Classic F1 returns to Sky F1, but The F1 Show undergoes a major shift

Classic F1 races are returning to Sky Sports F1 again for the 2016 season, provisional schedules show. The strand returns to the channel on Friday 11th March at 21:00, with a race that is yet to be confirmed.

Alongside Classic F1 is an episode of the F1 Report, which appears to have dropped its ‘Midweek’ branding. The one-hour report will air on Wednesday 9th March at 20:30. Entitled ‘Development Special’, the programme will focus on how teams are preparing for the Australian Grand Prix. Craig Scarborough and Mike Gascoyne are the two guests, with Natalie Pinkham presenting.

The biggest absence though from Sky’s schedule is The F1 Show. There were rumours towards the back end of last year that Sky were planning to axe the live audience studio based episodes, although the show was mentioned in Sky’s press release last month. A request sent from this blog to Sky on Saturday 13th February has so far yielded no reply. It could be that Sky are simply planning to not air a pre-season episode, but that seems a bizarre decision to me.

It will be interesting to see what happens, but if Sky do axe the studio editions of The F1 Show then it is further evidence of the downscaling of the F1 operation and channel as a whole.

Update on February 19th – The announcement of Marc Priestley appearing as a regular pundit on the F1 Report notes that there will be an Australian Grand Prix preview show on Wednesday 16th March at 20:30. It therefore looks like that the F1 Report is going to air weekly, in place of the studio editions of The F1 Show.

Update on February 24th – The F1 Show, as we know it, is no more. Half an hour episodes will air on the Friday (at least) of each Grand Prix, starting on Friday 18th March at 08:00 (immediately following the Team Principles’ Press Conference). I don’t think the episodes will be airing live, but cannot confirm that. Obviously this is a clear sign of cost-cutting. I would be surprised if Sky acknowledge the change in format for the show. Confirmation too that the F1 Report will air weekly, 30 minute episodes each Wednesday at 20:30.

Update on February 27th – A half hour Testing Special will air on Saturday 5th March at 20:00, with Ted Kravitz joined by guests in Barcelona.

Update on March 9th – Interesting wording from Natalie Pinkham on Twitter, describing The F1 Show and F1 Midweek Report as merging to form the F1 Report. Normally with a merger, you take the best elements of both, combine them and come up with something better. The F1 Report is the F1 Midweek Report, renamed. There are no elements from The F1 Show that are being merged into it, the studio audience has gone as does any interactivity that went alongside it. It may be a good thing (and I think it will end up having its benefits), but in my opinion describing this change as a merger is inaccurate.

Update on March 18th at 08:10 – Correction to the main body, The F1 Show is indeed live.

Update on March 18th at 08:35 – Okay, so the new style F1 Show contains Friday reaction and analysis, live interviews and reaction with a few VT’s. The lighter content has gone. All in all, it seems a welcome change even if the show length has halved.

Scheduling: The 2016 Barcelona test 2

The final opportunity for the Formula 1 teams and drivers to test their machinery before the Australian Grand Prix takes place at the beginning of March with the second Barcelona test.

The Sky Sports F1 schedule is currently the same as the first Barcelona test so no surprises, but nevertheless below are all the scheduling details you need. Everything is Sky Sports F1 unless stated:

Tuesday 1st March
21:00 to 21:30 – Day 1 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Wednesday 2nd March
20:30 to 21:00 – Day 1 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 2 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Thursday 3rd March
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 2 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 3 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15
21:00 to 22:00 – Pre-Season Testing (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Friday 4th March
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 3 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 4 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

If anything changes, I will update the schedule above.

Update on February 21st – BBC are doing a 5 Live special on Thursday 3rd March, so I’ve amended the above schedule and title.

Update on Febrary 27th – Minor Sky change, Ted’s Notebook on Day 1 is 15 minutes long. However, BBC’s 5 Live special has been dropped from the schedules. It is not in their schedule for 3rd March, so it looks like plans have changed on that front. In its place is a 5 Live programme looking at the state of British tennis.

Update on February 29th – We can breathe again, 5 Live’s special is back in the schedule. Jennie Gow presents the show alongside guests to be confirmed.

Scheduling: The 2016 Barcelona test 1 on Sky Sports F1

Before the eleven Formula 1 teams and 22 drivers head to Melbourne for the 2016 Australian Grand Prix, there is the small matter of eight days of testing! Both tests are being held at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during the last week of February and the first week of March.

As in previous years, Sky Sports F1 are covering the testing action with a round-up (formally called ‘Testing Uncut’), followed by Ted Kravitz’s Notebook. As usual, there will be live updates on Sky Sports News throughout each of the four days. I’ve listed below the main repeats, but there are other testing repeats dotted around Sky’s F1 channel.

Below are all the scheduling details you need:

Monday 22nd February
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 1 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Tuesday 23rd February
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 1 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 2 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Wednesday 24th February
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 2 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 3 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Thursday 25th February
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 3 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 4 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

If anything changes, I will update the schedule above.

