News round-up: Turner returns to F1 fold; F1 adjusts OTT pricing; Barrat joins Formula E’s TV team

As part of a new strand on Motorsport Broadcasting, we will begin to round-up the stories behind the camera that may not have featured in one of the main articles on this site.

The regular round-up will include snippets from across the landscape, every two to four weeks. In the first round-up, a familiar name returns to the F1 fold, plus a whole lot more…

Formula 1

After leaving his role as Sky’s Head of Formula 1 in 2017, Martin Turner is back in the F1 fold. Turner is supporting F1 with their new digital programming, including the Weekend Debrief, which Ted Kravitz presents. Both Turner and Sky’s current Head of F1 Scott Young are involved in the production of the show, in a collaboration between F1 and Sky.
Formula 1 continues to tweak the format of the post-session ‘interview pen’ for broadcasters. During the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, each ‘group’ could ask each driver one question post-qualifying, with up to three minutes allocated post-race, although I understand that the situation is fluid depending on the race in question.
Alex Jacques and Davide Valsecchi’s voices will be on show in the upcoming F1 2019 video game. As in real life, the two lend their dulcet tones to the Formula Two action, which makes its debut in the gaming series.
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw Max Chilton partner Jolyon Palmer in the BBC 5 Live booth for practice and qualifying. Two weeks later for Barcelona, Tom Gaymor was alongside Palmer on Friday, with Marc Priestley joining him on Saturday.
- An unusual set of teams, 5 Live’s coverage for both races was based back in the UK, with only Jennie Gow on site. With Jack Nicholls on Formula E duty, 5 Live’s commentary often this year is coming off-tube from the UK.
Formula 1 has adjusted the pricing for their over-the-top platform. The premium tier, F1 TV Pro, has had its price reduced from $99.99 to $79.99, or roughly equivalent depending on territory. Formula 1 has yet to give an official reason as to why, although the service experienced problems during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend. Speaking to journalists in Spain, Chase Carey said that it may take ‘another year’ to iron the bugs out of F1 TV.
In a change for 2019, selected journalists and outlets can now film content from inside the F1 paddock. The likes of Motorsport Network and Peter Windsor are already taking advantage of the change. However, there are restrictions in place, so that journalists are not treading on the toes of television broadcasters.
Sky Sports have launched a YouTube channel for their Formula 1 coverage. As a general rule, anything filmed outside of the race track has unrestricted worldwide access, such as this piece with Sebastian Vettel and Martin Brundle (currently at 97,000 views), however anything filmed inside the circuit, such as this Behind the Scenes feature with McLaren (currently at 10,000 views) is geo-blocked to UK only.
Both Porsche Supercup and Formula Three launched their 2019 campaigns in Barcelona, with updated graphics sets. With large fields, the graphics did not offer as much capability as the Formula 1 and Two sets. Nevertheless, Formula Three’s coverage saw the addition of team radio for the first time at that level.

Formula E

The Gadget Show’s Georgie Barrat will be part of Formula E’s television team for the remainder of the season, substituting for Nicki Shields who is on maternity. Barrat made her debut with the team in Monaco, although she has been inside the Formula E paddock before, filming a special edition of The Gadget Show during the 2017 Hong Kong E-Prix.
As with Formula 1, TMC directed the Monaco E-Prix last weekend, with Aurora Media Worldwide having a smaller on-site presence than usual.
Fans of Formula E can now race against their favourite drivers in real-time, as Virtually Live Ghost Racing is now available to download for free on iOS and Android.
- The game re-creates every Formula E circuit, also doubling up as a second-screen experience, allowing fans to also ride on-board with their favourite drivers. Ben Constanduros and Chris McCarthy share the commentary duties throughout the season.

