Scheduling: The 2017 Spanish Grand Prix / Monaco ePrix

The Formula 1 paddock moves into Europe for round five of the 2017 Formula One season, the Spanish Grand Prix. The weekend’s action will be broadcast exclusively live on Sky Sports F1, with highlights airing each evening on Channel 4.

Anthony Davidson will be back with Sky Sports for the Spanish round of the season. As announced pre-season, Davidson will be with the team for five races this year. Elsewhere, the Formula E championship returns with round five from Monaco. Martin Haven will be back in the commentary box as Jack Nicholls will be covering the Formula 1 action for BBC Radio 5 Live. Haven will be alongside Bob Varsha and Mike Conway as Dario Franchitti is stateside for the Indianapolis 500 build-up. The electric championship speeds up now with eight races taking place in the next two and a half months!

Also in action, next weekend is IndyCar action from the Indianapolis road course, whilst the World Superbike riders will be at Imola.

Channel 4 F1
Sessions
13/05 – 17:30 to 19:00 – Qualifying Highlights
14/05 – 18:45 to 21:00 – Race Highlights

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
12/05 – 08:45 to 11:00 – Practice 1
12/05 – 12:45 to 14:50 – Practice 2
13/05 – 09:45 to 11:15 – Practice 3
13/05 – 12:00 to 14:35 – Qualifying
14/05 – 11:30 to 16:15 – Race
=> 11:30 – Track Parade
=> 12:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 12:30 – Race
=> 15:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
10/05 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Preview
11/05 – 14:00 to 15:00 – Driver Press Conference
12/05 – 01:30 to 01:45 – Paddock Uncut
12/05 – 17:35 to 18:15 – Team Press Conference – to be confirmed
12/05 – 18:15 to 18:45 – The F1 Show – to be confirmed
17/05 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Review

BBC Radio F1
11/05 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
12/05 – 08:55 to 10:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
13/05 – 09:55 to 11:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
13/05 – 12:55 to 14:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
14/05 – 12:30 to 15:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)

Formula Two – Spain (Sky Sports F1)
12/05 – 11:00 to 11:45 – Practice
12/05 – 14:55 to 15:25 – Qualifying
13/05 – 14:35 to 15:45 – Race 1
14/05 – 09:30 to 10:25 – Race 2

Formula E – Monaco (online via Channel 5’s social media channels and YouTube)
13/05 – 06:55 to 07:55 – Practice 1
13/05 – 09:25 to 10:10 – Practice 2

Formula E – Monaco
13/05 – 10:45 to 12:10 – Qualifying (Spike)
13/05 – 14:30 to 16:15 – Race (Channel 5)

Formula V8 3.5 – Monza (BT Sport 3)
13/05 – 14:00 to 15:00 – Race 1
14/05 – 10:30 to 12:00 – Race 2

GP3 Series – Spain (Sky Sports F1)
13/05 – 08:45 to 09:20 – Qualifying
13/05 – 16:10 to 17:00 – Race 1
14/05 – 08:20 to 09:00 – Race 2

IndyCar Series – Grand Prix of Indianapolis (BT Sport 2)
14/05 – 20:30 to 23:00 – Race

Porsche Supercup – Spain
13/05 – 17:15 to 18:15 – Race 1 (Eurosport 2)
14/05 – 10:30 to 11:30 – Race 2 (Eurosport 1)

Speedway Grand Prix – Poland (BT Sport 3)
13/05 – 17:45 to 21:15 – Races

World Rallycross Championship – Belgium (Motorsport.tv)
14/05 – 13:00 to 14:55 – Race

World Superbikes – Imola
13/05 – 09:15 to 14:00 – Qualifying and Race 1 (Eurosport 2)
14/05 – 10:00 to 15:00 – Support and Race 2 (Eurosport 2)
16/05 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights (ITV4)

As mentioned, once Sky’s schedules are in shape, I will update the above information.

Update on May 9th – I have had confirmation from Sky that their original schedules were incorrect. Sky will not be broadcasting the Porsche Supercup series and GP3 practice live, so exactly the same as previous years. I have also amended the Formula E commentary line-up – Dario Franchitti is in fact stateside and not covering the event.

Scheduling: The 2017 Russian Grand Prix

The 2017 Formula One season moves back onto the European season for round four of the championship, as the paddock moves to Sochi for the Russian Grand Prix!

