Scheduling: The 2014 Monaco Grand Prix

Formula 1 next weekend heads to the glitz and glamour of Monte Carlo for the Monaco Grand Prix! Always a fan-favourite, the race will air exclusively live on Sky Sports F1 with extended highlights on BBC One later that evening. If you wish to skip straight to the schedule, as usual, click the links below…

– Monday 19th May
– Wednesday 21st May
– Thursday 22nd May
– Friday 23rd May
– Saturday 24th May
– Sunday 25th May
– Wednesday 28th May
– Classic F1

Whilst Sky Sports F1’s pre-Monaco schedule is perhaps not as extensive as last year, the channel does have highlights of the Historic Grand Prix from Monaco (also on ITV4), which took place last weekend along with the usual selection of classic races. As is the usual Monaco tradition, Thursday is practice day. The only on-track action on Friday is GP2, which hopefully is less dramatic than last year’s start shambles! There are two editions of The F1 Show, now traditional for Sky at Monaco.

Like last year, I am surprised that BBC did not opt to take Monaco, however, their first two choices were Britain and the final race meaning that the third race was always going to be an American-timezone race, which turned out to be Canada. So Sky were always going to pick up Monaco. Over on BT Sport, and I’m happy to say that they are pushing the boat further out for live coverage of the Indianapolis 500. Preceding the event will be a Motorsport Tonight Special, as always fronted by Abi Griffiths with studio guests including motor sport commentator Ben Evans.

Fans therefore have a choice of watching the Monaco post-race stuff on Sky or the Indy 500 build-up on BT Sport, a good choice! During the race itself, the plan is for BT to take a split screen approach, with studio discussion during the ad-breaks in America. Again, this is great news and reminiscent of what Sky Sports did for years with the IndyCar coverage. One imagines Keith Huewen will turn up somewhere, hopefully he does being Sky’s presenter for many years. Below are all the scheduling details you need:

Monday 19th May
20:00 to 21:00 – Monaco Historic Grand Prix 2014 (Sky Sports F1)
– repeated on Tuesday 20th May at 20:00 on ITV4

Wednesday 21st May
14:00 to 14:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
23:45 to 00:00 – F1: Gear up for Monaco (Sky Sports F1)

Thursday 22nd May
08:45 to 11:00 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
08:55 to 10:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
11:00 to 11:50 – GP2: Practice (Sky Sports F1)
12:45 to 15:00 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
15:10 to 16:00 – GP2: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
16:00 to 16:45 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 18:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
20:00 to 21:00 – F1: Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Friday 23rd May
10:05 to 11:35 – GP2: Race 1 (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 24th May
09:45 to 11:15 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
09:55 to 11:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
12:00 to 15:00 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
12:55 to 14:05 – F1: Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
15:00 to 16:00 – GP2: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
16:10 to 17:10 – GP Heroes: James Hunt (Sky Sports F1)
17:25 to 18:40 – F1: Qualifying Highlights (BBC One)
19:45 to 20:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sunday 25th May
10:00 to 11:00 – Formula Renault 3.5 (BT Sport 1)
11:30 to 16:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
=> 11:30 – Track Parade
=> 12:00 – Race
=> 15:30 – Paddock Live
13:00 to 15:00 – F1: Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)
15:30 to 16:30 – Motorsport Tonight Special (BT Sport 2)
16:30 to 21:00 – Indianapolis 500 (BT Sport 2)
17:05 to 18:35 – F1: Race Highlights (BBC One)

Wednesday 28th May
20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report (Sky Sports F1)

Classic F1 on Sky Sports F1
19/05 – 21:00 to 21:40 – 1982 Monaco Grand Prix Highlights
20/05 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1988 Monaco Grand Prix Highlights
21/05 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1989 Monaco Grand Prix Highlights
22/05 – 21:00 to 21:40 – 1993 Monaco Grand Prix Highlights
23/05 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1984 Monaco Grand Prix Highlights
24/05 – 21:00 to 22:00 – 1992 Monaco Grand Prix Highlights
25/05 – 16:15 to 17:15 – 1977 Season Review
25/05 – 21:00 to 21:40 – 1983 Monaco Grand Prix Highlights
26/05 – 21:00 to 23:30 – 2011 Hungarian Grand Prix
27/05 – 21:00 to 22:00 – 1996 German Grand Prix Highlights
28/05 – 21:00 to 21:30 – 1990 Australian Grand Prix Highlights
29/05 – 21:00 to 23:45 – 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix
30/05 – 21:00 to 21:30 – 1987 Australian Grand Prix Highlights

As always if anything changes, I’ll update the above details.

