Webber, Wolff and Chandhok set to feature in Channel 4’s F1 line-up

Mark Webber, Susie Wolff and Karun Chandhok are all set to feature in Channel 4’s Formula 1 line-up for the 2016 season.

The word on the ground
Channel 4 and Whisper Films have only officially announced one person so far, that being David Coulthard. The remaining announcements, along with coverage plans, are set to come at this coming Tuesday.

As reported multiple times over the past month on this site, Steve Jones will be presenting Channel 4’s coverage. Jones is currently in Barcelona for the second week of testing preparing for the start of the season and has already conducted interviews with the likes of Nico Rosberg. Coulthard will be alongside Jones and also up in the commentary box with Ben Edwards, the two moving straight across from their BBC F1 partnership. In the pit lane will be Karun Chandhok. Chandhok is also out in Barcelona, with AUTOSPORT. This blog learnt yesterday that Chandhok will be Channel 4’s pit lane reporter, something that has been supported in F1 Racing’s season preview magazine.

Chandhok will not be the only person in the pit lane for Channel 4 as Lee McKenzie will also be reporting from track side. McKenzie was first reported by James Allen’s website a few weeks ago. It is great that McKenzie will be continuing to cover Formula 1, although it is assumed McKenzie will not be at every race due to her BBC duties this year covering Wimbledon and the Olympic Games (the latter does not clash with the F1, but will require some preparation).

On the punditry side of things, according to The Guardian, Mark Webber and Susie Wolff will be part of Channel 4’s team. Speaking to The Guardian, David Coulthard said “We’ll have a professional presenter. Then we’ll have a mix of diverse people, some of whom will be recognisable to the masses, some will not. We will have a range of different views. The full team will be announced next week, but as a fan of motorsport, which is what I am, I am excited by some of the people we have coming in.” If true, Webber is a fantastic signing. Watching the BBC’s final Grand Prix broadcast last season, you got the impression that Webber was auditioning for a role somewhere which I commented on at the time.

The signing of Wolff will surprise people. I’m not too surprised. From an anecdotal perspective, I predicted this in my series of posts over Christmas, plus she rated highly in the site survey that followed. Coulthard’s comment to The Guardian implies to me that the analysts will be rotated across the season in an effort to keep the output fresh. This is where the likes of Alain Prost are likely to come in. Whether Eddie Jordan fits into this category too, I don’t know.

The 5 Live conundrum
As referenced on Tuesday, Jack Nicholls will be BBC Radio 5 Live’s lead commentator. This blog understands that Nicholls is set to be announced as covering the role full-time. Note the phrase “full-time”. The problem is that there are clashes between the Formula 1 and Formula E calendar. Specifically, the Long Beach ePrix clashes with the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend and more notably the season finale in London clashes with the Austrian Grand Prix.

As of writing, Nicholls is not scheduled to be commentating on the Long Beach ePrix on Saturday 2nd April. Instead, Nicholls will be with the 5 Live team in Bahrain. The question you have to ask is whether it is feasible to have the lead Formula E commentator also commentating on Formula 1 full-time going forward. I don’t know the answer to that, but there are people high-up within the paddock bound to be unhappy that the same voice is commentating on both Formula 1 and Formula E…

Alongside Nicholls are understood to be Tom Clarkson, Jennie Gow (already confirmed) and Allan McNish. As with all these things, we don’t know whether anyone was offered a Channel 4 role and rejected said role, or have been offered other avenues to pursue within the BBC.

Update on March 3rd at 19:20 – Nicholls has confirmed his 5 Live role on his Twitter account. Obviously this also means that, as reported previously, James Allen will not be part of 5 Live’s output this year.

Update on March 3rd at 20:20 – Mark Gallagher has confirmed that himself and Clarkson will be part of the 5 Live preview show tonight. I’ve updated the various pages on this site to reflect the confirmation. Not sure about the status of McNish at the moment.

Update on March 3rd at 21:40 – Jennie Gow has confirmed on the 5 Live preview show that Allan McNish will be alongside Nicholls in the BBC 5 Live commentary box for the 2016 season. So, the confirmed 5 Live team is Nicholls, McNish, Clarkson, Gow and Gallagher.

Update on March 4th at 13:35 – Chandhok is confirmed! He interviewed Lewis Hamilton during the lunch break in Barcelona, conveniently holding a Channel 4 microphone.

