Tag: BBC F1

All posts relating to BBC F1.

Scheduling: The 2013 Japanese Grand Prix

Technically and mathematically the championship race is still on, but the law of diminishing returns means that Sebastian Vettel is likely to win the Drivers’ Championship next weekend or in India. The season heads to Suzuka, a circuit full of Formula 1 history and clashes every direction you look. Sky’s F1 team really could have picked any Japanese race and it would be served as a classic, they chose 1989, 1994, 1998, 2000 and 2007 which was held in Fuji. All worth watching, and as always the schedule times are below. If that was not enough, ITV are screening ‘Senna’ on the Sunday evening at 22:20.

BBC are live this weekend, as they are indeed for India as well, so a good dosage of live action coming up for the BBC F1 team, which is always good to see. Rather oddly though, and very frustrating, whoever did the pick order decided it would be fabulous idea to have live F1 and live MotoGP on the BBC clashing! Why not pick Korea live and have MotoGP whip up a bigger audience on the Sunday? The mind boggles. The two don’t actually clash in terms of race duration (F1 should finish at 08:30, MotoGP beginning at 09:00), but the programmes do and I feel it is a bit of a cock up. At least the schedulers get to breathe easy next year, I suppose…

Tuesday 8th October
20:00 to 21:30 – F1: 1989 Japanese Grand Prix Extended Highlights (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Murray Walker and James Hunt
– repeated on Friday 11th October at 18:30

Wednesday 9th October
20:00 to 21:00 – F1: 1994 Japanese Grand Prix Highlights (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Murray Walker and Jonathan Palmer
– repeated on Saturday 12th October at 08:00
21:00 to 23:30 – F1: 1998 Japanese Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Murray Walker and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Saturday 12th October at 14:00

Thursday 10th October
07:00 to 07:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 17:15 – Gear Up for Japan (Sky Sports F1)
20:00 to 22:30 – F1: 2000 Japanese Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Murray Walker and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Saturday 12th October at 19:30
21:00 to 21:30 – F1: Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
22:30 to 01:15 – F1: 2007 Japanese Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from James Allen and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Sunday 13th October at 19:15

Friday 11th October
01:45 to 03:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
01:50 to 03:40 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Two)
05:45 to 08:00 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
05:55 to 07:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Two)
08:00 to 08:45 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
10:00 to 11:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 12th October
02:45 to 04:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
02:55 to 04:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Two)
05:00 to 07:30 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
05:00 to 07:45 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
13:20 to 14:35 – F1: Qualifying Replay (BBC One)
14:35 to 15:35 – MotoGP: Qualifying Replay (BBC One)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sunday 13th October
05:30 to 10:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
06:00 to 09:15 – F1: Race (BBC One)
09:15 to 10:15 – F1: Forum (BBC Red Button)
08:30 to 10:00 – MotoGP: Sepang (BBC Two)
10:15 to 10:55 – GP Uncovered: 1962 Season (Sky Sports F1)
12:30 to 14:00 – MotoGP: Race Replay (BBC Two)
14:00 to 16:00 – F1: Race Replay (BBC One)
22:20 to 00:20 – FILM: Senna (ITV)

Wednesday 16th October
19:00 to 19:30 – Midweek Report (Sky Sports F1)

Scheduling: The 2013 Korean Grand Prix

The fly away races continue, with the first of three double headers to close the season. The Korean Grand Prix also means an early morning get up for the die-hard fans, so sleep deprivation is expected! My plan as usual is practice two, Qualifying and the Race live. As long as I don’t do what I did last year. Unfortunately, if I did miss my alarm call, iPlayer cannot be my saviour this year, as the weekend is exclusively live on Sky Sports F1.

BBC One will be screening highlights in the afternoon, while 5 Live will be covering the action live. Sky will also be screening the 2010 and 2011 Korean Grand Prix’s in full in the run up to the race. I do actually like the race track, it is just a pity the surroundings leave a lot to be desired. Dumped in the middle of nowhere, for no particular reason. Not exactly the most inspiring race to wake up for, that’s for sure. The Sky GP Uncovered programme after the race looks at the career of François Cevert, whilst Karun Chandhok is back on the Sky Pad this weekend, which is great to see. I imagine Anthony Davidson will not be at the next few races following the arrival of his baby girl!

Tuesday 1st October
20:00 to 23:45 – F1: 2010 Korean Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Friday 4th October at 18:00

Wednesday 2nd October
20:00 to 22:30 – F1: 2011 Korean Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Martin Brundle and David Coulthard
– repeated on Saturday 5th October at 07:45

Thursday 3rd October
07:00 to 07:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 17:15 – Gear Up for Korea (Sky Sports F1)
21:00 to 22:00 – F1: Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Friday 4th October
01:45 to 03:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
01:55 to 03:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
05:45 to 08:00 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
05:55 to 07:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
08:00 to 08:45 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
10:00 to 11:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 5th October
02:45 to 04:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
02:55 to 04:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
05:00 to 07:45 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
05:55 to 07:05 – F1: Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
13:15 to 14:30 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)
20:00 to 23:00 – IndyCar: Houston Race 1 (BT Sport 2)