Spanish Grand Prix reverses bad fortunes

The Spanish Grand Prix reversed Formula 1’s recent poor viewership numbers in the UK, unofficial overnight viewing figures showed.

Race
Live coverage on BBC One averaged 3.44m (28.7%) from 12:15 to 15:15 whilst the action on Sky Sports F1 averaged 642k (5.5%) from 12:00 to 15:30. Both numbers are up on the respective 2013 figures but slightly down on 2012. In 2012, 3.49m watched on BBC One and 680k on Sky Sports F1 for the equivalent slot. 2013 had 3.29m (29%) on BBC One and 444k (3.7%) on Sky Sports F1, again the equivalent slot number for Sky.

The combined figure of 4.08m is therefore up on 2013’s 3.73m but down on 2012’s 4.17m. Looking further back and it is up on 2010 albeit some way down on 2011’s 4.7m. In the grand scheme of things, it is a good rating for Spain. 2011 was an anomaly, in that it was extremely high thanks to Lewis Hamilton mirroring Sebastian Vettel’s every move in the last twenty laps. The rating is near identical to the Malaysian Grand Prix number, perhaps no coincidence I feel that the two races above four million viewers so far this season are the same two that have been live on BBC One.

Elsewhere, the track parade segment on Sky Sports F1 averaged 125k (1.7%), with their 45 minute Paddock Live show averaging 110k (0.8%).

Qualifying
The Qualifying session on Saturday fared brilliantly, with ratings hitting their highest heights since at least the late 1990s. An average of 2.25m (24.0%) watched on BBC One from 12:20 to 14:15, whilst an extra 414k (4.5%) tuned into Sky Sports F1 from 12:00 to 14:35. Fascinatingly, BBC’s number is actually down by 59k, with Sky Sports up by 118k, in other words, Sky recorded a 40 percent increase year-on-year (I incorrectly said 30 percent over on Twitter). It is also worth noting that those numbers exclude any other viewers who chose to watch the coverage on Sky1.

Sky’s number is up on both 2012 and 2013, BBC’s number is up on 2012 but down on 2013. Overall, the combined figure of 2.66m is the highest for a Spanish Grand Prix Qualifying session for many years, since at least the early ITV days. The previous highest was 2.65m in 2010 for BBC’s coverage, albeit the slot length was much shorter due to the General Election coverage. For the data junkies, that’s 2,660,900 in 2014 excluding Sky1 and 2,647,700 in 2011! The red flag might have had a part to be with the session taking up a larger proportion of the programme.

From a ratings point of view, Sky have more to smile about than BBC I feel, however it is nice to be able to finally report some positive F1 ratings news.

The 2013 Spanish Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.

Scheduling: The 2014 Spanish Grand Prix

Formula 1 returns to Europe this upcoming week after the four fly-away races with the Spanish Grand Prix from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. As was the case in both 2012 and 2013, this race will be shown live on both BBC One and Sky Sports F1. If you want to skip straight to the schedules, click the links below…

– Thursday 8th May
– Friday 9th May
– Saturday 10th May
– Sunday 11th May
– Wednesday 14th May
– Classic F1

As well as heralding the first round of the 2014 GP3 Series season, it is also the first Grand Prix in 2014 that Eddie Jordan will be attending! This is Jordan’s first of twelve rounds this year. Over on Sky, expect the usual trio of Johnny Herbert, Damon Hill and Anthony Davidson back to take the channel through the early Summer races. Staying with Sky, and after Senna Week, there is more new Senna related programming during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, whilst there are also two ‘GP Heroes’ documentaries from the Brunswick Film Archive – meaning there is new programming on race day from 11:00 through to 17:45.

