200 and upwards

On Thursday, The F1 Broadcasting Blog passed 200 posts, which is for me a fantastic achievement. Arguably the latter one hundred is more difficult than the first hundred because you risk regurgitating yourself which is something I have tried not to do so far, although that in itself can be difficult!

In any case, I am thankful for those that are continuing to read, as of writing the blog has recorded over 34,000 views, which has simply staggered me – it seems strange writing that when back in July at post 100 it was just over 5,000 views. Okay, it may not be as high as some Formula 1 sites out there, but to my knowledge there is not another Formula 1 and motor sport broadcasting site out there, so it is in many different ways unknown territory.

It has, for the most part though been successful, I still enjoy writing about it which is the main thing alongside juggling my University commitments. Inevitably though, there will always be room for improvement, whether it is what the blog covers, or, to be more succinct, what the blog does not cover that it probably should or could. Whether I spread my wings in terms of content in 2013, time will tell depending on what happens with other commitments and time.

As I did back in July, for those just starting to read, I shall link below to the ten posts that have received the most views since I started the blog:

– 10. The BBC F1 Team: The Verdict so Far, August 16th
– 9. Predicting the 2013 calendar pick order, September 21st*
– 8. Ecclestone suggests the end is near for BBC F1… or is it?, June 7th [8th when I reached 100 posts]
– 7. McLaren launch animation unit with new animation series ‘Tooned’ on Sky Sports F1, July 6th [2nd when I reached 100 posts]
– 6. The Sky Sports F1 Team: The Verdict so Far, August 14th
– 5. Live Blog: The 2012 Singapore Grand Prix Qualifying session, September 22nd
– 4. Eddie Jordan’s credibility, September 5th
– 3. Tom Clarkson doing Lee McKenzie’s job this weekend, June 9th [1st when I reached 100 posts]
– 2. A few thoughts on Jake Humphrey leaving the BBC, September 18th
– 1. Italian Grand Prix records highest rating since 1998, September 10th**

* may still be modified depending on calendar changes
** thanks to this share by Jake Humphrey

I’ll end this post by saying thank you to everyone who has read the site so far, and I hope you enjoy the site more as we head towards and into 2013.

Cheers,
Dave
Owner of The F1 Broadcasting Blog

Scheduling: The United States Grand Prix

Two races. Two drivers. One championship. But who will crowned the 2012 Formula One Drivers’ Champion? The story could end in Austin, Texas for the first ever Formula 1 race to be held at the Circuit of the Americas’ as Formula 1 attempts to break into USA once more.

Due to Match of the Day on BBC One, Qualifying highlights on Saturday will air on BBC Two. With it being a fly-away, I don’t know whether there will be a forum, however, if the title does end up being resolved, I do hope a forum is put on the BBC website on Monday morning.

John Watson will be alongside James Allen this weekend for 5 Live, and as with Abu Dhabi, Ben Edwards will be joining Watson for practice 1. As noted earlier this week, if you have Virgin Media and their Sports pack, you can now watch Sky Sports F1 online, which may be handy during this weekend’s coverage. More on that story here.

The fifth episode of Britain’s Next F1 Star features Dean Smith, with the final episode before the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend featuring Alex Brundle.

Thursday 15th November
17:00 to 17:30 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
19:30 to 20:00 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (5/6) (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 16th November
14:45 to 16:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
15:10 to 16:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
18:45 to 21:00 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
21:00 to 21:40 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
23:00 to 00:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)

Saturday 17th November
14:45 to 16:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 19:45 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
17:55 to 19:20 – F1: Race (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
21:00 to 22:15 – F1: Qualifying Highlights (BBC Two/HD)

Sunday 18th November
17:30 to 22:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
18:55 to 21:00 – F1: Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)
22:25 to 00:25 – F1: Race Highlights (BBC One excluding Wales)
22:55 to 00:55 – F1: Race Highlights (BBC One Wales)

As always, I shall update this blog if there are any small adjustments to be made.

Sky Sports F1 to remain on air over the Winter

Sky Sports F1 will remain on air over the Winter period, I can today confirm. The schedule for Christmas Day includes Britain’s Next F1 Star, and is as follows:

Sky Sports F1 – Christmas Day
11:00 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (1/6)
11:30 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (2/6)
12:00 – TBC (likely 2012 review)
14:00 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (3/6)
14:30 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (4/6)
15:00 – TBC (likely 2012 review)
17:00 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (5/6)
17:30 – Britain’s Next F1 Star (6/6)

It has always been that Sky Sports F1 will go off-air on Friday 30th November that was the most likely option, on the basis of the information released in the now familiar Sky Media document before the start of the season. So the above information, which I believe is the confirmed schedule, contradicts that.

Now, if Sky Sports F1 is remaining on-air over the Winter then well, Sky, you know what the F1 fans out there including myself want… substitute August for December and you get my drift.

