Scheduling: The 2015 Long Beach ePrix

After a three week gap, Formula E is back for round six of the inaugural 2014-15 season. Round six takes place at a familiar location for motor sport fans as the paddock heads west to California for the Long Beach ePrix! It is a star-studded back-to-back, with the Monte Carlo ePrix following in five weeks time. There are three practice sessions for Long Beach, looking at the live streaming page, it appears all three sessions will be streamed live, but I’ll update the schedule below if that is not the case.

Formula E is not the only motor racing series on offer during the Easter weekend, as BTCC makes its 2015 debut live from Brands Hatch. It really is a big weekend for ITV4, with BTCC offering eight hours of action alongside Formula E’s action on Saturday night. The ITV line-up for both series are the same as usual, Jennie Gow will be presenting the Formula E race, with Steve Rider and Louise Goodman presenting the BTCC coverage. David Addison remains lead commentator for the BTCC races, Tim Harvey is alongside Addison in the commentary box. Elsewhere, British Superbikes begins with round one at Donington Park on Bank Holiday Monday.

Formula E – Long Beach (online via FIAFormulaE.com)
04/04 – 16:05 to 16:45 – Practice 1
04/04 – 17:15 to 17:55 – Practice 2
04/04 – 18:25 to 19:05 – Practice 3
04/04 – 19:45 to 21:10 – Qualifying

Formula E – Long Beach (ITV4)
04/04 – 23:00 to 01:30 – Race
05/04 – 09:25 to 10:30 – Highlights

British Touring Car Championship – Brands Hatch (ITV4)
05/04 – 10:30 to 18:30 – Races

British Superbikes – Donington Park (British Eurosport 2)
05/04 – 15:30 to 18:00 – Qualifying
06/04 – 12:30 to 18:00 – Races

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

Scheduling: The 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix / Qatar MotoGP

The Formula 1 paddock heads from Australia to Malaysia for round two of the season. Round two is the first live race for the BBC this season, with coverage airing on BBC One as usual.

Elsewhere, the 2015 MotoGP championship begins on BT Sport. In the second year of their exclusively live contract, as of writing, no details about their coverage have been officially announced, I’ve compiled what we know so far here. As revealed on this blog earlier this year, ITV4 will again be broadcasting highlights on Monday evenings. Also beginning is the IndyCar Series live on ESPN, an agreement which will run through to 2022.

NOTE: Clocks go forward one hour on Sunday 29th March, with the change from Greenwich Mean Time to British Summer Time. The times listed are for GMT on Saturday and before; BST for Sunday and afterwards…

BBC F1
BBC TV – Sessions
27/03 – 01:55 to 03:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Two)
27/03 – 05:55 to 07:35 – Practice 2 (BBC Two)
28/03 – 05:55 to 07:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Two)
28/03 – 08:00 to 10:30 – Qualifying (BBC One)
28/03 – 14:00 to 16:00 – Qualifying Replay (BBC One)
29/03 – 07:00 to 10:30 – Race (BBC One)
29/03 – 10:30 to 11:30 – Forum (BBC Red Button)
29/03 – 14:00 to 16:00 – Race Replay (BBC One)

BBC Radio – Sessions
27/03 – 01:55 to 03:35 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
27/03 – 05:55 to 07:30 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
28/03 – 05:55 to 07:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
28/03 – 08:55 to 10:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
29/03 – 07:30 to 10:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

BBC News Channel
27/03 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1
28/03 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
27/03 – 01:45 to 03:50 – Practice 1
27/03 – 05:45 to 08:00 – Practice 2
28/03 – 05:45 to 07:15 – Practice 3
28/03 – 08:00 to 10:45 – Qualifying
29/03 – 06:30 to 11:15 – Race
=> 06:30 – Track Parade
=> 07:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 07:30 – Race
=> 10:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
26/03 – 07:00 to 07:30 – Driver Press Conference
26/03 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Australia
27/03 – 08:00 to 08:45 – Team Press Conference
27/03 – 10:00 to 11:00 – The F1 Show
01/04 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report

