No Classic F1 for Canada next Sunday on Sky Sports F1

Now that the EPG is updating for next Sunday, it appears that there will no Classic F1 on Sky Sports F1 next Sunday like there was last Sunday. This is extremely disappointing to see considering the positive reaction there was to Sky screening Classic F1 races last week.

It seems, although time will tell, that was just a one-off for Monaco. I should note that it was no where stated on their website that classic races would be shown for every race for Monaco, just that was the assumption.

Nevertheless, it is disappointing to see another repeat of the Spanish and Monaco Grand Prix’s in the schedule for this time next week. Here is their schedule for next Sunday:

10:00 – Spanish Grand Prix Repeat
13:50 – filler
15:30 – Monaco Grand Prix Repeat

Hopefully that will change mid-week. But at the moment, it appears that Sky are screening no classic stuff for Canada. Considering Canada is one of the best races of the entire season, I would be more likely to watch the 2007 through 2011 races for Canada than what was shown last weekend. I watched 2008 Monaco last weekend, but 2007, 2009 and 2010 were nothing spectacular, whereas with Canada just about every race in the past few years has had excitement and I would happily watch 2007 Canada, 2008 Canada and so on and so forth again.

I should probably note that Sky are continuing to screen the season reviews – with 2007 airing next weekend at 21:00.

Update on Wednesday 30th May: So it is now mid-week, and as of writing this update, the schedule is exactly the same to that above. I sent an e-mail to Sky last night asking why they are not broadcasting Classic Formula 1 races this Sunday. I also said that the following schedule would be much better:

09:00 to 09:30 – a classic Canadian Grand Prix from the 1980’s (similar to Monaco)
09:30 to 11:25 – 2006 Canadian Grand Prix
11:25 to 13:35 – 2007 Canadian Grand Prix
13:35 to 15:35 – 2008 Canadian Grand Prix
15:35 to 17:30 – 2010 Canadian Grand Prix
17:30 to 21:00 – 2011 Canadian Grand Prix
21:00 to 22:20 – Season Review 2007 (Part 2)

I added to the end of the e-mail that the above schedule “appeals to the hardcore fans, whereas showing more repeats appeals to no one”. The ratings released this past Monday appear to support that very fact.

Monaco Grand Prix being directed locally again

As noted by Will Buxton in his GP2 Practice commentary this morning, the Monaco Grand Prix is being directed locally again. The race is again being directed by Télé Monte Carlo, which is the usual tradition in Monaco. This is therefore one of only two races this year where you cannot blame Formula One Management (FOM) for the poor direction as they have no influence over the direction the local hosts chooses to take.

The other race which is hosted locally is the Japanese Grand Prix, which is directed by Fuji Television.

Update on May 23rd, 2013 – The same applies for 2013. Monaco of course now is the only race to be directed locally, Fuji Television having handed over control to FOM for the 2012 Japanese Grand Prix.

The benefits of putting Indy 500 on Sky Sports F1

There are several reasons why this weekend’s Indy 500 should be shown on Sky Sports F1 and not Sky Sports 4. The current schedule has it on Sky Sports 4 from 16:30 to 21:00.

The first reason is quite a simple one. It’s promoted as “the world’s greatest motor race” (or something along those lines, I can’t remember the exact wording), yet it’s on the least viewed of Sky Sports’ channels? Is that not a oxymoron? Sticking with that train of thought, would it not make sense to have the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indy 500 on the same channel one after the other? That sounds like a motor racing fan’s heaven – which is exactly what Sky Sports F1 should be. All the motor sport fans are likely to be watching Sky Sports F1, which is another reason for moving it there.

In terms of Sky Sports F1 and Sky Sports 4, which is better, the answer is Sky Sports F1, as it reaches more people. During the Spanish Grand Prix week, Sky Sports F1 reached 2.444 million people, while Sky Sports 4 reached 1.929 million people. Although you could argue that the difference is only 513 thousand, in terms of audience profiles, the Indy 500 would be a much better fit on Sky Sports F1, where you could cross promote it a lot better than on Sky Sports 4. Let’s be honest, Sky Sports 4 is only for things that can’t be fitted anywhere on Sky Sports 1, 2 or 3.

Also, Sky Sports F1 is available to HD and Sport subscribers, meaning potentially a bigger audience for Indy 500, which could increase its audiences in the future. For the other races, I don’t think it matters as much, but if there’s one race which deserves priority on Sky Sports F1, it’s the Indy 500.