The merry-go-round: what we know

With just 19 days until the Australian Grand Prix and the Qatar MotoGP, we are none the wiser to the identity of Channel 4’s Formula 1 team or BT Sport’s MotoGP team. But, there are some things that we do know. And, as always, it looks like we could have some shocks on the cards…

BBC part company with James Allen
The F1 Broadcasting Blog can confirm that BBC Radio 5 Live have parted company with James Allen. Allen has been part of BBC’s 5 Live F1 team since the beginning of 2012, working as lead commentator for the majority of races. In the races that Allen did not cover, either Jonathan Legard or Jack Nicholls substituted for Allen. It is understood that the decision to drop Allen for 2016 was made prior to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Allen has since updated his LinkedIn to confirm his BBC exit.

Jack Nicholls will again be commentating on some of the races with 5 Live. We do not yet know which races, but Nicholls is unlikely to be commentating on any race which clashes with the Formula E Championship. Alongside Nicholls will be Jennie Gow, who is staying with 5 Live. As that link shows though, what exactly the ‘team’ consists of appears to be shrouded in some mystery. The problem we have is that: the BBC took a decision to exit its Formula 1 TV contract. Anyone under a BBC F1 TV contract for 2015 is therefore still under contract with BBC, unless they are able to escape from said contract. Even though Gow is radio, inevitably no TV coverage means that the radio operation is being downsized.

Allan McNish looks like he is staying with BBC F1. Recent tweets certainly give the indication that McNish is remaining with the BBC, and will be by default be 5 Live’s co-commentator one would imagine. At this stage, we don’t know about the status of Tom Clarkson in all of this. Who will be Allan McNish’s partner when Nicholls is not around? Your guess is as good as mine. However…

Is a shock on the cards at Channel 4?
This blog understands that the Channel 4 team does contain at least one major surprise. And given that Allen is not tied to the BBC any more, the chances of him turning up as part of Channel 4’s team increases significantly. Inevitably, thoughts turn to Allen potentially grabbing the lead commentator role instead of Ben Edwards, a move which would shock a lot of people reading this post.

A more likely thought I feel is that Allen could be one of Channel 4’s pit lane reporters alongside Lee McKenzie, with Edwards remaining in the commentary box. Bear in mind that Alex Kalinauckas, writing on James Allen’s website on February 9th, stated that McKenzie and Edwards would be part of Channel 4’s team. You would not write something that is knowingly inaccurate. Allen becoming pit lane reporter would not be surprising if Tom Clarkson is tied into a BBC contract. Bear in mind that the Channel 4 photo shoot occurred in the week beginning February 8th, so the team would have been finalised at the time of Kalinauckas’ post.

If Allen is Channel 4’s pit lane reporter, then it would be a role that I would be happy to see him in given that I enjoy reading his thoughts and also enjoyed his original stint as pit lane reporter with ITV. Allen is good in front of the camera too, and given that Channel 4 are having two presentation teams in one, Allen could be the face they want to help in that respect, not necessarily as presenter but in a journalist style role. Like I said though, if Allen though was announced as lead commentator, that would be major shock. And, I imagine for those reading this, not exactly a positive shock either. Assuming for a second that Allen is in as lead commentator and Edwards is not, then the latter is presumably still locked into a BBC contract.

Alternatively, Allen may not be part of Channel 4’s team at all…

Suzi Perry set to join BT’s MotoGP team
According to Charles Sale writing in the Daily Mail, Suzi Perry has been signed up by BT Sport to work on their MotoGP coverage. Sale does not elaborate much further, saying that Perry has been signed up to “work on a variety of roles” for their coverage. If true, it is a fantastic signing for BT Sport and bolsters their MotoGP coverage following a successful second season. It is difficult to read much into a small paragraph, but the implication is that there is some change to the BT Sport team.

Craig Doyle was understood to be one of the four on Channel 4’s shortlist to host their Formula 1 coverage. Whether we can expect Doyle to jump, I don’t know. My instinct is that BT want Doyle to focus on their rugby coverage as opposed to juggling between rugby and MotoGP. A tweet from Ben Constanduros on Monday 29th February went as follows: “Last week was a good one, spoke to People from BBC, C4, Sky and FOM – enlightening! broadcasting shocks coming – not involving me though!” The follow-up was that it doesn’t involve Channel 4, so we will have to wait and see on that front.

Finalised television listings go to press on Wednesday 9th March. No matter what, we will all know the answers soon. Unless we hear anything more in the next few days, this will probably be the final piece of this nature. So, tomorrow, Thursday, Friday. Or next week, whenever it may be. Let the announcements begin!

Update on March 1st at 19:55 – As I said, before Wednesday 9th March. David Coulthard has gone on public record on yesterday’s Hawksbee and Jacobs Show on talkSPORT (14:30 to 15:00 segment, 20 minutes in) that the Channel 4 press launch will be taking place on Tuesday 8th March.

