excited by some of the people we have coming in.” If true, Webber is a fantastic signing. Watching the BBC’s final Grand Prix broadcast last season, you got the impression that Webber was auditioning for a role somewhere which I commented on at the time.

The signing of Wolff will surprise people. I’m not too surprised. From an anecdotal perspective, I predicted this in my series of posts over Christmas, plus she rated highly in the site survey that followed. Coulthard’s comment to The Guardian implies to me that the analysts will be rotated across the season in an effort to keep the output fresh. This is where the likes of Alain Prost are likely to come in. Whether Eddie Jordan fits into this category too, I don’t know.

The 5 Live conundrum
As referenced on Tuesday, Jack Nicholls will be BBC Radio 5 Live’s lead commentator. This blog understands that Nicholls is set to be announced as covering the role full-time. Note the phrase “full-time”. The problem is that there are clashes between the Formula 1 and Formula E calendar. Specifically, the Long Beach ePrix clashes with the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend and more notably the season finale in London clashes with the Austrian Grand Prix.

As of writing, Nicholls is not scheduled to be commentating on the Long Beach ePrix on Saturday 2nd April. Instead, Nicholls will be with the 5 Live team in Bahrain. The question you have to ask is whether it is feasible to have the lead Formula E commentator also commentating on Formula 1 full-time going forward. I don’t know the answer to that, but there are people high-up within the paddock bound to be unhappy that the same voice is commentating on both Formula 1 and Formula E…

Alongside Nicholls are understood to be Tom Clarkson, Jennie Gow (already confirmed) and Allan McNish. As with all these things, we don’t know whether anyone was offered a Channel 4 role and rejected said role, or have been offered other avenues to pursue within the BBC.

Update on March 3rd at 19:20 – Nicholls has confirmed his 5 Live role on his Twitter account. Obviously this also means that, as reported previously, James Allen will not be part of 5 Live’s output this year.

Update on March 3rd at 20:20 – Mark Gallagher has confirmed that himself and Clarkson will be part of the 5 Live preview show tonight. I’ve updated the various pages on this site to reflect the confirmation. Not sure about the status of McNish at the moment.

Update on March 3rd at 21:40 – Jennie Gow has confirmed on the 5 Live preview show that Allan McNish will be alongside Nicholls in the BBC 5 Live commentary box for the 2016 season. So, the confirmed 5 Live team is Nicholls, McNish, Clarkson, Gow and Gallagher.

Update on March 4th at 13:35 – Chandhok is confirmed! He interviewed Lewis Hamilton during the lunch break in Barcelona, conveniently holding a Channel 4 microphone.