Scheduling: The 2014 British Grand Prix

Following Formula 1’s return to Austria, it is time for the teams and drivers to head to where it all began. Silverstone, round nine of the 2014 season, the British Grand Prix! Both BBC and Sky as usual for Britain have live coverage throughout the weekend.

If you want to jump straight to the schedule, click the links below…

– Thursday 3rd July
– Friday 4th July
– Saturday 5th July
– Sunday 6th July
– Wednesday 9th July
– Classic F1

Sky have an extra edition of The F1 Show on Thursday evening, except this year it will be airing under the title The Grid Live. It looks like it will be the same format as last year with David Croft and Natalie Pinkham presenting, whilst the EPG says that Lewis Hamilton will be one of the guests on the show. Apart from that, it is your typical race weekend schedule with nothing else to note for Sky. Over on BBC though, Wimbledon for the second time in three years throws a spanner in the works. Like in 2012, Qualifying and the Race will be airing on BBC Two.

The Wimbledon Men’s final and the British Grand Prix clashing when the latter was on ITV wasn’t an issue because nothing would need to be displaced, except with Formula 1 now on the BBC, the two clashing is not ideal and should really have been avoided – the blame in this case lies in FOM’s hands. I doubt the Silverstone organisers are fairly impressed when they find the two events clashing, either. Cleverly though, and to BBC’s credit, in between practice and qualifying on Saturday and then also on Sunday afternoon following the F1, Racing Legends gets a repeat airing on BBC Two which is a good way to keep the audience around the F1.

Aside from the F1, there is the usual GP2 and GP3 action on Sky Sports F1 across the weekend, and over on BT Sport 2 there is live coverage of the Pocono IndyCar 500.

Thursday 3rd July
15:00 to 15:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
18:00 to 19:00 – The Grid Live: Silverstone’s 50th (Sky Sports F1)
23:30 to 23:45 – F1: Gear Up for Britain (Sky Sports F1)

Friday 4th July
09:45 to 12:00 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
09:55 to 11:30 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Two)
12:00 to 12:50 – GP2: Practice (Sky Sports F1)
13:45 to 15:50 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
13:55 to 15:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Red Button)
15:50 to 16:30 – GP2: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
17:00 to 17:45 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
18:00 to 19:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 5th July
08:45 to 09:20 – GP3: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
09:45 to 11:15 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
09:55 to 11:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Two)
11:55 to 14:30 – F1: Qualifying (BBC Two)
12:00 to 14:35 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
14:35 to 16:05 – GP2: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
16:15 to 17:15 – GP3: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sunday 6th July
08:05 to 09:05 – GP3: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
09:15 to 10:30 – GP2: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
11:30 to 16:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
=> 11:30 – Track Parade
=> 12:00 – Race
=> 15:30 – Paddock Live
12:00 to 15:30 – F1: Race (BBC Two)
15:30 to 16:30 – F1: Forum (BBC Red Button)
18:00 to 20:00 – IndyCars: Pocono (BT Sport 2)
19:30 to 20:30 – GP Heroes: Sir Frank Williams (Sky Sports F1)

Wednesday 9th July
20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report (Sky Sports F1)

Classic F1 on Sky Sports F1
28/06 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1994 British Grand Prix Highlights
29/06 – 21:00 to 22:45 – 2003 British Grand Prix
30/06 – 21:00 to 23:00 – 2008 British Grand Prix
01/07 – 21:00 to 23:00 – 2012 British Grand Prix (Sky commentary)
02/07 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1986 British Grand Prix Highlights
03/07 – 21:00 to 21:30 – 1989 British Grand Prix Highlights
04/07 – 19:00 to 20:00 – 1970 Season Review
04/07 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1981 British Grand Prix Highlights
05/07 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1987 British Grand Prix Highlights
06/07 – 21:45 to 22:30 – 1988 British Grand Prix Highlights
07/07 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1993 European Grand Prix Highlights
08/07 – 21:00 to 23:00 – 2006 Bahrain Grand Prix
09/07 – 21:00 to 21:30 – 1989 Italian Grand Prix Highlights
10/07 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1985 Belgian Grand Prix Highlights
11/07 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1995 Italian Grand Prix Highlights

As always, if anything changes, I will update this post.

Update on July 4th – Slight schedule change for tomorrow. World Cup highlights are now in between practice and qualifying on BBC Two, meaning that qualifying now is on air at 11:55.

Scheduling: The 2014 Canadian Grand Prix

Formula 1 heads for its annual trip across the pond for the Canadian Grand Prix. The good news is that the race is live on both BBC One and Sky Sports F1, in my view it is always good to see a live race airing in primetime on free-to-air television. It’ll be interesting to see how the race coverage rates given that it is going up against Soccer Aid on ITV.

