Channel 4 has begun its Formula 1 promotion in earnest with teaser trailers airing across their portfolio of channels.

The trailers started airing on the 24th February and will no doubt continue through the next couple of weeks as we head towards the Australian Grand Prix. I’ll adjust this post when clean versions of the trailers are released. Alongside this, @C4F1 is the official Channel 4 Twitter account for Formula 1 going forward.

The promotional work surrounding Channel 4’s coverage is being handled by Pitch PR, who won “a competitive pitch process at the start of the year.” To quote from Pitch’s press release, they have “been tasked with helping launch Channel 4’s 2016 coverage and promoting the broadcast of their live and highlight coverage throughout the season.”

Update on February 26th – Here we go! Channel 4’s F1 Twitter (and Vine) feeds are alive. A host of tweets came through on the Twitter account promoting their coverage. Their first tweet, embedded above, is the famous riff of The Chain which is remaining with Formula 1 in 2016. On television, more teaser trailers aired during shows such as Gogglebox. The car in the teasers appears to be the Red Bull RB7 from 2011.

The broadcaster has also launched their Formula 1 website. Clearly it is a slim line version at the moment, but Channel 4 promise that their in-depth website will be ready “soon”.

Update on March 8th – Coinciding with the formal launch of their coverage, Channel 4’s promotion is about to ramp up significantly with the launch of their 30 second trailer. As well as being broadcast on Channel 4, the trailer will be “broadcast in key spots on BT Sport and ITV1 including the England vs. Wales Six Nations rugby match on Saturday 12th March” in order to reach a wider audience.

Notably, the campaign will continue beyond the Australian Grand Prix, including radio trailers leading up to the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is Channel 4’s first live Grand Prix. Channel 4 notes that the trailer was shot at Silverstone and was conceived and created by their in-house creative agency 4Creative.

Update on March 15th – A high resolution version of the 30 second trailer has been uploaded to Vimeo here.

A very interesting piece over at SVG Europe has dropped online today. The SVG Europe article confirms that Whisper Films will use Presteigne Broadcast equipment for their coverage of Formula 1 on Channel 4. Presteigne’s presence is a continuation of their BBC F1 contract which began in 2014.

The piece talks about the facilities that are built to cater for the Formula 1 coverage, all of the facilities fitting into two lightweight pods. It is well worth a read for those of you into the intrinsic technical details that is required to getting a Formula 1 broadcast on the air. There’s a few points I want to focus on from the piece.

Notably, Whisper Films will have four radio cameras instead of three radio cameras as in previous years. SVG Europe says that this is “to accommodate an expanded number of on-air talent upped from four to seven.” Given that the photo shoot for Channel 4’s F1 team is understood to have already taken place, you would not accommodate something that is not going to happen. I would assume this applies for the live races only given that you would not use four radio cameras for a highlights programme.

David O’Carroll, Presteigne’s Head of Technology said that this “enables Whisper to move around much more freely, for example, placing a couple of cameras at either end of the paddock or pit lane and throwing presentation between them or wherever the story is.” The above can be interpreted many ways. Does the increase from four to seven include the guests that they have throughout the show? The wording suggests we are strictly talking about the Channel 4 ‘on-air talent’.

In essence, it looks like Whisper could have two presentation teams on the go at the same time. My best guess is that four on-air talents would be in pit lane with a further three in the paddock. That does not necessarily mean that Channel 4 will be announcing two presenters for their Formula 1 coverage. The ‘paddock presenter’ would combine that with the pit lane reporter role. Until we see the full line-up, it is difficult to know how things will break down. An increase in cameras could also imply more build-up and post-race coverage on Channel 4 compared to the BBC for their live races.

Further down the piece, there’s a few bits that regular readers may already be aware of, but not actually seen in writing – i.e. the fact that broadcasters (in Channel 4’s case Whisper Films) are required to supply FOM with all footage filmed within the race circuit during a race weekend, even if said footage did not make the air. Presteigne will be picking up “about 24 main programme feeds” including on-board feeds, the post does not mention if Channel 4 plan on using said feeds online, so we will have to wait for that piece of news.

A fascinating point is that the idea in the future is to have the programme edited in London as opposed to on-location, although O’Carroll did not give a timeline for this being implemented. O’Carroll said that “remotely editing from London would save sending a number of editors around the world.” And, for those wondering, no plans for FOM to look into 4K or virtual reality, “at least for this season.”

Channel 4’s brand new Formula 1 team is unlikely to feature a dedicated technical analyst role, this site has learnt.

The full line-up had a photo shoot together during the week commencing 8th February, whilst Jake Humphrey spoke to Channel 4’s new Formula 1 presenter last Tuesday (16th February). Sources have indicated to this blog that the channel have opted not feature a technical analyst, which is the same view that BBC’s respective radio and television production teams have held in recent years.

As I mentioned in my pieces over Christmas, I said it was “critical that there is a technical view point represented in Channel 4’s Formula 1 coverage.” Since then, we have learnt that Whisper Films will be producing the channel’s coverage, with former BBC F1 programme editor Mark Wilkin jumping ship to join Whisper. With other higher-up faces in the BBC F1 operation also joining Whisper Films, should we be too surprised by this news? Probably not.