W Series

The news that W Series may become part of the F1 support bill next year in some capacity raises the question of which UK broadcaster would air the series if that scenario came to fruition.
- Sky airs F1 exclusively live (for every race bar Britain), and may have some say as to whether Channel 4 can show W Series live, if it is part of the F1 under-card.
- Porsche Supercup’s contract with Formula 1 expires at the end of 2019, which may open an opportunity for W Series.
Whisper Films, who produces the World Feed, noted in the run-up to the first round in Hockenheim that half of their “production crew for the 4 May will be female.”
- Insiders pointed out to this site that many people working on the production were freelance and male, and are unlikely included in Whisper’s headcount.
- A picture of the on-site Channel 4 crew from F1’s Australian Grand Prix (also a Whisper production) highlights the gender imbalance. This is an industry problem as opposed to a Whisper-only problem, but writing statistics that are factually inaccurate will not make the problem disappear.
UK viewers will have access to live coverage of qualifying from Zolder onwards. Coverage from Hockenheim was geo-blocked for UK fans, but series organisers have confirmed that fans will be able to watch qualifying across Facebook and Twitter moving forward.
More than a week after the first event has concluded, and W Series have yet to upload highlights of the race to YouTube.
Prior to the inaugural race, organisers announced that Pitch International will “sell rights to broadcast W Series around the world” outside of the UK. As of writing, series organisers have yet to announce further rights details post-Hockenheim.

Elsewhere

Motorsport Network’s over-the-top platform has grabbed live coverage of the Japanese Super GT series. The championship, which features the likes of Jenson Button, initially opted not to pursue an English language live stream for 2019. Super GT in recent years has gained a cult following through NISMO TV’s YouTube stream, a deal which ended following the 2018 season. Instead, the series will air worldwide on Motorsport Network’s portfolio of outlets.
A bout of prolonged sickness has left BT Sport’s MotoGP presenter Suzi Perry on the side-lines in recent races. The existing BT team have helped cover the gap, whilst three-time British Superbike champion Niall Mackenzie joined the crew last time out.
The UK arm of the TCR Series will not air live in 2019. Instead, highlights of the series will air across the Fast Zone programme on Sky Sports, as well as Motorsport.tv, Front Runner and YouTube.

Spotted anything worth reporting? Drop a line in the comments section below.

Scheduling: The 2019 Spanish Grand Prix / Monaco E-Prix

The European season for Formula 1 starts with a bang, with a ton of action to whet the appetite.

Joining the F1 party is Jenson Button, who is with Sky Sports in Spain for the first of his five races this year. Elsewhere in Sky’s line-up, Ted Kravitz is back on the side-lines until Canada, although Kravitz fans can see him as part of the W Series line-up this year.

Oddly, Sky’s race day schedule reverts to their 2018 format with Paddock Live shortened back down to 40 minutes and not airing (from an EPG perspective) until half past the hour. In the commentary box, expect Martin Brundle and David Coulthard to return to Sky and Channel 4 respectively after their absence in Baku.

Formula Three returns in Spain, the championship succeeding GP3 Series in the third-tier on the F1 support package. Race coverage airs live on Sky Sports F1, although qualifying airs on a small tape-delay following their Friday F1 wrap-up show.

Outside of the F1 circle, the Monaco E-Prix for Formula E is slightly unique: there is no Shakedown, the race starts 30 minutes later than usual and, like F1, the local host takes control with little input from Aurora.

As Jack Nicholls is on Formula E duty, Jolyon Palmer will be joined by Tom Gaymor on Formula 1 practice duty for BBC Radio 5 Live in the latest commentary merry-go-round. Marc Priestley joins Palmer for qualifying.

Channel 4 F1
11/05 – 19:30 to 21:00 – Qualifying Highlights
12/05 – 19:00 to 21:00 – Race Highlights

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
10/05 – 09:45 to 11:55 – Practice 1
10/05 – 13:45 to 15:50 – Practice 2 (also Sky Sports Main Event until 15:30)
11/05 – 10:45 to 12:30
=> 10:45 – Practice 3
=> 12:10 – Paddock Walkabout
11/05 – 13:00 to 15:30 – Qualifying
=> 13:00 – Pre-Show
=> 13:55 – Qualifying (also Sky Sports Main Event from 14:30)
12/05 – 12:30 to 17:10 – Race
=> 12:30 – Pit Lane Live
=> 13:30 – On the Grid
=> 14:05 – Race
=> 16:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
09/05 – 14:00 to 14:30 – Drivers’ Press Conference
09/05 – 16:00 to 16:30 – Welcome to the Weekend
10/05 – 16:30 to 17:00 – The Story so Far
11/05 – 16:45 to 17:15 – The F1 Show
15/05 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Midweek Debrief

BBC Radio F1
10/05 – 09:55 to 11:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
11/05 – 14:00 to 15:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live)
12/05 – 13:50 to 16:10 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)