Thursday 8th May
14:00 to 14:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
21:45 to 22:00 – F1: Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
23:30 to 23:45 – F1: Gear Up for Spain (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 9th May
08:45 to 11:00 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
08:55 to 10:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Two)
11:00 to 11:50 – GP2: Practice (Sky Sports F1)
12:45 to 14:50 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
13:00 to 14:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Two)
14:50 to 15:30 – GP2: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
16:00 to 16:45 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 18:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:00 to 19:00 – GP Heroes: Peter Revson (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 10th May
07:25 to 08:45 – Historic Grand Prix of Monaco Qualifying (Motors TV)
08:45 to 09:20 – GP3: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
09:10 to 11:15 – Historic Grand Prix of Monaco Qualifying (Motors TV)
09:45 to 11:15 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
09:55 to 11:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Two)
12:00 to 14:35 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
12:00 to 14:35 – F1: Qualifying (Sky1)
12:20 to 14:30 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
13:00 to 15:35 – F1: Qualifying (Sky1 + 1)
13:25 to 17:25 – Historic Grand Prix of Monaco Qualifying (Motors TV)
14:35 to 15:50 – GP2: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
16:15 to 17:00 – GP3: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sunday 11th May
08:20 to 09:10 – GP3: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
08:25 to 11:20 – Historic Grand Prix of Monaco (Motors TV)
09:30 to 10:30 – GP2: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
11:00 to 11:30 – Memories of Senna (Sky Sports F1)
11:30 to 16:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
=> 11:30 – Track Parade
=> 12:00 – Race
=> 15:30 – Paddock Live
12:15 to 15:15 – F1: Race (BBC One)
12:55 to 17:40 – Historic Grand Prix of Monaco (Motors TV)
15:15 to 16:15 – F1: Forum (BBC Red Button)
16:15 to 17:15 – GP Heroes: Sir Jackie Stewart (Sky Sports F1)
17:15 to 17:45 – Senna: The Driving Force (Sky Sports F1)

Wednesday 14th May
20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report (Sky Sports F1)

Classic F1 on Sky Sports F1
03/05 – 21:00 to 22:00 – 1981 British Grand Prix Highlights
04/05 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1983 United States Grand Prix West Highlights
05/05 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1996 Japanese Grand Prix Highlights
06/05 – 21:00 to 22:00 – 1996 Australian Grand Prix Highlights
07/05 – 21:00 to 23:15 – 2012 Spanish Grand Prix (Sky commentary)
08/05 – 21:00 to 22:00 – 1996 Spanish Grand Prix Highlights
09/05 – 21:00 to 21:30 – 1981 Spanish Grand Prix Highlights
10/05 – 17:05 to 18:05 – 1976 Season Review
10/05 – 21:00 to 21:40 – 1991 Spanish Grand Prix Highlights
11/05 – 21:00 to 22:00 – 1994 Spanish Grand Prix Highlights
12/05 – 21:00 to 23:00 – 2007 United States Grand Prix
13/05 – 21:00 to 23:15 – 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix
14/05 – 21:00 to 22:45 – 1989 Australian Grand Prix
15/05 – 21:00 to 23:00 – 2010 German Grand Prix
16/05 – 21:00 to 23:00 – 2013 Hungarian Grand Prix (Sky commentary)
17/05 – 21:00 to 23:15 – 2008 British Grand Prix
18/05 – 21:00 to 22:00 – 1993 German Grand Prix Highlights

If anything changes, I shall update the schedule.

Update on May 3rd – I’ve added the Historic Grand Prix of Monaco coverage on Motors TV to the schedule.

Imola 1994: The reflections of a commentator

The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix weekend is one that will be remembered for generations to come. The weekend that Formula 1 lost, not only a rookie living his dream, but also a legend. I never watched Formula 1 in 1994, I was too young back then to watch it. My first experience of watching Formula 1 on the television came five years later. Having not watched that weekend ‘as live’, it is difficult for me to put into words the events that surrounded that weekend. I couldn’t imagine being a Formula 1 fan on that weekend, I just couldn’t.

Watching ‘Senna‘ helped bring it home to those that were not around to watch Imola 1994 live at the time. No matter how many times you watch it, you just wish there was an alternative ending. Roland Ratzenberger going around Tosa on another lap, or Ayrton Senna escaping free from Tamburello. Sadly, both of them thoughts are images we will never see. Every time I watch the entire Imola sequence, I can feel shivers go down my body knowing that the inevitable is about to transpire. The closest emotions that I can think of would be Felipe Massa’s crash during the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix Qualifying session, or Dan Wheldon’s fatal accident during the final round of the 2011 IndyCar Series season. Both of them moments instantly shook me up. The former felt like watching a clock tick by, minute by minute, hoping for good news to come out of Hungary, hoping for a flicker of positivity.