For the second year in a row, Natalie Pinkham will not be in Canada, this year she is presenting Sky’s coverage of the Hockey World Cup throughout the first half of June. I’m guessing both Rachel Brookes and Craig Slater will be out in Canada, Brookes presenting The F1 Show alongside Ted Kravitz. Kravitz will be back with the team after needing to go home from the Monaco Grand Prix weekend early. On a scheduling related note, I’m disappointed that BBC Three’s practice two coverage will not have more reaction and analysis, that being one of the highlights of last year’s coverage.

Whilst there is no GP2 and GP3 during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, there is BTCC and the IndyCar Series to whet the appetite. Below is the full schedule:

Thursday 5th June
16:00 to 16:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
21:30 to 22:00 – F1: Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Friday 6th June
07:00 to 07:15 – F1: Gear Up for Canada (Sky Sports F1)
14:45 to 16:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
14:55 to 16:30 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Two)
18:45 to 21:00 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
19:00 to 20:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Three)
21:00 to 21:45 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
23:00 to 00:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)

Saturday 7th June
14:45 to 16:15 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
14:55 to 16:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Two)
17:00 to 19:20 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
17:00 to 19:45 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)

Sunday 8th June
01:30 to 04:00 – IndyCars: Firestone 600 (BT Sport 2)
– repeated on Sunday 8th June at 13:00
11:15 to 17:40 – BTCC: Oulton Park (ITV4)
17:30 to 22:15 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
=> 17:30 – Track Parade
=> 18:00 – Race
=> 21:30 – Paddock Live
18:20 to 21:00 – F1: Race (BBC One)
21:00 to 22:00 – F1: Forum (BBC Red Button)
22:15 to 23:15 – GP Heroes: Clay Regazzoni (Sky Sports F1)

Wednesday 11th June
20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report (Sky Sports F1)

Classic F1 on Sky Sports F1
I believe this is the first time that Sky have shown the 1998 Canadian Grand Prix. I am disappointed that it is not the full race given that races post 1996 have tended to be the full race, so one assumes this is the original ITV highlights minus pre and post race analysis. EDIT on June 5th: Or not, its since disappeared from the schedule.

31/05 – 21:00 to 21:40 – 1982 Caesars Palace Grand Prix Highlights
01/06 – 21:00 to 23:30 – 2007 Chinese Grand Prix
02/06 – 21:00 to 23:00 – 2012 Canadian Grand Prix (Sky commentary)
03/06 – 21:00 to 00:00 – 2011 Canadian Grand Prix
04/06 – 21:00 to 23:15 – 2007 Canadian Grand Prix
05/06 – 21:00 to 23:30 – 2008 Canadian Grand Prix
06/06 – 22:00 to 23:00 – 1978 Season Review
07/06 – 19:45 to 20:45 – 1991 Canadian Grand Prix Highlights
09/06 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1984 Brazilian Grand Prix Highlights
10/06 – 21:00 to 23:15 – 1998 Japanese Grand Prix
11/06 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1983 United States Grand Prix West Highlights
12/06 – 21:00 to 23:00 – 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
13/06 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix Highlights

As always, if there are any amendments, I’ll update this schedule.

Monaco Grand Prix hits 2014 high

The on-going rivalry at Mercedes between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg helped the Monaco Grand Prix ratings in the UK, unofficial overnight figures show. After a bleak first four races, ratings began to pick up in Spain, signalling the start of a turnaround.

Race
Live coverage of the race itself, screened on Sky Sports F1 from 12:00 to 15:30, averaged 1.10m (12.1%). Finding an equivalent rating for last year is somewhat difficult due to the red flag period, but using a similar 12:00 to 16:15 slot brought an average of 889k (11.5%), so Sky was about 25 percent up year-on-year. BBC’s ratings were up 7 percent year-on-year. Highlights on BBC One from 17:05 averaged 3.33m (23.3%), up on the 3.11m (22%) recorded last year.

The combined figure of 4.44m is not only the highest number of the year so far, which in my view is a sign of how poorly the first four races did, but also the highest Monaco Grand Prix number since 2011. 2012 and 2013 averaged 3.80m and 4.00m respectively, whilst 2011 averaged a massive 4.99m. 2011 was helped somewhat by the red flag period which meant that programme sustained higher viewership numbers for longer. 2010 also slots in above 2014, which makes 2014 the third highest number in the past decade and a bit. On the front of it, its a very good number for the F1. It also makes for a potentially great Canadian Grand Prix number in two weeks time. The Track Parade from 11:30 averaged 268k (3.5%), whilst Paddock Live averaged 230k (2.2%) from 15:30.