Formula E – Monaco
Also airs live on YouTube
11/05 – 06:15 to 07:30 – Practice 1 (BT Sport/ESPN)
11/05 – 08:45 to 09:45 – Practice 2 (BT Sport/ESPN)
11/05 – 10:30 to 12:00 – Qualifying (BT Sport/ESPN and Eurosport 2*)
11/05 – 15:00 to 17:00 – Race: World Feed
=> live on BBC Red Button
=> live on Quest
=> live on BT Sport/ESPN
=> live on Eurosport 2

Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup – Silverstone (Eurosport 2)
Also airs live on YouTube
12/05 – 16:30 to 18:30 – Race Finish

Formula Two – Spain (Sky Sports F1)
10/05 – 11:55 to 12:45 – Practice
10/05 – 15:50 to 16:30 – Qualifying
11/05 – 15:30 to 16:45 – Race 1
12/05 – 10:20 to 11:20 – Race 2

Formula Three – Spain (Sky Sports F1)
10/05 – 17:00 to 17:30 – Qualifying Tape-Delay
11/05 – 09:15 to 10:00 – Race 1
12/05 – 09:15 to 10:00 – Race 2

IndyCar Series – IndyCar Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
10/05 – 21:30 to 23:00 – Qualifying
11/05 – 20:00 to 23:00 – Race

Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Series – Monaco (BT Sport/ESPN)
11/05 – 10:00 to 10:45 – Qualifying
11/05 – 17:30 to 18:30 – Race [TBC]

Porsche Supercup – Spain (Sky Sports F1)
12/05 – 11:40 to 12:20 – Race

World Rally Championship – Chile (All Live – BT Sport Extra [TBC])
Also airs live on WRCPlus.com (£)
To be confirmed

World Rally Championship – Chile
To be confirmed

World Superbikes – Imola
Also airs live on World Superbikes‘ Video Pass (£)
10/05 – 09:25 onwards (Eurosport 2)
=> 09:25 to 10:25 – SBK: Practice 1
=> 13:55 to 14:55 – SBK: Practice 2
=> 14:55 to 15:55 – SSP: Practice 2
11/05 – 09:30 to 14:15 – Qualifying and Race 1 (Eurosport 2)
12/05 – 09:30 to 15:15 – Support and Race 2 (Eurosport 2)
14/05 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights (ITV4)

World Touring Car Cup – Slovakia
10/05 – 17:00 to 18:00 – Qualifying (Eurosport 2)
12/05 – 09:30 to 11:00 – Race 1 (Eurosport)
12/05 – 15:15 to 16:30 – Race 3 (Eurosport)

The scheduling information will be updated if timings change.

Last updated on May 8th.

Scheduling: The 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix / Paris E-Prix

This weekend is packed with motor sport, as Formula 1 heads to Azerbaijan for round four of the 2019 season. Will Ferrari claw the gap back to Mercedes, or will Baku signal Ferrari’s end game this year, only four races in?

On the broadcasting front, there are changes for all UK F1 broadcasters. Starting with Sky Sports, Natalie Pinkham to their line-up for the first time this season. Like last year, Martin Brundle is taking three races off this year, the first of which is this weekend, Brundle instead is racing at the Nurburgring. No word yet on who is stepping into the commentary box, but previous form would suggest Paul di Resta steps into the fold.

Azerbaijan marks the end of Sky’s simulcasts on Sky One, with qualifying and the race airing exclusively live on Sky Sports F1. A slight difference is that The F1 Show airs 45 minutes after qualifying instead of 30 minutes, as was the case for the first three races, a good move allowing for further post-qualifying analysis before The F1 Show airs.

Mark Webber replaces David Coulthard in the Channel 4 commentary box for the first time, Coulthard opting to take three races off this season. Eddie Jordan and Lee McKenzie join Steve Jones and Billy Monger in the paddock for Channel 4.

Over on 5 Live, Jack Nicholls’ Formula E commitments in Paris means that he is not on practice or qualifying duty. It is an unusual weekend for Formula E: not only is the series airing on tape-delay on BBC’s Red Button, it also finds itself airing behind BT Sport’s Red Button for the race itself.

Formula E plays second fiddle to football, rugby, hockey, tennis and WRC All Live on BT, whilst repeats of The £100k House and Your House Made Perfect air over on BBC Two (of course, the Formula E contract stipulated for one race to air live on BBC’s terrestrial channels, and that has already happened).

Nevertheless, fans can still watch full Formula E World Feed coverage via a variety of outlets, including YouTube after Formula E decommissioned their bespoke YouTube show.