Sunday 6th October
05:30 to 10:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
06:55 to 09:00 – F1: Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)
10:15 to 10:45 – Cevert: The Most Exciting Man (Sky Sports F1)
14:00 to 16:00 – F1: Race (BBC One)
18:00 to 21:00 – IndyCar: Houston Race 2 (ESPN)

Wednesday 9th October
19:00 to 19:30 – Midweek Report (Sky Sports F1)

Vettel keeps 4 million hooked on Singapore

Sebastian Vettel’s win in yesterday’s Singapore Grand Prix kept viewing figures roughly in line with 2012, viewing figures show. BBC One’s highlights programme averaged 3.14 million viewers, a 19 percent share from 17:00 to 18:30. Sky Sports F1’s live coverage averaged 630,000 viewers, a 6.5 percent share. What is unclear is what the average covers. If it is the original 11:30 to 16:15 slot, then I have to say that is a particularly disappointing rating considering they had exclusive coverage. We will have to wait and see.

Singapore Grand Prix – Official Ratings
2008 – 3.95 million
2009 – 4.42 million
2010 – 4.49 million
2011 – 4.46 million
2012 – 3.93 million / 4.09 million (using ‘35 percent theory‘)
– overnight figures were 3.81 million / 3.97 million
2013 – 3.77 million / 3.99 million (overnight rating)

The official ratings will budge 2013 level with 2012, I imagine the highlights show was dented by the Manchester Derby, so that may timeshift more than usual. Coincidentally, that match averaged 1.91 million viewers, peaking with nearly 3 million viewers, a fairly colossal number by Sky’s standards.

The 2012 Singapore Grand Prix ratings report can be found here. Ratings data for 2013 is from ITV Media.

Scheduling: The 2013 Singapore Grand Prix

The Formula 1 season continues in full force with the first of the Asian fly away races – which takes the paddock from Singapore to Korea onto Japan and finally India and Abu Dhabi. The weekend’s action is exclusively live on Sky Sports F1, with BBC One showing highlights later in the evening. Unfortunately for BBC viewers, even with no Singapore Sling, the race is still likely to border the two hours, meaning that they will only just get over half of the race.

I haven’t mentioned the BBC Radio practice three times below as they are actually wrong so I’ll update the below once the schedule is amended (Update on 19th Sept – its disappeared completely now…). Allan McNish’s last race with the team was in Italy so I don’t expect to see him in their coverage again this year. Over on Sky, F1 Legends this week features Eddie Irvine. Some people I noticed were unimpressed with the words ‘Irvine’ and ‘Legend’ in the same sentence, but even so, I’m looking forward to this one and may end up being one of the more interesting editions.

In terms of personnel, Natalie Pinkham will not be with the Sky team meaning Rachel Brookes will be presenting alongside Ted Kravitz. Anthony Davidson is also not in Singapore, so Karun Chandhok is on Sky Pad duties. It also seems that Mika Hakkinen and Alain Prost will be appearing in some on-air capacity over the weekend.

Sunday 15th September
20:00 to 22:45 – F1: 2008 Singapore Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from James Allen and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Friday 20th September at 07:00

Monday 16th September
20:00 to 22:45 – F1: 2009 Singapore Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Saturday 21st September at 15:45

Tuesday 17th September
20:00 to 22:45 – F1: 2010 Singapore Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Saturday 21st September at 22:30

Wednesday 18th September
20:00 to 22:45 – F1: 2011 Singapore Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Martin Brundle and David Coulthard
– repeated on Sunday 22nd September at 20:15

Thursday 19th September
11:00 to 11:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
21:00 to 22:00 – F1: Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
21:30 to 21:45 – Gear Up for Singapore (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 20th September
09:45 to 10:20 – GP2: Practice (Sky Sports F1)
10:45 to 12:55 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
10:55 to 12:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
12:55 to 13:40 – GP2: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
14:15 to 16:15 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
14:25 to 16:05 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
16:15 to 17:00 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
18:30 to 19:30 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 21st September
09:00 to 10:25 – GP2: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
10:45 to 12:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
13:00 to 15:45 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
14:15 to 15:05 – F1: Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
14:50 to 15:02 – F1: Qualifying 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live)
17:15 to 18:30 – F1: Qualifying Highlights (BBC One)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sunday 22nd September
09:05 to 10:10 – GP2: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
11:30 to 16:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
13:00 to 15:00 – F1: Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)
16:15 to 17:15 – Legends: Eddie Irvine (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 18:30 – F1: Race Highlights (BBC One)

Wednesday 25th September
19:00 to 19:30 – Midweek Report (Sky Sports F1)

As always, if anything changes I shall update this blog if necessary.

Presteigne Charter win BBC F1 outside broadcast contract

Presteigne Charter have won the outside broadcast contract for BBC’s Formula One coverage, commencing from next season. The company will take over from SIS Live, which had provided the outside broadcasts since 2009 for Formula 1.

Barbara Slater, Director of BBC Sport, said: “We were hugely impressed by the calibre of the bids we received. The mix of suppliers we now have ensures best value for money for licence fee payers and will bring more innovation to the BBC’s coverage of sporting events. We are extremely grateful for the role played by SIS Live and its staff in covering sports events over many years. We are very disappointed that an agreement could not be reached and it goes without saying that we wish them all the best in their future endeavours.”