Scheduling: The 2017 Barcelona test 2 on Sky Sports F1

Formula 1 is very quickly heading towards Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, but before then there is the small matter of the final test in Barcelona.

Sky Sports F1 will again have a 15-minute round-up on each of the four days, this time with Rachel Brookes presenting for Sky Sports News. David Croft returns with #AskCrofty at 21:15 on each day. There is also a 30-minute F1 Report special looking back at testing.

Elsewhere, although I am not restarting the scheduling pieces properly until the end of the month, I should note that the IndyCar Series returns next Sunday (12th March). Live coverage of the first race from the streets of St. Petersburg airs on BT Sport//ESPN from 16:30 to 19:00.

Tuesday 7th March
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 1 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– #AskCrofty at 21:15

Wednesday 8th March
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 1 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 2 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– #AskCrofty at 21:15

Thursday 9th March
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 2 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 3 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– #AskCrofty at 21:15

Friday 10th March
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 3 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 4 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– #AskCrofty at 21:15

Saturday 11th March
20:00 to 20:30 – F1 Report

If anything changes, the above schedule will be updated.

Update on March 11th – I know that test two has already happened, but I’m not in a position to publish the Australia schedule yet. So a note that there will be an F1 Report Development Special on Wednesday 15th March at 20:00 with Natalie Pinkham alongside Mike Gascoyne and Craig Scarborough. Tonight’s special for those wondering will be David Croft alongside Chris Medland and Jon Noble.

Scheduling: The 2017 Buenos Aires ePrix

After an extended absence, Formula E returns for the second half of its third season with the Buenos Aires ePrix.

Returning to the fray are two names familiar to site readers. Jack Nicholls returns as lead commentator for this round having been absent from the Hong Kong and Marrakech ePrix due to his BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commitments. Nicholls will be around for the Mexican ePrix on April 1st, before missing the Monaco and Berlin ePrix.

Marc Priestley is the second name returning to the fold, in a move officially confirmed on the Formula E website. Priestley replaces Ben Constanduros as Formula E’s YouTube presenter. Priestley has previously been part of ITV’s Formula E coverage when they were the UK broadcaster, but never part of the host feed’s coverage. It is a good move to bring Priestley into the picture.

Channel 5’s sister channel Spike is airing live coverage of qualifying, with the main channel airing the race live, which should be a good shop window for the championship in primetime next Saturday. The channel will cut away from the World Feed before the end of the post-race analysis, finishing slightly earlier at 20:10. After this race, there will be a further six week break until the Mexico City ePrix on April 1st.

Formula E – Buenos Aires (online via Channel 5’s social media channels and YouTube)
18/02 – 10:55 to 11:55 – Practice 1
18/02 – 13:25 to 14:10 – Practice 2

Formula E – Buenos Aires
18/02 – 14:45 to 16:20 – Qualifying (Spike)
18/02 – 18:30 to 20:15 – Race (Channel 5)

If anything changes, I will update the above schedule.

Update on February 17th – In a u-turn, It looks like Channel 5 are adding a studio element, with Andy Jaye confirming on Twitter that he will be presenting tomorrow’s live race broadcast.

Scheduling: The 2017 Barcelona test 1 on Sky Sports F1

One of the most frantic winter periods in recent Formula 1 history is ending. On February 27th, 2017 the sound of Formula 1 machinery will again be heard as the drivers and teams head to Barcelona in Spain for the first pre-season test session!

Sky Sports F1 will be covering the action, with brief interviews interspersed with track footage on each of the four days, followed by Ted Kravitz’s usual Notebook material. Sky Sports News will also have their usual reporter (either Rachel Brookes or Craig Slater) at the circuit.

Given that the sport is now under the ownership of Liberty Media, we might see more activity than previous years from Formula One Management (FOM) at these tests. As of writing, I do not know if they have any new plans for covering testing as a whole, but I will update this post if they are planning to do something different this year.

On the subject of car launches, there is nothing currently in Sky’s schedules. However, Natalie Pinkham and David Croft are presenting the Force India car launch from Silverstone on February 22nd, so I would expect something to turn up on the channel. Likewise, I would be surprised if the Mercedes launch the following day was not covered, either.

The Barcelona test one schedule currently stands as follows:

Thursday 16th February
19:30 to 20:30 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Wednesday 22nd February
13:00 to 16:00 – Afternoon Edition (BBC Radio 5 Live)
– live from the Mercedes factory with Jack Nicholls

Monday 27th February
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 1 Highlights (Sky Sports F1)
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Tuesday 28th February
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 1 Highlights (Sky Sports F1) (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 2 Highlights (Sky Sports F1)
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Wednesday 1st March
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 2 Highlights (Sky Sports F1) (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 3 Highlights (Sky Sports F1)
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Thursday 2nd March
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 3 Highlights (Sky Sports F1) (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 4 Highlights (Sky Sports F1)
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

If anything changes, I will update the schedule above.