For the second race in a row, Channel 4 are broadcasting live coverage, and for the first time in 2017, Eddie Jordan is back with the team. Jordan joins Channel 4’s usual line-up headed by Steve Jones and David Coulthard.

As in Bahrain, the channel will be airing another new episode of F1 Meets prior to qualifying. On this occasion, Coulthard chats to Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo. Elsewhere in their line-up, their race day programme is a whopping four and a half hours long, with Channel 4 staying on air until 16:30.

Unusually, Channel 4 are airing new programmes following F1 on Saturday and Sunday afternoon: The Auctioneers on Saturday at 14:30 and the World’s Most Expensive Cars with Ant Anstead on Sunday at 16:30. This is good to see as there were occasions last year where repeats followed live Formula 1 programming.

The full scheduling details, including the IndyCar Series and the World Rally Championship, can be found below.

Channel 4 F1
Sessions
28/04 – 08:55 to 10:35 – Practice 1
28/04 – 12:55 to 14:35 – Practice 2
29/04 – 09:55 to 11:25 – Practice 3
29/04 – 11:55 to 14:30 – Qualifying
30/04 – 12:00 to 16:30 – Race
=> 12:00 – Build-Up
=> 12:35 – Race
=> 15:10 – Reaction

Supplementary Programming
29/04 – 11:25 to 11:55 – F1 Meets… Daniel Ricciardo

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
28/04 – 08:45 to 10:45 – Practice 1
28/04 – 12:45 to 15:00 – Practice 2
29/04 – 09:45 to 11:10 – Practice 3
29/04 – 12:00 to 14:40 – Qualifying
30/04 – 11:30 to 16:10 – Race
=> 11:30 – Track Parade
=> 12:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 12:30 – Race
=> 15:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
26/04 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Preview
27/04 – 13:00 to 14:00 – Driver Press Conference
27/04 – 21:00 to 21:15 – Paddock Uncut
28/04 – 15:00 to 15:30 – Team Press Conference
28/04 – 15:30 to 16:00 – The F1 Show
03/05 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Review

BBC Radio F1
27/04 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
28/04 – 08:55 to 10:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
29/04 – 09:55 to 11:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
29/04 – 12:55 to 14:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
30/04 – 13:00 to 15:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)

British GT – Oulton Park (Frontrunner)
30/04 – Races
=> 10:45 to 14:00
=> 15:00 to 17:15

British Superbikes – Oulton Park
30/04 – 16:00 to 18:00 – Qualifying (Eurosport 2)
01/05 – 12:30 to 18:00 – Races (Eurosport 2)
02/05 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights (ITV4)

Euroformula – Estoril
29/04 – 14:00 to 15:00 – Race 1 (BT Sport 3)
30/04 – 12:00 to 13:00 – Race 2 (BT Sport 2)

FIM CEV Repsol – Albacete (BT Sport/ESPN)
30/04 – 10:45 to 15:45 – Races

IndyCar Series – Phoenix (BT Sport/ESPN)
29/04 – 02:00 to 05:00 (Saturday night) – Race

International GT Open – Estoril
29/04 – 15:00 to 16:45 – Race 1 (BT Sport 3)
30/04 – 13:00 to 14:30 – Race 2 (BT Sport 2)

Speedway Grand Prix – Slovenia (BT Sport 2)
29/04 – 17:30 to 21:15 – Races

World Rally Championship – Argentina
29/04 – Day 1 Highlights
=> 09:40 to 10:10 (Motorsport.tv)
=> 13:30 to 14:00 (BT Sport 3)
30/04 – 02:30 to 03:30 – Stage 1 (BT Sport 3)
30/04 – Day 2 Highlights
=> 09:40 to 10:10 (Motorsport.tv)
=> 11:30 to 12:00 (BT Sport 2)
30/04 – 16:00 to 17:30 – Power Stage (BT Sport/ESPN)
01/05 – Day 3 Highlights
=> 09:40 to 10:10 (Motorsport.tv)
=> 16:00 to 16:30 (BT Sport 1)
01/05 – 19:00 to 20:00 – Highlights (Channel 5)

World Superbikes – Assen
29/04 – 09:15 to 14:00 – Qualifying and Race 1 (Eurosport 2)
30/04 – 10:00 to 13:00 – Support and Race 2 (Eurosport 2)
02/05 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights (ITV4)

World Touring Car Championship – Italy
29/04 – 14:00 to 14:30 – MAC3 time trial (Eurosport 2)
30/04 – 11:00 to 12:00 – Race 1 (Eurosport)

As always if anything changes, the above schedule will be updated.

