Sky Sports F1 schedule times for GP2 and GP3 season repeats starting this week

Following on from the announcement that Sky Sports F1 are to extend their schedule times for November, below is a list of all of the GP2 and GP3 season repeat times that start this Wednesday.

GP2 Series
23:00 – Wednesday 31st October – Malaysia, Race 1
00:25 – Thursday 1st November – Malaysia, Race 2
12:40 – Thursday 1st November – Bahrain, Race 1 (Round 1)
14:05 – Thursday 1st November – Bahrain, Race 2 (Round 1)
16:40 – Thursday 1st November – Bahrain, Race 1 (Round 2)
18:05 – Thursday 1st November – Bahrain, Race 2 (Round 2)
16:30 – Tuesday 6th November – Spain, Race 1
18:25 – Tuesday 6th November – Spain, Race 2
20:00 – Wednesday 7th November – Monaco, Race 1
22:55 – Wednesday 7th November – Monaco, Race 2
18:35 – Friday 9th November – Europe, Race 1
23:30 – Friday 9th November – Europe, Race 2
12:45 – Saturday 10th November – Britain, Race 1
14:10 – Saturday 10th November – Britain, Race 2
12:45 – Sunday 11th November – Germany, Race 1
14:10 – Sunday 11th November – Germany, Race 2
23:00 – Monday 12th November – Hungary, Race 1
00:25 – Tuesday 13th November – Hungary, Race 2
23:00 – Tuesday 13th November – Belgium, Race 1
00:25 – Wednesday 14th November – Belgium, Race 2
23:00 – Wednesday 14th November – Italy, Race 1
00:25 – Thursday 15th November – Italy, Race 2
15:20 – Thursday 15th November – Singapore, Race 1
16:50 – Thursday 15th November – Singapore, Race 2

GP3 Series
14:50 – Tuesday 6th November – Spain, Race 1
15:40 – Tuesday 6th November – Spain, Race 2
16:15 – Wednesday 7th November – Monaco, Race 1
17:05 – Wednesday 7th November – Monaco, Race 2
16:20 – Friday 9th November – Europe, Race 1
17:10 – Friday 9th November – Europe, Race 2
09:00 – Saturday 10th November – Britain, Race 1
09:55 – Saturday 10th November – Britain, Race 2
09:00 – Sunday 11th November – Germany, Race 1
09:55 – Sunday 11th November – Germany, Race 2
16:20 – Monday 12th November – Hungary, Race 1
17:10 – Monday 12th November – Hungary, Race 2
16:20 – Tuesday 13th November – Belgium, Race 1
17:10 – Tuesday 13th November – Belgium, Race 2
16:20 – Wednesday 14th November – Italy, Race 1
17:10 – Wednesday 14th November – Italy, Race 2

So if you want to relieve GP2 and GP3 again, or alternatively record all of them to watch over the Winter, then above are all the times you need to do so.

Scheduling: The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

From India, F1 heads to Abu Dhabi for round 18 of 20 in the 2012 Formula One season. Both BBC and Sky are live for this one, so full coverage is available from both sides.

On 5 Live F1, James Allen and Jaime Alguersuari are not with them this weekend, so it is John Watson alongside Jonathan Legard for the weekend. As is normal during live BBC TV weekends, however, Ben Edwards will be in the box too for practice 1, which I believe will be the first time since their A1 Grand Prix days that Edwards and Watson are commentating together!

Thursday 1st November
11:00 to 11:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
19:30 to 20:00 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (4/6) (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 2nd November
08:45 to 10:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
08:55 to 10:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Red Button)
12:45 to 15:00 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
12:55 to 14:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Red Button)
15:00 to 15:45 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 18:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 3rd November
09:45 to 11:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
09:55 to 11:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Red Button)
12:00 to 14:45 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
12:10 to 14:15 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sunday 4th November
11:30 to 16:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
12:10 to 15:15 – F1: Race (BBC One)
15:15 to 16:15 – F1: Forum (BBC Red Button)

As always, if anything changes I shall update this blog if necessary.

Sky Sports F1 channel to extend ‘opening times’ throughout November

Sky Sports F1 are to extend their channel scheduling hours throughout November, I can confirm. Normally, the channel is only open from 18:00 onwards on weekdays, however the schedules on the Radio Times website show that the channel will be open for longer, starting on Tuesday 6th November straight after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend.

– Tuesday 6th November – 12:50 to 00:00 (mainly Legends, GP2 and GP3 repeats)
– Wednesday 7th November – 14:00 to 00:00
– Thursday 8th November – from 17:00
– Friday 9th November – from 14:00
– Saturday 10th November – from 07:00
– Sunday 11th November – from 07:00
– Monday 12th November – from 15:00
– Tuesday 13th November – from 15:00
– Wednesday 14th November – from 15:00
– Thursday 15th November – from 13:50
—> USA race weekend
– Tuesday 20th November – from 16:00
– Wednesday 21st November – from 16:00

As far as I can see, there is no new programming listed, although I am pleased to see the hours being extended. The possible reason for this may be regarding the closure of the channel throughout the Winter. Although nothing concrete has been confirmed on that front, the advertising document published by Sky Media before the start of the season (archived here by F1Fanatic.co.uk) noted dates of “Between March 9th and November 30th”, suggesting the channel will not operate over the Winter from December 1st.