One of the major stories that came out of Gary Anderson leaving BBC F1 in early 2014 was his opinion that the BBC (i.e. those now leading the Channel 4 operation) were “not interested” in technical analysis. More recently, Anderson speaking to AUTOSPORT last October said that “The casual viewers is where the big viewing numbers are and many of them don’t give a damn about what’s under the bonnet of an F1 car. They want action and they want a hero to worship.”

With Craig Scarborough, Mike Gascoyne and Mark Priestley all appearing on Sky Sports F1 in forthcoming weeks (the latter permanently from now on), you get the impression that Sky could become a centre of technical excellence on television if Channel 4’s coverage does indeed not feature a technical expert. How Channel 4 will choose to cover technical analysis during their coverage is unknown.

I would assume that, instead of bringing in someone dedicated to technical (like Ted Kravitz is on Sky), they will have a face such as Tom Clarkson duelling between technical where necessary and pit lane interviews. As I have said before on these pages, whilst I think Clarkson is a great reporter, I do not think he can be classed as a technical expert in the same way that Kravitz, Scarborough and Priestley are.

Barring a change of direction or tactics over the forthcoming weeks, it looks like Channel 4’s new Formula 1 presenter will be someone who is completely new to presenting live sport. As stated previously, this writer understands that the name in the frame is Steve Jones.

Channel 4 will not be releasing any further information about their Formula 1 team until early March. However, by this stage, the new presenter (Jones, or someone else) will know by now that they will be the person travelling to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix. For anyone in the Channel 4 team who is new to Formula 1, the first time they will walk into the paddock will either be during Barcelona testing or Melbourne itself. The former appears unlikely for anyone in front of the camera (in an official capacity at least) given that an announcement is not expected until early March.

What Channel 4 have to their advantage is that their Australian coverage is not live. Their first live race is round two of the 2016 season in Bahrain. This gives them, and Whisper Films, the opportunity to refine the product, if necessary performing re-takes, so that the perfect product hits the screen, a “dry run”. This all works on the assumption that Channel 4’s highlights coverage is not based in a studio.

Alongside the new presenter will be David Coulthard. With seven years at the BBC, Coulthard is now a veteran broadcaster, and will know what works and what doesn’t, meaning that he should be in a position to make the new presenter feel at ease in the paddock. I’m reminded of when the BBC first started Formula 1 in 2009. We had the fresh faced Jake Humphrey stepping into the limelight as lead presenter of their Formula 1 coverage. Humphrey’s preparation for the Formula 1 role started in Autumn 2008. Following the conclusion of the BBC’s successful Olympic Games coverage from Beijing, Humphrey soon turned his attention to Formula 1.

To get an early indicator of what to expect for 2009, Humphrey, alongside BBC colleagues which included Mark Wilkin, travelled to the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix. Humphrey, met up with Coulthard, as Humphrey briefly watched ITV’s Steve Rider present their live programme from the Shanghai paddock. Rider spoke briefly about Humphrey’s appointment in his book (page 237), Rider saying that he “thought it was an excellent, brave decision, although inevitably many regarded him as just ‘the bloke off kids’ telly’.”

It is interesting to read Humphrey’s perspective on stepping into the Formula 1 paddock for the first time. Humphrey recites this in his book (pages 19-24), and it shows a different angle on life behind the camera for those stepping into the limelight for the very first time. Speaking about his Shanghai adventure, Humphrey said:

My general mood of excitement and impatience suddenly began to give way to a strange feeling of loneliness – it was as if I had been pitched into a party where everyone knew each other except me. I watched the cameramen as they seemed instinctively to know where to wait to get the right photos and video footage of the drivers, while the journalists moved around in a hunting pack, going from team home to team home at set times to get the drivers’ thoughts.

Furthermore, Humphrey described the ITV team of Rider and Mark Blundell as looking “so small, so insignificant and so alone, looking incredibly vulnerable” in the pit lane during the build-up. You almost get the impression that, by going to a Grand Prix beforehand, the expectation increased as a result for Humphrey. But, you can see why it was necessary for him to attend a Grand Prix beforehand. It meant that some of the learning had been completed well in advance of the 2009 season beginning. It meant that some of the key introductions had already been made, and relationships with teams could now be built. Because of the sheer scale of it, Shanghai I can imagine is probably the most daunting paddock to walk into first, something Humphrey admits in his book.

Fast forward to March 2009. Humphrey was again walking into a Formula 1 paddock. This time, he was going live on air to the sound of The Chain. Humphrey described the Melbourne experience as “walking on to a packed platform on the London Underground in rush hour, but in Technicolor.” On March 19th, 2016, another presenter will hear that famous bass riff and the 5-second countdown to go on air in Melbourne.

In essence, Melbourne is Channel 4’s equivalent of “Humphrey’s Shanghai”. Two weeks later, the Channel 4 team will be going live for the first time for Bahrain. For now, the countdown continues…