Beyond the two leading single-seater racing championships, there is much more action with the British Touring Car Championship, World Rally Championship and World Touring Car Cup all in action across the weekend.

On a side note, following the recent Motorsport Broadcasting survey, moving forward the site will also list whether the series in question is streaming the action live via YouTube or via their own in-house platform.

Channel 4 F1
27/04 – 18:30 to 20:00 – Qualifying Highlights
28/04 – 19:00 to 21:00 – Race Highlights

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
26/04 – 09:45 to 11:55 – Practice 1 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
26/04 – 13:45 to 15:45 – Practice 2 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
27/04 – 10:45 to 12:30
=> 10:45 – Practice 3 (also Sky Sports Main Event)
=> 12:10 – Paddock Walkabout
27/04 – 13:00 to 15:45 – Qualifying
=> 13:00 – Pre-Show
=> 13:55 – Qualifying
28/04 – 11:30 to 16:30 – Race
=> 11:30 – Pit Lane Live
=> 12:30 – On the Grid
=> 13:05 – Race
=> 15:00 – Paddock Live
=> 16:00 – Notebook

Supplementary Programming
25/04 – 14:00 to 14:30 – Drivers’ Press Conference
25/04 – 16:00 to 16:30 – Welcome to the Weekend
26/04 – 16:00 to 16:30 – The Story so Far
27/04 – 15:45 to 16:15 – The F1 Show
30/04 – 18:00 to 18:30 – F1 Midweek Debrief

BBC Radio F1
25/04 – 21:00 to 21:30 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
26/04 – 09:55 to 11:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
26/04 – 13:55 to 15:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
27/04 – 10:55 to 12:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
27/04 – 13:55 to 15:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
28/04 – 13:00 to 15:25 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)

Formula E – Paris
Also airs live on YouTube
26/04 – 14:45 to 15:30 – Shakedown (BT Sport/ESPN)
27/04 – 06:15 to 07:30 – Practice 1 (BT Sport/ESPN)
27/04 – 08:45 to 09:45 – Practice 2 (BT Sport/ESPN)
27/04 – 10:30 to 12:00 – Qualifying (BT Sport/ESPN and Eurosport 2)
27/04 – 14:30 to 16:30 – Race: World Feed
=> live on BBC’s website and Connected TV
=> live on Quest
=> live on BT Sport Extra 5
=> live on Eurosport 2
27/04 – 17:30 to 19:30 – Race: World Feed Delayed (BBC Red Button)

British Touring Car Championship – Donington (ITV4)
28/04 – 10:40 to 18:00 – Races

Euroformula – Paul Ricard (BT Sport Extra 6)
Also airs live on YouTube
27/04 – 13:15 to 14:15 – Race 1
28/04 – 12:45 to 13:45 – Race 2

Formula Two – Azerbaijan (Sky Sports F1)
26/04 – 07:55 to 08:45 – Practice
26/04 – 11:55 to 12:40 – Qualifying
27/04 – 08:50 to 10:05 – Race 1
28/04 – 10:00 to 11:05 – Race 2 (also Sky Sports Main Event)

International GT Open – Paul Ricard (BT Sport Extra 6)
Also airs live on YouTube
27/04 – 14:15 to 15:45 – Race 1
28/04 – 13:45 to 15:00 – Race 2

Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Series – Paris
27/04 – 07:30 to 08:15 – Qualifying (BT Sport/ESPN)
27/04 – 12:45 to 13:45 – Race (BT Sport Extra 5)

World Rally Championship – Argentina (All Live)
Also airs live on WRCPlus.com (£)
25/04 – 22:15 to 00:15 – Stage 1 (BT Sport Extra 1)
26/04 – 12:00 to 22:30 – Stages 2 to 8 (BT Sport Extra 1)
27/04 – 11:30 to 21:15 – Stages 9 to 15 (BT Sport Extra 2)
28/04 – 11:30 to 17:45 – Stages 16 to 18 (BT Sport Extra 4)

World Rally Championship – Argentina
25/04 – 23:00 to 00:00 – Stage 1 (BT Sport 1)
27/04 – 04:00 to 04:30 – Day 1 Highlights (BT Sport 1)
28/04 – 04:00 to 04:30 – Day 2 Highlights (BT Sport 2)
28/04 – 16:00 to 17:30 – Stage 18 [Power Stage] (BT Sport/ESPN)
29/04 – 02:30 to 03:00 – Day 3 Highlights (BT Sport 1)
29/04 – 19:00 to 20:00 – Highlights (5Spike)

World Touring Car Cup – Hungary (Eurosport 2)
28/04 – 09:00 to 10:15 – Qualifying
28/04 – 11:30 to 12:30 – Race 1
28/04 – 16:00 to 16:30 – Race 2
28/04 – 16:30 to 17:15 – Race 3

The schedule above will be updated if anything changes.