It may also be that the channel will just operate X hours a day from December 1st, say two hours a day for sake of argument in ‘Winter shut down’ mode. Finalised schedules have not been publicly released yet so I don’t know whether the channel will close for definite. It harks back a bit to F1 Digital+ in 2002, in that case the channel closed forever, it is always entirely possible (but not very likely) that Sky could take the decision to move all content from Sky Sports F1 to their main Sky Sports channels.

I’ll update the opening part of this post in any case as the schedules update further through November. UPDATE at 16:30 – This article has now appeared on the Sky Sports F1 website, so the above has been updated earlier than I anticipated!

Scheduling: The Indian Grand Prix

Sixteen races gone. And only four remain, starting at the Buddh International Circuit for the Indian Grand Prix. From a broadcasting perspective, the race is somewhat unique in that it is the only race in the calendar to start at half past the hour. Bahrain used to, as did Japan, but both of them races now start on the hour, with India in its second year the only one to have a different start time.

Pedantry aside, Sky Sports F1 are live with every session as usual, while BBC have afternoon highlights. As is the norm now, expect Eddie Jordan to be away, Jordan only having appeared on the Australian and Italian highlight weekends. Over on Sky, Anthony Davidson is alongside Georgie Thompson back in London on the Sky Pad and Damon Hill back with them after a two race absence. For their news team, Craig Slater is in for the next three rounds with Rachel Brookes back for the season finale in Brazil.

Also, episode three of Britain’s Next F1 Star airs this Thursday featuring Josh Hill, the son of 1996 Drivers’ Champion Damon.

The full schedules, including the MotoGP from Phillip Island, is below. Interesting to note that the race day highlights programme length on BBC One is only 100 minutes long, suggesting that the race may only be getting a 50 minute race edit instead of the usual 70 minute race edit for the Asian based races. I’ve removed the forum as well, because, despite the claims made before the season started, more often than not the forum has not turned up on the website, BBC instead opting for a longer post-race show on BBC One for the highlights shows.

Thursday 25th October
10:30 to 11:15 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
19:30 to 20:00 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (3/6) (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 26th October
05:15 to 07:20 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
05:25 to 07:05 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
09:15 to 11:30 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
09:25 to 11:05 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
11:30 to 12:15 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
13:30 to 14:30 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 27th October
06:15 to 07:40 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
06:25 to 07:35 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
08:30 to 11:15 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
09:25 to 10:35 – F1: Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
13:00 to 14:15 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

NOTE: Clocks go back one hour, with the change from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time. The times below are GMT…

Sunday 28th October
04:30 to 06:00 – MotoGP: Phillip Island (BBC Two)
08:00 to 12:45 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
09:25 to 11:30 – F1: Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)
14:05 to 15:45 – F1: Race (BBC One)

As always, if anything changes I shall update this blog if necessary.

Scheduling: The Korean Grand Prix

Formula 1 moves on from Japan to Korea, for the Korean Grand Prix as the first of the three dual fly-away races conclude. Like China earlier this year, this is only one of two Asian based races that are live on BBC and Sky.

As noted in the Japan schedule, BBC Radio 5 Live’s team will be Jonathan Legard, Sam Bird and Jennie Gow, whilst over on Sky, Damon Hill will be absent from proceedings again. Georgie Thompson will also be back in London, with Mark Blundell joining her on the Sky Pad. I think that is his first appearance with Sky this year.

I haven’t done a poll for a few races, so below is a poll for those reading to vote on: which channel will you be watching?

Unfortunately, MotoGP clashes with the Formula 1 this weekend as the MotoGP is from Motegi, however, the race should finish by about 06:45, and the Formula 1 race starts at 07:00, so it is not quite a direct clash between the two. Below are all the times you need, including “Britain’s Next F1 Star“…

Thursday 11th October
07:00 to 07:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
19:30 to 20:00 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (2/6) (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 12th October
01:45 to 03:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
01:55 to 03:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Red Button)
05:45 to 08:00 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
05:55 to 07:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Red Button)
08:00 to 08:45 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
10:00 to 11:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 13th October
02:45 to 04:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
02:55 to 04:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Red Button)
05:00 to 07:30 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
05:00 to 07:45 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
13:00 to 14:30 – F1: Qualifying Replay (BBC One)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sunday 14th October
05:30 to 07:00 – MotoGP: Motegi (BBC Two)
05:30 to 10:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
06:00 to 09:15 – F1: Race (BBC One)
09:15 to 10:15 – F1: Forum (BBC Red Button)
14:05 to 16:05 – F1: Race Replay (BBC One)

As always, if anything untoward happens, I’ll update the schedule. Blog amended on Friday 12th October to reflect Blundell being in London with Sky Sports F1.