The only things I can see here are positives for Indy 500 and Sky Sports F1. So why is it not on Sky Sports F1? Who knows. Maybe Bernie says no? But then you could argue that two of the first few IndyCar races have been on Sky Sports F1, albeit due to scheduling clashes, but the point stands. In my opinion, it should be on Sky Sports F1. And I hope that it happens.

Ratings statistics in paragraph three are from BARB.

The Twitter outlook

It’s week 4 of my Twitter outlook posts, so without further ado, let’s have a look at the Drivers’ tables:

Drivers – The Top 10
01 – 945,383 – Jenson Button (McLaren)
02 – 811,373 – Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
03 – 541,338 – Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
04 – 408,900 – Bruno Senna (Williams)
05 – 333,411 – Mark Webber (Red Bull)
06 – 191,950 – Sergio Perez (Sauber)
07 – 190,271 – Pastor Maldonaldo (Williams)
08 – 153,744 – Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)
09 – 146,056 – Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham)
10 – 129,927 – Pedro de la Rosa (HRT)

Drivers – Biggest Increases
01 – 30,324 – Fernando Alonso
02 – 14,630 – Pastor Maldonaldo
03 – 10,127 – Jenson Button
04 – 8,619 – Lewis Hamilton
05 – 6,903 – Mark Webber

Drivers – Smallest Increases
01 – 333 – Charles Pic
02 – 613 – Timo Glock
03 – 754 – Nico Hulkenberg
04 – 777 – Jean-Eric Vergne
05 – 1,173 – Vitaly Petrov

Status quo in the top 10, although Pastor Maldonaldo’s gain means that he will likely overtake Sergio Perez very soon. In fact, he probably already has by the time this post goes online. Fernando Alonso continues his usual big gains due to him joining Twitter only a few months ago, although inevitably his gains will start to slow at some point. At the other end of the table, Charles Pic again draws the short straw, once again picking up less than one thousand followers in the space of a week.

Teams – The Top 10
01 – 270,271 – Ferrari
02 – 188,482 – McLaren
03 – 126,845 – Mercedes
04 – 112,388 – Red Bull
05 – 105,888 – Lotus
06 – 73,397 – Caterham
07 – 64,243 – Marussia
08 – 63,879 – Williams
09 – 63,067 – Force India
10 – 53,068 – Sauber

Teams – Biggest Increases
01 – 3,500 – Ferrari
02 – 1,766 – Red Bull
03 – 1,734 – McLaren

Teams – Smallest Increases
01 – 517 – Toro Rosso
02 – 613 – Marussia
03 – 685 – Force India

The only change here is Williams have jumped in front of Force India, which I predicted last week. They have not overtaken Marussia though, so that part of my prediction was wrong. Their gain was a bit less than what I anticipated. Elsewhere it’s as expected, although a mention for Sauber – four thousand followers increase in two weeks. Not exactly a huge increase, is it?

Driver and Team statistics as of Sunday 20th May 2012.

Sky Sports F1 – Top 10 ratings (week ending 13th May, 2012)

This is a rather short blog, because there is no Top 10. Normally this happens due to incomplete logs, and is normally updated in the six-week amendment cycle. So, the Top 10 for this week should be uploaded by 2nd July.

We can, however, still see the weekly reach. The channel reached 2.444 million people, which is slightly up on the 2.381 million people it reached for the Chinese Grand Prix.

What I shall do is update this blog post when the six weeks come around and replace the post with a Top 10. Hopefully!

UPDATE: I wrote the above on May 21st, and now six weeks later BARB has updated with the ratings for this week. Which are as follows:

1 – 523k – Live Spanish Grand Prix (Sunday, 11:30)
2 – 353k – Live Spanish Grand Prix: Qualifying (Saturday, 12:00)
3 – 115k – Live Spanish Grand Prix: Practice 3 (Saturday, 09:45)
4 – 84k – Live Spanish Grand Prix: Practice 1 (Friday, 08:45)
5 – 68k – Live Spanish Grand Prix: Practice 2 (Friday, 12:45)
6 – 64k – Live Spanish GP2 Feature Race (Saturday, 14:35)
7 – 55k – Spanish Grand Prix Highlights (Sunday, 19:03)
8 – 52k – Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying Replay (Saturday, 17:16)
9 – 48k – Fast Track (Sunday, 10:58)
10 – 45k – Live Spanish GP3 Race 1 (Saturday, 16:15)

There is not much use in me commenting on these ratings too much given that it was nearly two months ago, apart from saying that the GP2 and GP3 races performed well on the Saturday.