Update on April 24th – Added details about Brundle’s absense from Sky’s coverage this weekend.

F1 1,000 fails to lift UK television audience

Lewis Hamilton’s victory in Formula 1’s 1,000th race failed to lift the UK’s television audience for the sport significantly according to overnight viewing figures.

For the third race in succession, live coverage aired across Sky’s Formula 1 channel, Sky Sports Main Event, and Sky’s general entertainment outlet Sky One, to boost their total reach during the early phase of the season.

As always, all audience figures exclude those who watched on demand, via the likes of Sky Go, Now TV and All 4.

Race – Sky live
To present a fair and transparent picture historically, this site continues to use a 210-minute time slot for Sky’s F1 coverage on race day. For China, this covers the period from 06:00 to 09:30.

> Ratings: an explainer

During this time slot, Sky’s coverage averaged 543k (14.5%), their highest audience for China since 2015, and a year-on-year increase of 9.7 percent, or 48,000 viewers. An audience of 301k (8.3%) watched via the F1 channel, with an additional 82k (2.3%) watching via Main Event and 159k (3.9%) watching via Sky One.

Worryingly, the proportion of viewers watching via Sky Sports F1 has dropped since Australia. 66 percent of Sky’s audience for the Melbourne live race day programme came from Sky Sports F1, compared with 60% in Bahrain and 56% in China.

Sky’s broadcast peaked with 1.02m (18.9%) at 08:40 as Hamilton won the Grand Prix. At the time of the peak, 498k (9.2%) were watching via Sky Sports F1, with 164k (3.0%) and 360k (6.7%) watching via Main Event and Sky One respectively.

Aided by the Sky One simulcast, Sky’s collective peak audience increased by 20.6 percent year-on-year, resulting in their highest peak audience for China since 2014.

Race – Sky highlights and Channel 4
Following the race, four repeat airings aired across Sky’s three outlets.

As in Australia four weeks ago, the repeats make a (smaller) statistical difference to the result, with a combined peak audience of 357,000 viewers watching. Sky One contributed the most: their single repeat airing peaked with 162k (2.6%) at 11:30.

Channel 4’s highlights show fared badly on Sunday afternoon, with opposition from both The Masters golf on BBC Two, as well as Premier League football on Sky Sports.

Highlights of the race averaged just 1.28m (10.9%) from 15:00 to 17:00, peaking with 1.68m (14.3%), one of their lowest ever audiences for an F1 highlights programme. Both measures dropped by 32 percent year-on-year, with their peak audience down 800,000 viewers on last year’s figure of 2.48m (20.6%).

Last year’s programme did unusually well, helped by the dramatic finale involving Daniel Ricciardo. In 2016 and 2017, the Shanghai highlights show averaged around 1.6 million viewers, which would result in a slightly less severe drop of around 20 percent for 2019.

Based on Sky’s live airing only the combined average audience of 1.82 million viewers and combined peak audience of 2.70 million viewers are the lowest for China on record, by some margin.

Adding in Sky’s repeat airings brings the average to around 1.98 million viewers, with the peak audience lifting to 3.01 million viewers, resulting in a higher peak figure than both 2016 and 2017.

The fact that we need to perform an additional calculation to bring F1’s 2019 viewing figures in line with previous years, which in turn was down from the phase before that, shows that the situation is not ideal by any stretch of the imagination.

Qualifying and Analysis
Live coverage of qualifying averaged 288k (9.8%) from 06:00 to 08:30 across Sky’s three channels, their highest qualifying audience for China since 2016. 171k (6.1%) watched via the F1 channel, with 45k (1.6%) watching on Main Event and 72k (2.1%) watching on Sky One.

Later in the day, 770k (10.6%) watched Channel 4’s highlights from 13:00 to 14:30, a decrease on last year’s figure of 840k (11.0%) and their lowest ever for China.