Channel 4 and Sky confirm 2016 F1 scheduling details

Channel 4 and Sky Sports have today confirmed their 2016 Formula One calendar picks. The picks are as follows:

2016 Schedule Details
March 20th – Australia (Melbourne) – Sky
April 3rd – Bahrain (Sakhir) – Channel 4 and Sky
April 17th – China (Shanghai) – Sky
May 1st – Russia (Sochi) – Sky
May 15th – Spain (Barcelona) – Channel 4 and Sky
May 29th – Monaco (Monaco) – Sky
June 12th – Canada (Montreal) – Sky
June 19th – Europe (Baku) – Channel 4 and Sky
July 3rd – Austria (Red Bull Ring) – Sky
July 10th – Britain (Silverstone) – Channel 4 and Sky
July 24th – Hungary (Budapest) – Channel 4 and Sky
July 31st – Germany (Hockenheim) – Sky
August 28th – Belgium (Spa) – Channel 4 and Sky
September 4th – Italy (Monza) – Channel 4 and Sky
September 18th – Singapore (Marina Bay) – Sky
October 2nd – Malaysia (Sepang) – Channel 4 and Sky
October 9th – Japan (Suzuka) – Sky
October 23rd – USA (Circuit of the Americas) – Sky
October 30th – Mexico (Mexico City) – Channel 4 and Sky
November 13th – Brazil (Interlagos) – Sky
November 27th – Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina) – Channel 4 and Sky

As reported last Thursday, Sky’s team is the same as last season. The notable names missing off Sky’s press release are Natalie Pinkham and Bruno Senna. I would not read too much into Pinkham’s name missing given she was present with Sky at the AUTOSPORT show. Senna’s name missing though may be a surprise. I don’t think it implies that he may be jumping to Channel 4 but one to keep an eye on.

The press release is nearly the same as last season meaning there is not a lot to point out. GP2 and GP3 are back, The F1 Show does not appear to be changing (despite some speculation at the back of last year to the contrary) and testing will be presented in the same format too, it looks like.

On the Channel 4 side of things, no further concrete information beyond the announcement of Whisper Films and David Coulthard last Monday. Unfortunately, there is no concrete information as to how their highlights programming will be scheduled, or the length. As discussed previously, the minimum length for the race highlight shows is two hours in my opinion. I really hope their highlights for Canada, USA and Brazil are as early as feasibly possible otherwise viewing figures could be very low for those three races.

Channel 4’s new Head of F1 (previously Commissioning Editor for Sport) Stephen Lyle said: “We are delighted to announce the full line up of races we will be showing live across 2016. The British Grand Prix is a huge highlight of the sporting calendar and we’re looking forward to covering all the action live from Silverstone this summer.”

Sky’s Head of F1 Martin Turner said: “This season offers everything. More races, more stories and more drama and only on Sky Sports F1 can viewers enjoy the complete story live. All eyes will again be on Lewis Hamilton while Mercedes and Ferrari will go head to head for the Constructors title. Our award-winning coverage will be there from the opening grid to the final chequered flag on our dedicated F1 channel and across our digital platforms.”

Normally I would go through the pick process and how I think it went. However, the picks are almost identical to the prediction made by this blog before Christmas, where I predicted correctly 19 of the 21 picks! The two races which I got wrong were Japan and Hungary. The ordering of picks would have been substantially different from pick eight onwards. In my original piece, I said it was between Australia and Hungary. I thought Sky would have taken Hungary over Australia, in reality it looks like they went in the opposite direction, allowing Channel 4 to pick Hungary. That’s probably the only surprise for me, as I anticipated, the picks are skewed towards the latter half of the season.

Update on February 1st – The FIA have now confirmed the timings of every session for 2016. The bad news for Channel 4 is, because of FOM’s insistence to clash Baku with the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the qualifying session with Azerbaijan now runs from 14:00 to 15:00. Which means it clashes with the Royal Ascot. Looking at the schedule on the Royal Ascot website, I would expect both The Chesham Stakes and The Wolferton Rated Stakes air on More4, with Channel 4 joining at around 15:20.

Sky Sports F1 to air highlights from the AUTOSPORT show

Following on from Sky Sports F1’s highlights of the 2015 AUTOSPORT Awards, the channel is also set to air highlights from the AUTOSPORT show, it has been confirmed.

A round-up show, along with a special edition of Ted Kravitz’s Notebook, will air on the channel before the end of January. As readers who have been watching the AUTOSPORT show live stream may have spotted, Sky been filming ‘mini’ F1 Show’s during the course of the weekend for those in attendance with a rotation of Simon Lazenby, Natalie Pinkham, Rachel Brookes, David Croft and Kravitz, so the highlights will be an amalgamation of these I imagine.

There are no signs of the programmes yet on Sky’s EPG or online, but I will update this post as and when scheduling details are confirmed.

Update on January 26th – Neil Wooding, one of Sky F1’s assistant producers, says that a highlights programme will air this Friday at 20:00. Sky’s own schedules have not updated with this yet, but I will update this post further as and when they do so.

Update on January 27th – It is an hour long highlights programme. The description reads “News and interviews from The Autosport International Show at the NEC, the traditional curtain raiser to the motorsport season.” No sign of the aforementioned Ted’s Notebook, I suspect that may be online only.