Update on March 2nd at 21:25 – This blog learnt late last night that the announcement of Perry to join BT’s MotoGP team, which was scheduled for today, had been pushed back at the last minute. Perry was due to appear at the MotoGP test in Qatar, but has not showed up.

Director questions BBC’s F1 2015 closing video

Many of you reading this will remember the BBC’s closing video to the 2015 Formula One season. The song ‘Coming Home’ by Sigma and Rita Ora played over in the background and featured three painters (meant to represent Suzi Perry, Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard) painting walls around a disused factory to depict the season just gone.

As a closer, I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought it was one of BBC’s best efforts. For those that don’t remember, have a watch:

Then, have a watch of this video for the artist SOFLES, released in November 2013.

Notice a resemblance? You’re not the only one. The director behind the ‘Limitless’ music video Selina Miles has written a Facebook post about it. Mainly directed at Nike for a separate infringement, Miles also says: “I was emailed by someone from the BBC about this project, and I replied with some rough schedule dates and never heard again. Copied from their email: ‘I have been very impressed with your graffiti films and your use of hyper time-lapse and stop frame techniques and was wondering if you would be able to help us on a project. I understand that the practicalities of this could be impossible as you are Brisbane based but I work on the BBC’s coverage of Formula 1 motor racing. We are always looking for different ways to close the end of the season and bring together some of the many great images we’ve experienced. I saw the films you have done with Sofles and loved them.’”

The story has been picked up by The Guardian. In it, they say that a BBC spokeswoman “said they had not received any communication from Miles regarding the accusation and as such would not provide comment.” I would not be surprised if there are a lot of subtle examples of this out there. Inevitably, those within the sporting world and beyond find inspiration from a variety of different sources. It is just that in this instance it appears to be a more obvious than other examples, which is why we are hearing about it in the press.

Channel 4 to take over BBC’s F1 TV coverage from 2016

It is official – Channel 4 are to broadcast Formula 1 from the 2016 season. The BBC have exited their portion of the contract three years early. Channel 4 will broadcast races advert free, with 10 races live and all 21 races broadcast again in highlights form. Their deal also covers practice and qualifying, so like-for-like with the current BBC F1 contract. Their deal will expire at the end of the 2018 season, whilst Sky Sports’ portion of the contract remains unaffected.

> 2011: The direction never taken: Formula 1 and Channel 4

Bernie Ecclestone said: “I am sorry that the BBC could not comply with their contract but I am happy that we now have a broadcaster that can broadcast Formula 1 events without commercial intervals during the race. I am confident that Channel 4 will achieve not only how the BBC carried out the broadcast in the past but also with a new approach as the World and Formula 1® have moved on.”

David Abraham, Channel 4 Chief Executive said: “Formula One is one of the world’s biggest sporting events with huge appeal to British audiences. I’m delighted to have agreed this exciting new partnership with Bernie Ecclestone to keep the sport on free-to-air television.”

Channel 4's proposed "Ten Point Plan" — The ten point plan that Channel 4 proposed in Summer 2011 to try and capture exclusive UK F1 rights.

Jay Hunt, Channel 4 Chief Creative Officer said: “Channel 4 and Formula One are the perfect partnership. We’ve the same appetite for innovation and we’ll be demonstrating that to fans by becoming the first free-to-air commercial broadcaster to show the races ad free.”

Analysis
The major surprise is that it is Channel 4 replacing BBC’s TV coverage and not ITV, as was reported last week. On his BBC Radio breakfast show on November 24th, Chris Evans noted that Channel 4 were likely to take over, so Evans was spot on the money.

Before we get into what Channel 4 could and could not do, first we need to investigate why not ITV. I have reached out to them to find out if they were approached at all, and will update the site when I get a response. ITV were odds on favourite, so either the broadsheets last week were wrong, or the deal fell through at the eleventh hour. The Euro 2016 picks last Monday left the door open for ITV to broadcast Formula 1. Channel 4’s release states that races will be shown commercial free. Were ITV unwilling to comply with that, and therefore lost out? ITV announced a Top Gear rival last week called Driven, which looks odd now given that they failed to secure the F1.

There could be a bigger game for ITV with the horse racing rights. If ITV believe horse racing is a better prospect than Formula 1, that’s a thoroughly depressing thought, although the cost of horse racing rights would be lower than Formula 1. From a reach perspective, ITV wins out, but Channel 4 skews younger than ITV. Formula 1 has notoriously struggled to reach younger viewers in the past few years (some through its own doing, admittedly). On Channel 4, you can guarantee crossover with some of their younger skewing shows, notably Gogglebox and TFI Friday. A crossover involving the former is bound to happen and I’d be stunned if it did not materialise.