And, for every Formula 1 fan worldwide currently, we have the same each and every day for the past four months with Michael Schumacher, albeit in an accident outside of the confines of a race track. One aspect that I can appreciate about Imola 1994 is that amount of work that has gone in by Professor Sid Watkins, the FIA and many, many more names to improving the safety of the sport that we love, year-in year-out. I spoke to Allard Kalff, who was Eurosport’s lead commentator for the San Marino Grand Prix weekend, commentating alongside John Watson. Kalff was a close friend of Ratzenberger’s. “The weird thing was that on Saturday, I had a really shitty feeling as I knew Roland pretty well. He used to stay at my place, first in Holland and later also sometime in England. So Roland dying during qualifying was a huge shock”, Kalff recalls.

“We all understand the risk of motor racing and realise these things can happen, even in 2014, so you accept the fact that something terrible has happened.” Nowadays, inaccurate rumours can spread via social media time and time again. Despite the lack of social media back then, the rumours spread from people walking into the various commentary boxes. “We did our best not to follow the many rumours that people were spreading around by walking into our commentary booth. The rumours went from ‘he died on the spot’ to “he only has a broken finger’. I am sure the people in Paris [at Eurosport’s headquarters] wanted to stay or move away from the pictures coming from the circuit but it was a case of, just keep going. I still believe John Watson was great keeping himself, and probably me, together”, Kalff noted.

As Kalff alluded to above, the weekend at Imola seen some harrowing images beamed around the world, both during the initial accidents, and also in the aftermath that followed. Those that watched the Senna movie will recall the overhead shots that were shown. Back in 1994, the control of the World Feed was in the hands of the local broadcasters’, whether that was the BBC for the British Grand Prix, or RAI for the San Marino Grand Prix. RAI took the decision to broadcast close-ups of Senna’s lifeless body in the car. BBC had their own camera in pit lane and so were able to cut away from the World Feed during the red flag stoppage. Other broadcasters, such as Eurosport did not have cameras readily available in the pit lane, and so stuck with the World Feed. “We didn’t have a protocol other than ask the people in Paris to go to a commercial break. The thing is that we didn’t have any communication with anybody really, so we were in the dark on what was happening”, explained Kalff.

Like I said at the start of the piece: I never watched Formula 1 in 1994, and was only introduced to the sport five years later. However, I wanted to write a small piece on the weekend, with the thoughts of one of those, who was there on the day and witnessed Formula 1’s blackest weekend. I’ll end with this quote from Kalff, as he summed up the weekend: “You try to work as good as you can and cry when back in the hotel room, or even a little bit before that.”

Chinese Grand Prix continues F1’s ratings slump

Formula 1 continued its rocky ratings patch in the United Kingdom last weekend, as viewing figures for the Chinese Grand Prix dropped a million year-on-year, making it the worst Chinese Grand Prix rating in seven years.

Race
The race, which aired exclusively live on Sky Sports F1 from 07:00 to 10:30, averaged 681k (11.2%), which compares with 622k (8.4%) and 547k (7.4%) respectively in 2012 and 2013 for their shared coverage. BBC One’s highlights averaged 2.87m (21.1%) from 14:30, bringing a combined average of 3.55m.

Whilst Sky’s numbers are up about 20 percent as a result of screening it live, BBC’s numbers fall significantly when comparing against the live plus re-run numbers from years gone by. In 2012, BBC averaged 4.45m by that measure and 3.93m in 2013. In fact, BBC’s live numbers for both 2012 and 2013 were nearly higher than the highlights number that the channel recorded last weekend!

The combined average does not compare favourably with previous years as a result: the Chinese Grand Prix has averaged 4.4m or more for every year from 2008 to 2013 inclusive, making it the lowest Chinese Grand Prix number since 2007. It is a worrying trend, however we will only know how concrete it is when we get to Europe. If Spain and Monaco record averages in the low to mid three million range, then alarm bells have to start ringing.

Qualifying
Sky Sports F1’s live Qualifying coverage from 06:00 to 08:45 averaged 236k (7.1%), which is almost identical to last year’s rating, despite this year being exclusively live on Sky. BBC’s highlights brought 1.59m (18.6%) to BBC One, meaning that the combined figure was 1.82m. Again, and worryingly so, that combined figure harks back to the ITV days. Whereas 2009 through to 2013 were all above 2.00m, this figure falls short.

I sometimes get criticised for painting a negative picture, but that is the only picture I can paint here. Where viewing figures are concerned, there are no positives when steep drops are being recorded more often than not. Over half a million viewers, which is the gap in most cases, would not be clawed back via ‘other methods’. The fact is, some people have tuned out due to many different primary and secondary factors.

The 2013 Chinese Grand Prix ratings report can be found here.