Update on April 26th – I have added Euroformula, the International GT Open and the Speedway Grand Prix to the above post, all three starting their 2017 seasons this weekend. Unlike previous years, Euroformula and the GT Open will not be on Motors TV (now rebranded Motorsport.tv of course).

ITV4 grabs World Endurance Championship highlights

ITV4 will broadcast highlights of the FIA World Endurance Championship this season, The F1 Broadcasting Blog can confirm.

Highlights of the championship, which aired on Channel 4 last year, are expected to be shown in a Saturday morning time slot on ITV4, starting with the 6 Hours of Silverstone.

In addition, this site understands that there are plans for the channel to air some of the 24 Hours of Le Mans live in June. The exact technicalities of the Le Mans agreement are still being finalised, but expect the level of live coverage to be on a similar scale of that provided by Quest TV in 2015 and 2016.

Quest TV’s live Le Mans coverage peaked with 258,000 viewers in 2015 and 191,000 viewers in 2016, so ITV4 should be looking at a peak of close to half a million viewers for Le Mans. Whilst moving from Channel 4 to ITV4 for the highlights programming is a sideways move, having live coverage of Le Mans on ITV4 is excellent for all concerned (if that element goes ahead).

As noted in the Bahrain Grand Prix scheduling piece, BT Sport, Eurosport and Motorsport.tv are airing live coverage of the championship this year. BT Sport have signed a two-year deal to cover the series, which explains why the series’ organisers touted BT as “the new home of live WEC in the UK” last week.

Update on April 21st at 22:20 – This has now been (un)officially confirmed, on the basis that tomorrow’s schedules, which have been updated at the eleventh hour, show WEC highlights airing on ITV4 at 07:55. Really poor planning by the various parties not to publicise that information formally through a press release.

Scheduling: The 2017 Bahrain Grand Prix

The battle between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel rolls into Bahrain for round three of the 2017 Formula One season, in a busy weekend at home and abroad.

Bahrain marks Channel 4’s first live Grand Prix of the season. As revealed last week, in a change to their structure from last season, the broadcaster has opted to follow Sky’s approach by segmenting their programme into separate chunks. Mark Webber will be with Channel 4’s usual team fronted by Steve Jones and David Coulthard. Channel 4 will also air their first ‘F1 Meets’ programmes of the new season, with Lee McKenzie chatting to Murray Walker in an extended season.

Alongside Formula 1 in Bahrain is the return of the Formula Two Championship, which replaces the GP2 Series. As with GP2, every race of the Formula Two Championship will be live on Sky Sports F1. For the first time, the action will be covered in ultra high-definition.

Also returning this weekend is the World Endurance Championship, with Silverstone hosting the season opener. Live coverage will air across Motorsport.tv (was Motors TV), BT Sport and Eurosport, with Sky Sports News also airing news reports. Viewers watching across the first two networks will hear some slightly different voices compared to previous years. Toby Moody and Martin Haven will share play-by-play duties throughout the year, with Moody commentating on the season opener from Silverstone. Allan McNish will be present at six rounds, whilst Louise Beckett and Graham Goodwin are also part of the team.

Elsewhere, it is a very busy weekend on the domestic front, with a lot of racing within an hour and a half radius of one another across the weekend: the aforementioned WEC, BTCC from Donington Park, and the British GT cars are racing at Oulton Park on Bank Holiday Monday.

Channel 4 F1
Sessions
14/04 – 11:55 to 13:35 – Practice 1
14/04 – 15:55 to 17:35 – Practice 2
15/04 – 12:55 to 14:25 – Practice 3
15/04 – 14:55 to 17:30 – Qualifying
16/04 – 14:50 to 18:45 – Race
=> 14:50 – Build-Up
=> 15:35 – Race
=> 18:15 – Reaction