Is Channel 4 guaranteed to get less viewers than ITV for Formula 1? I would say it is likely, but I do not think the difference is as big as some may expect. I should probably whisper this, but the good news I feel about a Channel 4 deal is that they will bring something different to the table. I say whisper it, that is a reference to Whisper Films. For those of you unfamiliar, Whisper Films was set up in 2010 by Jake Humphrey, David Coulthard and Sunil Patel. And who owns an equity stake in Whisper Films? Channel 4. I think you can connect the dots. One thing that probably won’t jump ship is The Chain. Channel 4 will want to create their own identity and I simply do not see that happening.

From a scheduling stand-point, Channel 4’s ten point plan from 2011, located above, gives us a great idea about the potential that they could have going forward. I am sure we can all get behind more historical coverage from FOM’s archive and a greater range of programming on the station. Some of the points are no longer relevant, given that Channel 4 are now in a shared deal with Sky Sports, but it is food for thought. My final point would be: don’t judge Channel 4 on what they do or don’t deliver at the 2016 Australian Grand Prix, but judge them on what they do in the latter half of 2016 and 2017. It will already be a logistical squeeze getting everything in place for March 2016, but I am confident Channel 4 can do it.

I’ll write up a piece concerning who I think will slot in where over the Christmas break, as one era ends, and another begins…

The rise and fall of BBC F1

The BBC’s return to Formula 1 has been a rollercoaster ride that began almost eight years ago. Here, The F1 Broadcasting Blog tracks the past eight years, in which the team went to a high never seen before in this country, to a low just four years later…

March 20th, 2008 – It was announced that Formula 1 would be return to BBC television, starting with the 2009 season. It was a five year rights agreement, set to continue through to the end of 2013. Roger Mosey, then Head of BBC Sport, said: “…we’re absolutely delighted F1 will be back on the BBC this time next year.”

November 24th, 2008 – Rider and Blundell out, Humphrey, Jordan and Coulthard in. The BBC were keen to bring fresh faces to their coverage, and they made their intentions clear towards the end of 2008. Alongside the trio at the head of BBC’s coverage, it was announced that Jonathan Legard would lead the commentary, replacing James Allen, with Martin Brundle joining from ITV. Meanwhile, behind the scenes in production, the BBC were already realising what a financial error this new Formula 1 deal was going to be. I quote Steve Rider’s book: “When [senior BBC producer] was told there would not be much change out of £8 or £9 million [in production costs] there was silence, then ‘Oh shit…’, and the line went dead.”

February 24th, 2009 – The BBC confirm their coverage plans for the 2009 season, including every practice session live and a one-hour interactive forum after each race, both behind the Red Button service.

March 4th, 2009 – Called “The World’s Greatest Car Chase”, the BBC unveiled their pre-season trailer, with that famous bass riff at the end…

March 26th and 27th, 2009 – Every session live, with one hour build-ups and a ton of reaction. Formula 1 had returned to the BBC, with Jenson Button winning in style. A peak audience of nearly seven million viewers watched across live and repeat.

July 25th, 2009 – Probably the first real low point of BBC’s Grand Prix coverage. Immediately following the crash of Felipe Massa during the Hungarian Grand Prix the team, notably Jordan, discussed Massa’s condition, with Jordan speculating about ‘rumours’ that he had heard minutes after the crash happened.

The first BBC F1 forum at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. Jake Humphrey (l), Ted Kravitz and Lee McKenzie (top r), David Coulthard, Eddie Jordan and Martin Brundle (bottom r).

November 1st, 2009 – BBC’s first season came to a successful conclusion with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. From a personnel perspective, the team was well received, the exception being Legard, however the decision was made to retain him for the 2010 season.

July 11th, 2010 – The production team consolidated what they had in 2009 with more fantastic features airing during the 2010 season. Viewing figures increased, and notably the team stayed live on BBC One until 15:40 during the British Grand Prix. Over two million viewers stayed with them during the hour of post-race analysis on BBC One (excluding the forum that followed!), showing how much the audience liked and appreciated the BBC coverage. The trio of Humphrey, Coulthard and Jordan quickly built rapport with each other and it showed on air. It was clear that Formula 1 in the UK was heading into a golden age…

January 11th, 2011 – As good as BBC’s coverage was, it was clear that something was not quite right with the commentary team. The decision was made at the beginning of 2011 to remove Legard from the team, with Coulthard now co-commentating alongside Brundle. It was a marked departure from the usual set-up, with now two ex-racers commentating on the action.

