Lee McKenzie has today confirmed that she will remain part of the BBC F1 team for the 2013 season as pit-lane reporter. Writing on her Twitter, she said “Not quite a driver announcement but I can confirm I’ll be with BBC F1 this year + a few other little projects which I’m sure you’ll like!”
The scheduling details for the third and final episode of the Racing Legends series have today been confirmed. The third episode, which features Chris Hoy looking back at the career of Colin McRae was postponed from its original Christmas airing.
This evening the Radio Times website confirms that episode three will air on Sunday 27th January at 22:00 on BBC Two.
USP Content have retained James Allen and Jennie Gow for their BBC Radio 5 Live coverage of Formula 1, it has been confirmed today by Rob Jones, the CEO of USP Content. Both Allen and Gow joined the team at the start of 2012. The status of Jaime Alguersuari remains up in the air as of writing, but a new co-commentator looks likely alongside Allen.
Furthermore, it has been confirmed that Chessie Bent is the new producer for their coverage, succeeding Jason Swales in the role. The change means that the official 5 Live F1 Twitter is now located at @F15Live instead of @5LiveF1. Bent joins USP Content from BBC Radio, having been apart of their Olympics and Paralympics coverage.
Jake Humphrey has said that he hopes to return to the Formula 1 paddock in the future, whilst saying that presenting Formula 1 in 2012 “wasn’t the same”.
Speaking at the AUTOSPORT Show, Humphrey said “It’s time for a new challenge. When you are on the road, all the time, March to November, I just needed a bit of time to be at home and with Harriet. The BT Sport job offer was a really amazing opportunity so it was the end of an era [with BBC F1]. In some ways, we’re not live at every race now, and I think the best it was ever going to get, for me probably, was 2009, 2010 and 2011. Those for me were my stand-out years of my F1 career, and although it was still good after that, it wasn’t the same. It just felt like everything had come to a natural end.”
“I don’t want to be gone forever. I see myself walking away from F1 for maybe three or four years, I would love to come back. I’d quite like David [Coulthard] and Eddie [Jordan] to retire now and come back in a blaze of glory in four years time and do it all over again, but that is wishful thinking. I’d love to stand in the pit lane again with them and do live Formula 1.”, Humphrey said regarding his Formula 1 future.
Commenting on the news that Suzi Perry will be the new BBC F1 presenter, Humphrey said “I wish Suzi Perry nothing but the best. I certainly feel, personally, that Lee McKenzie would have been fantastic in that role, but Suzi has got that job, and I feel she will do it brilliantly.”
In my opinion, I would say a return to Formula 1 for Humphrey is highly likely, but not as soon as he is predicting. Assuming Formula 1 is similar in nature ten or fifteen years down the road, then I can see Humphrey presenting again (like Steve Rider did in his two stints), but not as soon as four or five years time.
A few bits of interesting news have been making the rounds today, some of which can only be construed as disappointing.
The first piece of news is that FanVision will no longer be accessed by Formula One fans around the world attending races in 2013. FanVision’s release states that they were “not going to be able to agree terms with FOM”. What I think is worth noting here is that it would have been the first renewal of contract between the two parties since the two parties joined forces back in the middle of 2006, FanVision then under the Kangaroo TV moniker. The suspicion I have is that FanVision became too popular for its own good, Formula One Management wanted to hike the price and FanVision said no. I cannot say I particularly blame them if the product is more popular, but at the same time it would not surprise me if this was a negotiating tactic from FanVision, release this news, get some outcry from Formula One figures and media, and then strike a late cut price deal on the eve of Australia.
Next up is that Motors TV have announced that they will not be covering the World Rally Championship this year, meaning that as of writing it the series will not be shown in the United Kingdom. The news is a bitter blow to rallying fans, coverage of the sport once seen on ITV1 and Channel 4 ten years ago has since nosedived and has not touched terrestrial television much since. Steve Rider covers rallying in detail in his new book, which I may make the subject of a future blog.
Back onto the Formula 1 shores and newly signed NBC Formula 1 broadcaster Leigh Diffey has revealed that he was approached by BBC to commentate (I assume commentate) on their coverage. The move could have happened at one or two junctures, one at the end of 2011 or at the end of 2010 when Jonathan Legard was dropped. Our resident insider on Digital Spy says it was the latter. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I am actually glad this did not happen as Martin Brundle and David Coulthard was a fantastic partnership in 2011, whilst Coulthard and Ben Edwards commentating has been similarly superb this past season. So this is one move that I am glad did not happen.
And finally, staying with Formula 1, Sky Sports F1 website writer Pete Gill has confirmed that Sky Sports Online will be providing live and interactive commentary of all three pre-season tests. I do not really consider this much of an announcement or revelation (hence why this piece of news, AUTOSPORT have been doing this for several year, as have BBC and multiple other Formula 1 sites. Interactive to my mind is responding to readers’ tweets, although some for whatever reason interpret it as live video, which is not the case. Given that Sky Sports F1 is on throughout February, I would like to be proven wrong…
Motorsport Broadcasting 