MotoGP – Qatar (BT Sport 2)
26/03 – 15:00 to 19:45 – Practice
27/03 – 14:45 to 19:00 – Practice
28/03 – 14:30 to 18:30 – Qualifying
29/03 – 16:00 to 20:00 – Races
29/03 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Chequered Flag

MotoGP – Qatar (BT Sport Xtra)
29/03 – 13:50 to 16:00 – Warm Up

MotoGP – Qatar (ITV4)
30/03 – 20:00 to 21:00 – Highlights

IndyCar Series – St Petersburg (ESPN)
29/03 – 20:00 to 21:30 – Race

As always, if anything changes, I’ll update the schedule.

BBC “will have 10 live races” even if German GP disappears

With the German Grand Prix looking increasingly likely to disappear from the 2015 Formula One season, a few people have wondered whether this will affect the current BBC and Sky picks for this season.

As it stands, the BBC are set to broadcast ten live races out of the twenty on the calendar, with the mid-season schedule looking like this:

– June 21st – Austria (Red Bull Ring) – Sky
– July 5th – Britain (Silverstone) – BBC and Sky
– July 19th – Germany (TBA) – Sky
– July 26th – Hungary (Budapest) – BBC and Sky
– August 23rd – Belgium (Spa) – BBC and Sky
– September 6th – Italy (Monza) – Sky

If the German Grand Prix disappeared, then the BBC would be left with three consecutive live races, and with more than 50 percent of the races live (10 out of 19). Neither of those two statements has been true since the current contract came into effect at the beginning of 2012.

However, a BBC spokesperson has confirmed to The F1 Broadcasting Blog that the 2015 picks will not change if the German Grand Prix is removed from the calendar. The spokesperson said “If Germany (and it is an ‘if’ at this stage) comes out of the calendar, it won’t affect what we show as the picks are done at the start of the season. So if Germany goes we will have 10 lives from a total of 19 races.”

Sky’s race day programme to split into four for 2015?

From one in 2012, to three at the back-end of 2013, to four for 2015. That’s right, it looks like Sky Sports F1’s race day programme will be split into four for the 2015 season. The schedule for the Australian Grand Prix shows this…

– 03:30 to 04:00 – Live Australian GP: Track Parade
– 04:00 to 04:30 – Live Australian GP: Pit Lane Live
– 04:30 to 07:30 – Live Australian GP: Race Show
– 07:30 to 08:15 – Live Australian GP: Paddock Live

As of writing, Malaysia still shows the ‘old style’ schedule, with no Pit Lane Live, but it may a case of that it just hasn’t been updated yet.

Either way, clearly Sky think that the three individual shows, at least from an EPG and ratings perspective, worked in 2014, and have decided to add a fourth show for 2015. Of course, the total run-time is identical, its just the number of shows that looks likely to be increasing.

Scheduling: The 2015 Australian Grand Prix

Three and a half months after Lewis Hamilton won the 2014 championship, Formula 1 is back! The first round of 2015 takes place at Albert Park, Melbourne, traditionally the season opener. Whilst there have been a lot of high profile changes in the driver line-up, with Sebastian Vettel heading to Ferrari and Fernando Alonso off to McLaren, it has been an extremely quiet off-season on the broadcasting side of things.

Both BBC and Sky are, as of writing, fielding the same teams as last season. Suzi Perry returns as presenter of BBC’s coverage. She will again be joined by Eddie Jordan and David Coulthard, the latter also alongside Ben Edwards in the commentary box. Tom Clarkson and Lee McKenzie round off BBC’s television team. Over on radio, Jennie Gow will lead the coverage. James Allen and Allan McNish will commentate on proceedings, with Jack Nicholls commentating on several rounds in place of Allen. Gow is ITV’s Formula E presenter, and will not be in Melbourne, which may in turn explain the skeleton BBC radio schedule for Australia. Commentary should turn up on the BBC Sport website, though.