Update on February 15th – The BBC are airing a 5 Live Formula 1 special on Thursday 16th February with Jennie Gow, Mark Gallagher, Andrew Benson, Toto Wolff, Ross Brawn and Claire Williams.

Scheduling: The 2017 Race of Champions

Sky Sports have confirmed that they will broadcast live coverage of the 2017 Race of Champions from Miami.

The Saturday programme will be simulcast across the dedicated F1 channel and Sky Sports Mix. Sky are wrapping the World Feed around with their own studio coverage presented by Natalie Pinkham, with Marc Priestley and Max Chilton alongside her.

Jennie Gow and John Hindhaugh will present the World Feed coverage, with Neil Cole and Bob Varsha on commentary.

Race of Champions – Miami (Sky Sports F1)
21/01 – 20:00 to 23:00 – Race of Champions (also on Sky Sports Mix)
22/01 – 17:00 to 20:00 – Nations Cup

Channel 4 will be airing highlights the weekend prior to the Australian Grand Prix.

If anything changes, I will update the schedule.

Scheduling: The 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The longest Formula 1 season in history comes down to this. For the third season in a row, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg battle it out to become Formula One Drivers’ Champion. This year, the battle goes to the wire with Rosberg in front. In between him and his first ever F1 championship is 55 laps of the Yas Marina circuit. It is the first time ever that the GP3, GP2 and F1 titles have gone to the wire in the same season.

The action is live on Sky Sports and Channel 4, with both sides fielding their strongest line-ups. Channel 4 sees the return of Eddie Jordan, Mark Webber and Susie Wolff, whilst Anthony Davidson is back on the Sky Pad. Channel 4’s coverage is specially extended for the weekend as well: alongside two documentaries before the weekend, Lee McKenzie sits down with Mark Webber as his racing career comes to an end. Furthermore, their race day show is a whopping 4 hours and 40 minutes, which is certainly the longest billed time for any F1 programme on free-to-air television that I can remember (excluding any races extended due to wet weather or red flags).

Sky’s race day programme is simulcast on Sky Sports 2, the first time that live F1 action has been shown on that channel. As previously mentioned, Sky are also showing Mario Muth’s Formula 3 documentary centred around the rivalry between Ayrton Senna and Martin Brundle in 1982. Elsewhere, there’s a special Grand Prix show on talkSPORT 2 on Wednesday evening with Rachel Brookes and Johnny Herbert presenting.

Below are all the scheduling details you need, as F1 2016 comes to a close…

Channel 4 F1
Sessions
25/11 – 08:55 to 10:35 – Practice 1
25/11 – 12:55 to 15:00 – Practice 2
26/11 – 09:55 to 11:25 – Practice 3
26/11 – 11:55 to 14:30 – Qualifying
27/11 – 12:00 to 16:40 – Race

Supplementary Programming
20/11 – 19:00 to 20:00 – 0 to 60mph: Britain’s Fastest Kids
20/11 – 20:00 to 21:00 – The Lost Lotus: Restoring a Race Car
26/11 – 11:25 to 11:55 – Lee McKenzie meets Mark Webber

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
25/11 – 08:45 to 10:50 – Practice 1 (also Sky Sports 1)
25/11 – 12:45 to 14:50 – Practice 2 (also Sky Sports 1)
26/11 – 09:45 to 11:15 – Practice 3
26/11 – 12:00 to 14:35 – Qualifying
27/11 – 11:30 to 16:15 – Race
=> 11:30 – Track Parade
=> 12:00 – Pit Lane Live (also Sky Sports 2)
=> 12:30 – Race (also Sky Sports 2)
=> 15:30 – Paddock Live (also Sky Sports 2)

Supplementary Programming
23/11 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Preview
24/11 – 11:00 to 11:30 – Driver Press Conference
24/11 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut
25/11 – 16:00 to 16:30 – Team Press Conference
25/11 – 16:30 to 17:00 – The F1 Show
27/11 – 16:15 to 18:15 – Senna vs Brundle
30/11 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Review

BBC Radio F1
24/11 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
25/11 – 08:55 to 10:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
25/11 – 12:55 to 14:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
26/11 – 12:55 to 14:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
27/11 – 13:00 to 15:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

talkSPORT 2
23/11 – 22:00 to 23:00 – The Grand Prix Show

GP2 Series – Abu Dhabi (Sky Sports F1)
25/11 – 07:15 to 08:05 – Practice
25/11 – 15:10 to 15:45 – Qualifying
26/11 – 14:35 to 16:05 – Race 1
27/11 – 10:15 to 11:30 – Race 2

GP3 Series – Abu Dhabi (Sky Sports F1)
26/11 – 11:10 to 11:45 – Qualifying
26/11 – 08:20 to 09:20 – Race 1
27/11 – 08:55 to 09:55 – Race 2

As always, I will update the schedule if anything changes.