The combined audience of 1.06 million viewers is slightly higher than last year’s figure of 1.02 million viewers, but down on the 2017 figure of 1.12 million viewers.

Three races in, and it is increasingly clear that Sky’s decision to air the first three races of 2019 on Sky One is skewing the audience figures presented, with a large audience choosing to watch via the entertainment outlet.

Inevitably, and also by design, the Sky One simulcast has resulted in a deflated audience for Channel 4. With Sky One’s simulcast disappearing from Baku, expect Channel 4’s viewing figures to increase by a significant margin moving forward.

Based on the early evidence, it appears that F1’s UK viewing figures in totality will drop across the course of the season. By how much, and on what scale at this stage is difficult to quantify.

As I said after Australia, and again after Bahrain, Azerbaijan is the decisive test for F1 this season, and should give us our first sign of what ‘the new normal’ is moving forward.

The 2018 Chinese Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

Ted’s Notebook to return to Sky’s F1 schedule

Ted Kravitz’s Notebook will return to Sky’s Formula 1 schedules in a reprieve for the programme, the broadcaster has confirmed.

Kravitz, who is with Sky for 13 races this season, will present the 30-minute Notebook at this Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix following their Paddock Live post-race programme.

However, the Qualifying Notebook does not appear to be returning as of writing. An article on the Sky Sports website outlining their Chinese Grand Prix schedule references the Notebook, but omits any reference to Kravitz presenting the show.

Since Sky’s article went online, the broadcaster themselves has noted via their customer facing @SkyHelpTeam Twitter outlet that Kravitz will present the programme. Whilst Sky may not be calling the programme Ted’s Notebook, instead giving it a generic title (this Sunday it is “The Chinese GP Notebook”), the presenter is indeed the same.

The Notebook is returning for all of Kravitz’s 13 races. Kravitz’s status with Sky, and their communication around it, has been subject of much social media attention in the past two months.

Sky, whose F1 team is led by Scott Young, initially axed Kravitz from their line-up in the off-season, but the broadcaster u-turned on their decision, as this site exclusively revealed at the time.

In the interim period, Kravitz joined forces with F1 themselves, with a post-weekend Debrief show airing on F1 TV and Sky’s F1 channel. It quickly emerged though that Kravitz’s Sky return came with a reduction in his role, from 21 to 13 races.

In the weeks since Australia, Sky have communicated to customers via social media that Ted’s Notebook is not returning to their output. Now, in a second u-turn, the Notebook returns this Sunday following a significant social media backlash.

Analysis: Another u-turn from Sky
The saga that is Ted Kravitz’s status with Sky Sports rumbles on. As I said from the outset, the decision to axe Kravitz from the line-up struck me as a “very narrow-minded decision.”

Make no mistake about it: Sky’s PR on this from the start has been appalling, with attempts made at every opportunity to brush the subject underneath the surface. Where is the honesty with their customers?

A simple statement on the Sky F1 website to state that Kravitz is with the team for 13 races, and that the Notebook programme will air during those races, would have quashed any sort of backlash during Australia and Bahrain.

Instead of being proactive, Sky’s whole communication strategy has felt reactive. The only mention of Kravitz on Sky’s F1 channels as far as I am aware has come from David Croft in commentary for Australia and Bahrain practice, whilst on-air team members have sporadically responded to individual tweeters.

Neither are exactly front and centre of their social media or website portfolio. Sky could have avoided much of the negative feedback in recent weeks by being open and transparent with their audience.

It is possible that Sky never intended for the Notebook to return, even with Kravitz doing 13 races, and that fans have forced them to bring the Notebook back. Technically the programme that went by the name Ted’s Notebook is not in Sky’s schedules, but the Notebook presented by Ted Kravitz is in the schedules.

Ignoring the political aspect, I am happy to see the Notebook returning, as the programme covers every team, something that has been missing from Sky’s post-race output so far this season.

Every team has a story, with little nuggets of information up and down the pit lane as to why the race went the way it did.

Spending the race and the aftermath in pit lane meant that Kravitz was able to capture stories that in another era went underneath the radar. From that perspective, I am pleased to see the Notebook return.

The fact that Sky have reneged on their position is a good thing, although I remain bewildered that it has come to this.

Update on April 9th at 07:00 – Following this article, and late last night on their website at 22:55, Sky officially confirmed for the first time that Kravitz, as expected, will be with the team for 13 races, with the Notebook appearing at all those races.