Supplementary Programming
15/04 – 14:25 to 14:55 – F1 Meets… Murray Walker

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
14/04 – 11:45 to 13:50 – Practice 1
14/04 – 15:45 to 18:00 – Practice 2
15/04 – 12:45 to 14:15 – Practice 3
15/04 – 15:00 to 17:45 – Qualifying
16/04 – 14:30 to 19:15 – Race
=> 14:30 – Track Parade
=> 15:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 15:30 – Race
=> 18:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
12/04 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Preview
13/04 – 13:00 to 14:00 – Driver Press Conference
13/04 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut
14/04 – 18:30 to 19:00 – Team Press Conference
14/04 – 19:00 to 19:30 – The F1 Show
19/04 – 20:30 to 21:00 – F1 Report: Review

BBC Radio F1
13/04 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
14/04 – 11:55 to 13:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
15/04 – 12:55 to 14:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
15/04 – 15:55 to 17:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
16/04 – 15:30 to 19:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
=> updates also on BBC Radio 5 Live

British GT – Oulton Park (Frontrunner)
17/04 – Races
=> 10:45 to 14:00
=> 15:00 to 17:15

British Superbikes – Brands Hatch (Eurosport 2)
16/04 – 14:15 to 17:00 – Qualifying
17/04 – 12:30 to 18:00 – Race

British Touring Car Championship – Donington Park (ITV4)
16/04 – 10:45 to 18:15 – Races

Formula Two – Bahrain (Sky Sports F1)
14/04 – 09:30 to 10:15 – Practice
14/04 – 18:00 to 18:30 – Qualifying
15/04 – 11:10 to 12:15 – Race 1
16/04 – 12:15 to 13:05 – Race 2

Formula V8 3.5 – Silverstone (BT Sport/ESPN)
15/04 – 11:30 to 13:15 – Race 1
16/04 – 09:30 to 10:30 – Race 2

World Endurance Championship – Silverstone
16/04 – Race
=> 11:30 to 18:00 (BT Sport/ESPN)
=> 11:45 to 18:20 (Motorsport.tv)
=> 17:00 to 18:15 (Eurosport 2)

As always, if the schedules change, I will update the above times.H

Opening BTCC round peaks with 349k

The opening round of the British Touring Car Championship performed solidly on Sunday afternoon (April 2nd), overnight viewing figures show.

Mixed year-on-year picture for touring cars
Live coverage of the British Touring Car Championship from Brands Hatch averaged 189k (2.2%) from 10:15 to 18:15 on ITV4, an increase on 2016’s average audience of 169k (1.6%). It should be noted that the opening round in 2016 clashed with the Bahrain Grand Prix, as well as MotoGP action from Argentina.

As a result, whilst the average audience is higher than 2016, the peak audience is down slightly. Last year’s programme peaked with 360k (3.8%), compared with 349k (5.4%) from this past Sunday. The audience shares have increased across the board, with the total television audience declining year-on-year.

The second race of the season peaked with 301k (4.0%) at 14:25, whilst the third and final race of the day peaked with 260k (1.9%) at 17:35. The programme outperformed ITV4’s slot average in all demographics which shows that, despite diminishing returns year-on-year, the British Touring Car Championship is still a worthwhile commodity for ITV4. Their coverage across the day will have reached near to, or in excess of, one million viewers.

Formula E heads to Mexico
The 2016-17 Formula E championship headed to Mexico City for round four of its season. Live coverage of the race, broadcast on Channel 5 from 22:30 to 00:20 on Saturday evening, averaged 238k (2.2%), significantly below Channel 5’s slot average. The average audience for the past three races has settled around the 2.2 percent market share, despite the individual races airing in a variety of timeslots.

There are no valid year-on-year comparisons for this race, as the ePrix aired live on BT Sport Europe last year, with highlights following later on ITV4. Formula E haemorrhaged the lead in from Football on 5, with the first five-minute period from 22:30 averaging just 97k (0.6%). Nevertheless, the audience quickly built up to over 200k during the build-up.

At the start of the race, an audience of 323k (2.5%) was watching, briefly rising to 335k (2.8%) at 23:05. Audiences dipped towards the middle of the race, hitting a low of 258k (2.5%) at 23:25 but spiked briefly to 296k (3.3%) at 23:35. As with rounds two and three in Marrakech and Buenos Aires, no highlights of the race were aired on Spike TV.

With a third of the Formula E season now gone, an average audience of 288k (2.5%) have tuned into the first four races on Channel 5. The average is a significant increase on the equivalent ITV4 numbers from both seasons one and two of 197k (2.8%) and 87k (1.0%) respectively.