Update at 17:45 – Okay, the above has been rewritten heavily. The schedules for the first week in December have been released, and there are shows on Sky Sports F1. What I should note that it is the usual repeats, so Legends, Fast Track, Weekend in Stills and Weekend in Words and the such like up until Friday 7th December at least. So whilst it is surprising to see this (given the Sky Media document), the schedule content is unsurprising in terms of repeats.

BBC receive complaints about swearing and late iPlayer uploads

The BBC have today revealed that they received complaints about the swearing during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix podium procedure. Out of the 4.5 million people that watched the podium procedure, BBC received 22 phone calls about the incident, 21 of them complained with one person commenting on it.

It should be noted however that more complaints were received about the late upload of the race to BBC iPlayer due to the incident than the incident itself. 30 people contacted the BBC about the late iPlayer upload, 28 people complained with a further two commenting about it. I think the fact that more people complained about the late iPlayer upload than the swearing incident itself says it all here in that it was not a major incident to viewers, although it will be interesting to see if Ofcom received further complaints.

Furthermore, the BBC article reveals that a letter has been sent by FIA director of communications Norman Howell to every team on behalf of FIA president Jean Todt. Howell sais “”Since it happened twice on the same weekend, I thought I’d send a friendly note. We need to remind the drivers they are professionals. If you’re a racing driver at that level you have to realise that part of your job description is to talk to the media, and to do so in a way that is acceptable.”

As I talked about earlier today, I do hope Formula One Management (alongside FIA) do not take a knee-jerk reaction and drop the new podium procedure. As always, time will tell.

The podium and press conference procedure

For years, dating back to the 1990s, the procedure after the race has been largely stagnant. The drivers go to the podium, get their trophies, spray a bit of a champagne and then to a room and answer a few questions. It has always followed the same format. Whilst the format was friendly to those television companies around the world in that the top three get interviewed fairly promptly, those at the race track do not do much after the champagne has finished. After the race, those at home get a ‘rawer’ deal that those at the race track. Those that attend do not get to hear the drivers’ thoughts from the media pen or from inside the press conference with James Allen, Bob Constanduros or whoever it may be.

It has to be said that the format was largely formulaic, there were no major scoops picked up in the post-race press conferences and it was just well, ‘there’. There was no advances to the format. This year, starting with the British Grand Prix, that changed. Instead of the drivers having a press conference as such, they brought the questioning out to the podium so that not only the fans at home heard the drivers’ thoughts, but also so that those at the circuit also heard their thoughts. They (Formula One Management) would also bring in a special interviewer, so far a few BBC and Sky Sports people have done the interviews such as David Coulthard and Johnny Herbert.

Over the past four races, however, we’ve seen the pros and cons, with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix potentially being a watershed moment. Formula 1 is a family-friendly product. Formula One Management wants to protect that. It does not matter whether you are ten or eighty, you can still enjoy the action and the interviews after it. What happened on Sunday breached that. The winner, Kimi Raikkonen dropped the s*** bomb, while Sebastian Vettel dropped the f*** bomb. Given the choice of drivers, it was not particularly surprising to hear this. When I said on Twitter that Formula One Management may have to put a seven second censor on it, another user responded “don’t want my young daughter listening to it..” And that is a perfectly valid viewpoint. Whilst I chuckled at the time when I heard it, the fact that Red Bull released an apology on Sunday night shows that FOM take the matter seriously. Was it necessary for Raikkonen or Vettel to swear? Not really. Formula One is largely broadcast in the daytime so FOM have a responsibility to make sure that the broadcast is kept clean of language such as that.

On the other hand, is it ‘raw’ emotion that makes drivers swear on the podium or frustration with the format? Now, let us be honest here, Raikkonen is not the most fan-friendly person as it is at the best of times to communicate with media, that is a well known fact. Take Brazil 2006. Does one incident mean that FOM should take a kneejerk reaction and scrap the format? I don’t think so. The thing with the press conference room is that it is formulaic, whereas the podium brings drivers to life. After all, we want to see their personality, don’t we? For years people have complained about Formula 1 drivers being almost robotic, if anything the podium procedure takes them out of their media savvy comfort zone and into talking to the fan without being told what to say by X or Y.

A final point is that the Japanese Grand Prix podium was a feel good moment, a fantastic moment for Kamui Kobayashi. Hearing the crowd chant a drivers’ name is a rare sight in Formula 1. Seeing Kobayashi talk in Japanese to his fans was one of the moments of the season so far for me. That moment would not have existed in the formulaic press conference scenario. I don’t wish for FOM to go back to that format, which for me is not fan-friendly in the slightest. I’d be happy for a seven second delay for the podium procedure if it meant keeping it in the future.

I do hope it stays, but if we get an Abu Dhabi podium-esque incident again then it won’t be long before we go back to the press conference situation. Which would be a real shame.