Meanwhile the situation on Sky Sports F1 remains the same as 2014. Simon Lazenby heads into year four as Formula 1 presenter, alongside him on rotation is Anthony Davidson, Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert and Bruno Senna. Ted Kravitz, Natalie Pinkham and Rachel Brookes will continue to trawl pitlane, with Martin Brundle and David Croft on commentary. One thing worth pointing out is that it appears there will be more integration with Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia this year based on their testing coverage, so don’t be surprised if Tanja Bauer turns up periodically this season.

As has been the case since the shared deal came into effect in 2012, Sky Sports F1 are covering the weekend exclusively live, with highlights on BBC One. The programming slate is largely identical to 2014, although BBC TV’s run-times are shorter due to the Six Nations, whilst over on Sky, there are not many new classic races and qualifying is being simulcast live on Sky1 and Sky Sports 1. Elsewhere, Formula E is back with round five of their season from Miami. The aforementioned Jennie Gow presents the coverage from ITV’s London studios with Mark Priestley and Jann Mardenborough joining her as guests. Below are all the scheduling details you need…

BBC F1
BBC One
11/03 – 23:15 to 00:25 – 2014 Review (R)
14/03 – 12:50 to 14:00 – Qualifying Highlights
15/03 – 13:15 to 14:40 – Race Highlights

BBC News Channel
13/03 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1
14/03 – 18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1

BBC Red Button
10/03 – 22:00 – Season Preview

BBC Radio 5 Live
05/03 – 19:30 to 20:00 – Season Preview
12/03 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Australia Preview
15/03 – 04:30 to 07:00 – Race

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
13/03 – 01:00 to 03:20 – Practice 1
13/03 – 05:15 to 07:30 – Practice 2
14/03 – 02:45 to 04:15 – Practice 3
14/03 – 05:00 to 07:45 – Qualifying (also Sky1 and Sky Sports 1)
14/03 – 06:00 to 08:45 – Qualifying (Sky1 +1)
15/03 – 03:30 to 08:15 – Race
=> 03:30 – Track Parade
=> 04:00 – Pit Lane Live
=> 04:30 – Race
=> 07:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
06/03 – 20:00 to 21:00 – The F1 Show
06/03 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Mercedes F1 Team: Road to 2015
07/03 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Sauber’s Secrets of F1
12/03 – 04:00 to 04:30 – Driver Press Conference
12/03 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Australia
13/03 – 07:30 to 08:15 – Team Press Conference
13/03 – 09:30 to 10:30 – The F1 Show
18/03 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Midweek Report

NEW Classic Races
10/03 – 21:00 to 23:30 – 1999 Canadian Grand Prix
20/03 – 21:00 to 21:45 – 1995 Pacific Grand Prix Highlights

Formula E – Miami (online via FIAFormulaE.com)
14/03 – 12:10 to 13:10 – Practice 1
14/03 – 14:25 to 15:10 – Practice 2
14/03 – 15:45 to 17:10 – Qualifying

Formula E – Miami (ITV4)
14/03 – 19:00 to 21:30 – Race
15/03 – 10:00 to 11:00 – Highlights

If anything changes, I’ll update the post as usual.

Update on March 5th – Some changes based on confirmation of BBC line-up, along with Sky’s race day changes.

Update on March 8th – The 1995 Pacific Grand Prix, which was scheduled for Monday 9th March on Sky Sports F1, has disappeared. In its place is a repeat of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Update on March 12th – The 1995 Pacific Grand Prix has returned, in highlights form, which will air on Friday 20th March. Also of note is the fact that, for Australia at least, Natalie Pinkham is presenting the Midweek Report alongside Mike Gascoyne and David Brabham. Hopefully Anna Woolhouse is back later this year as the Midweek Report was much more watchable than The F1 Show at points last year, in my opinion.