Qualifying
The ratings trajectory for Qualifying was identical to the race. Sky’s live coverage from 12:00 to 15:00 averaged 578k (6.5%). That number is a record high for the channel where Qualifying is concerned. No doubt the Rosberg incident helped significantly, but I do admit to being surprised by that, mainly because they had an hour post-session reaction yet it rated higher than those programmes with only 35 minutes reaction. BBC’s highlights averaged 2.53m (16.8%). With both channels up on last year, the combined Qualifying figure of 3.11m is the highest for Monaco since 2011, and the second highest on record. From a ratings point of view, it was a very, very good weekend for Formula 1.

I’ll be interested to see if that was replicated across Europe. I think certain people in Formula 1 need to blame themselves for the poor start to the season ratings wise. When you are throwing negative hyperbole into the media about the sound, what do you expect? No one is going to be drawn towards a product that the main players are criticising, hence it really was no surprise that the first quartet failed to do well. For the moment, the media will continue to push the Hamilton and Rosberg angle, a good news story for Formula 1, as long as they can. In my opinion, the casual fans like personalities more than the technology. The Mercedes story is a great story for the media to push, and you can guarantee that Sky will be pushing it into Montreal. Whilst I may not like seeing ‘Hamilton overdrive’ at times, with ratings like the above, in some ways, I can’t say I particularly blame them.

Indianapolis 500
Over on BT Sport 2, live coverage of the Indianapolis 500 peaked with 36k (0.3%) at 18:50. The main programme from 16:30 to 21:00 averaged 23k (0.1%). The number is up comfortably on 2013, and at the lower end of the Sky Sports numbers. Since I’ve started this blog, a recurring question is always “why so low”, where the Indianapolis 500 is concerned. Sadly, the answer is, and always will be fairly simple for me to answer, as I noted two years ago.

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

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.

Hamilton’s win not as big as “multi 21” but remains solid

With no race drama in another “multi 21” controversy up front to draw in viewers, nor plumes of snow in the United Kingdom, the Malaysian Grand Prix dropped off year-on-year, but didn’t disgrace itself.

Race
Yesterday’s live coverage on BBC One from 08:00 to 11:15 averaged 2.45m (32.7%) with Sky Sports F1’s race show, also from 08:00 bringing 574k (7.7%) to the channel. Highlights on BBC One added 1.07m (12.5%), according to unofficial overnight viewing figures, bringing the combined average to 4.09m viewers. In 2013, the race averaged 4.01m (27.1%) for the highlights show on BBC One and 908k (13.0%) from 07:00 to 10:30 on Sky Sports F1. With a combined figure of 4.92m, it means a drop of over 20 percent. However, given the controversy that surrounded last years’ race, and the British weather doing what it does best, this shouldn’t be too surprising. Does that make it a bad rating? I don’t think so, as last year was clearly a set of freak circumstances all coming together.

In 2012, perhaps a better reflection, the race averaged 2.73m (27.9%) on BBC One from 14:45 to 16:40 and about 1.03m (14.0%) on Sky Sports F1. An exact slot comparison is difficult for 2012 as the race was red flagged and overran. This brings us to a combined average of 3.76m in 2012, so 2014 is up on that. It should be noted that yesterday’s figure is down on the BBC exclusive years: 2009, 2010 and 2011. So whilst, yes its a solid rating and not a disaster, it is definitely by no means great.

Elsewhere, live coverage of the opening round of the 2014 British Touring Car Championship averaged a disappointing 192k (2.1%) on ITV4 (including +1) from 10:30 to 18:00, peaking with 278k (3.4%) at 14:20. By the championship’s standards, that is an unusually low rating, and is the lowest season opener since at least 2010. I don’t know the reasoning behind it, but in the past, BTCC races have tended to peak upwards of half a million viewers so that strikes me as low. The F1 highlights could have knocked a few hundred thousand off it, however it is a seven and a half hour show where viewers traditionally dip ‘in’ for the main BTCC races, except that clearly didn’t happen yesterday. Over on ESPN, IndyCar averaged 5k (0.01%). BT Sport haven’t promoted IndyCar once this year, so this should come as no surprise. In their view, it is simply there to fill the hours.

Qualifying
Saturday’s Qualifying session brought in the second largest ever audience for a Malaysian Qualifying session, only behind 2013, unofficial overnight viewing figures show. Extended live coverage on BBC One from 07:00 to 10:10 averaged a respectable 1.41m (24.0%). I use the word ‘respectable’ as it is not that much better than BBC One’s usual Saturday morning line-up, but it is still good for what it is. Sky Sports F1’s coverage averaged approximately 282k (4.8%), with BBC One’s afternoon highlights from 13:15 to 15:30 adding a further 850k (11.0%).

This brings the combined figure to 2.55m viewers, a far cry from the 3.17m combined average in 2013 – split 336k for Sky and 2.83m for BBC, but above every other year. In the grand scheme of things, it has to be said that 2013 is an anomaly due to the weather: the preceding years from 2009 to 2012 were all in the ~2.2m region.

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