June 12th, 2011 – “He’s gone wide, he’s gone wide! Button leads the Grand Prix!” Just two hours earlier, they were talking about ducks floating in the water. Of course, it could only be the Canadian Grand Prix, probably one of the best races I have watched. A peak audience of 8.5 million watched on the BBC, as the dramatic race tore up BBC’s primetime schedules. Their coverage was flying high. Sebastian Vettel may have been dominant, but viewing figures were still soaring. BBC’s F1 coverage was on top of the world. And then…

July 29th, 2011 – BBC and Sky awarded rights in new Formula 1 deal. The deal had been done. The costly error not to negotiate with Formula One Management three years earlier, plus the new licence fee settlement meant that half the races from 2012 would be aired exclusively live on pay television, an irreversible move. At the time, Barbara Slater, director of BBC Sport, said: “We are absolutely delighted that F1 will remain on the BBC. The sport has never been more popular with TV audiences at a 10-year high and the BBC has always stated its commitment to the big national sporting moments. With this new deal not only have we delivered significant savings but we have also ensured that through our live and extended highlights coverage all the action continues to be available to licence-fee payers.”

July 29th, 2011 – Martin Brundle on Twitter: “BBC/Sky/F1 2012+. Found out last night, no idea how it will work yet I’m out of contract, will calmly work through options Not impressed”

January 12th, 2012 – With Sky taking Brundle and Kravitz from BBC’s TV team, the BBC regrouped. Veteran motor sport voice Ben Edwards led the way alongside Coulthard in the commentary box, with former Jordan technical director Gary Anderson joining the team as analyst.

Moments to last a lifetime, beamed to millions of viewers. Sebastian Vettel's championship celebration, during the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix post-race forum show. — Moments to last a lifetime, beamed to millions of viewers. Sebastian Vettel’s championship celebration, during the 2011 Japanese Grand Prix post-race forum show.

March 17th and 18th, 2012 – A new era began. The 2012 Australian Grand Prix was broadcast exclusively live on Sky’s new Formula 1 channel to a peak audience of just over one million viewers. The BBC aired an extended highlights programme later that day in a two-hour timeslot. One aspect which frustrated fans to begin with was the lack of forum for non-highlight races. One of the best aspects of BBC’s programming had disappeared.

September 18th, 2012 – The highlights aspect was not for everyone. That included Jake Humphrey, who exited the BBC’s revised Formula 1 coverage after just one season, joining BT Sport’s Premier League team.

December 21st, 2012 – It was announced that Suzi Perry would become the new presenter of BBC’s Formula 1 coverage, following in the footsteps of Steve Rider, Jim Rosenthal and Humphrey. Perry said: “I am so excited to be joining the BBC. Working alongside such an eminent team and the F1 world is a huge honour and I can’t wait to get started.” The low-key addition of Tom Clarkson (a relative unknown) halfway through 2012 meant that arguably BBC’s team was stronger than ever before, despite not covering every race live.

Summer 2013 – I described the BBC team “as close to the perfect time as you would find” and that their programming is “still up there with the best.” Therefore, the very next point makes perfect sense.

January 13th, 2014 – Understanding your audience is important. In a move that baffles me to this day, the news was broken on this blog that Gary Anderson and the BBC had parted company. We found out later that, according to Anderson, the BBC thought viewers were not interested in technical analysis. Tom Clarkson filled Anderson’s role throughout 2014 and 2015. As good as Clarkson is, the move to reduce Anderson’s input was not well thought through and in the end resulted in something that no one benefited from. 72 percent of you believed that BBC’s Formula 1 coverage needs a technical expert.

November 23rd, 2014 – A peak audience of 6.5 million watched Hamilton win his second world title on BBC One. One year later…

October 25th, 2015 – A peak audience of 1.7 million watched Hamilton win his third world title exclusively live on Sky Sports F1, with an average of just over two million viewers watching on BBC One. 2015 was Formula 1’s lowest rated season in the UK since 2007, according to overnight viewing figures.

The BBC F1 team close their final ever F1 Forum at the 2015 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

November 18th, 2015 – Another licence fee settlement, another round of rumours. This time, the BBC were set to chop Formula 1 completely.

November 19th, 2015 – Multiple reports stated that the BBC went to Bernie Ecclestone in his Kensington office to renegotiate the financial side of their contract. It was reported that Ecclestone declined any offer the BBC made to him.

November 29th, 2015 – Unbeknown to the viewing public at the time, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix aired for what would be the last live race under the current contract on the BBC.

December 17th, 2015 – Broadcast reported that ITV will broadcast Formula 1 from 2016.

December 21st, 2015 – A press release officially confirms BBC’s departure from Formula 1 after covering the sport for seven seasons.