Scheduling: The 2013 Chinese Grand Prix

After a much needed break, Formula 1 is back with the Chinese Grand Prix. With it, the weekend marks the first BBC live weekend of the season. This means two things – Eddie Jordan is back, and secondly, for the first time ever, practice will be live on terrestrial television as it will be airing on BBC Two. Over on BBC Radio (which TV viewers will also hear for practice), it will be Jonathan Legard as the main commentator for them in a similar deal to last year.

Over on Sky, their one change is that Anthony Davidson is racing in round one of the FIA World Endurance Championship at Silverstone so won’t be with the team. Here are all of the scheduling details you need:

Tuesday 9th April
20:00 to 22:15 – F1: 2007 Chinese Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from James Allen and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Friday 12th April at 12:00
22:15 to 00:30 – F1: 2008 Chinese Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from James Allen and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Friday 12th April at 21:00

Wednesday 10th April
20:00 to 22:30 – F1: 2009 Chinese Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Saturday 13th April at 10:00
22:30 to 00:45 – F1: 2010 Chinese Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Saturday 13th April at 16:15

Thursday 11th April
08:00 to 08:45 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
17:45 to 18:00 – F1: Gear Up for China (Sky Sports F1)
19:00 to 19:30 – F1: 1993 European Grand Prix Highlights (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Murray Walker and Jonathan Palmer
– see this post for more details
20:00 to 22:15 – F1: 2011 Chinese Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Martin Brundle and David Coulthard
– repeated on Sunday 14th April at 19:45

Friday 12th April
02:45 to 04:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
02:55 to 04:35 – F1: Practice 1 (BBC Two)
06:45 to 09:00 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
06:55 to 08:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Two)
09:00 to 09:40 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
11:00 to 12:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
11:35 to 15:15 – F1: Practice Replay (BBC Two)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 13th April
03:45 to 05:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
03:55 to 05:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Two)
06:00 to 08:30 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
06:00 to 08:45 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
13:00 to 14:15 – F1: Qualifying Replay (BBC One)
– note: For Scotland viewers, the replay is on BBC Two
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sunday 14th April
06:30 to 11:00 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
07:00 to 10:15 – F1: Race (BBC One)
10:15 to 11:15 – F1: Forum (BBC Red Button)
11:00 to 12:00 – F1 Legends: Tony Brooks (Sky Sports F1)
14:20 to 16:20 – F1: Race Replay (BBC One)

As always, if anything changes I shall update this blog if necessary. The Classic F1 timings have already changed once – as they were scheduled to begin on Friday 6th April, but have been changed to the times shown above.

Update on April 4th, 20:50 – I note that instead of it being GP Uncovered after the Chinese Grand Prix, it is the first edition of a new series of F1 Legends presented by Steve Rider. The first edition focusses on Tony Brooks, and as the description notes “A look at the career of British driver Tony Brooks. Nicknamed ‘the racing dentist’, Brooks was described by Stirling Moss as “the greatest unknown racing driver there has ever been”.”

Scheduling: The 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

Round 1 in Australia may have finished, but the Formula 1 season quickly heads to Kuala Lumpur for the Malaysian Grand Prix, held at the Sepang International Circuit. As with last weekend, the action is live on Sky Sports F1 and BBC Radio 5 Live. BBC television will again be providing afternoon highlights.

Malaysia also marks the beginning of the 2013 GP2 season, the championship will again be live on Sky Sports F1, starting with their practice session in the early hours of Friday morning. Commentary, as in 2012, will be from Will Buxton. Unfortunately, I can’t spot any daytime repeats at the moment in the Sky schedules for GP2, the first repeat at a sensible time is on Tuesday 26th March at 20:00.

Tuesday 19th March
19:30 to 21:45 – F1: 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Murray Walker and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Friday 22nd March at 11:00
21:45 to 00:00 – F1: 2002 Malaysian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from James Allen and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Friday 22nd March at 17:45

Wednesday 20th March
19:30 to 21:45 – F1: 2003 Malaysian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from James Allen and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Saturday 23rd March at 09:45
21:45 to 00:00 – F1: 2007 Malaysian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from James Allen and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Saturday 23rd March at 16:45

Thursday 21st March
07:00 to 07:40 – F1: Driver Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
18:00 to 18:15 – F1: Gear Up for Malaysia (Sky Sports F1)
20:00 to 22:15 – F1: 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix (Sky Sports F1)
– commentary from Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
– repeated on Sunday 24th March at 22:30
20:30 to 21:30 – F1: Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Friday 22nd March
01:45 to 03:50 – F1: Practice 1 (Sky Sports F1)
03:55 to 04:35 – GP2: Practice (Sky Sports F1)
05:45 to 07:50 – F1: Practice 2 (Sky Sports F1)
05:55 to 07:35 – F1: Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
07:50 to 08:35 – GP2: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
09:00 to 09:40 – F1: Team Press Conference (Sky Sports F1)
10:00 to 11:00 – The F1 Show (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Saturday 23rd March
03:10 to 04:35 – GP2: Race 1 (Sky Sports F1)
– repeated on Saturday 23rd March at 22:45
04:45 to 06:10 – F1: Practice 3 (Sky Sports F1)
05:00 to 06:05 – F1: Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
07:00 to 09:45 – F1: Qualifying (Sky Sports F1)
07:55 to 09:05 – F1: Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
13:00 to 14:15 – F1: Qualifying (BBC One)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)

Sunday 24th March
04:10 to 05:10 – GP2: Race 2 (Sky Sports F1)
– repeated on Sunday 24th March at 17:30
06:30 to 11:00 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
11:00 to 11:30 – GP Uncovered (Sky Sports F1)
07:45 to 09:45 – F1: Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)
14:30 to 16:30 – F1: Race (BBC One)

As always, if anything changes I shall update this blog if necessary.

Update on March 21st – A few minor adjustments to the schedule, with two GP2 repeats being added in.

Updated Schedule: The 2013 Australian Grand Prix

With the changes to the BBC and Sky schedules thanks to today’s Qualifying postponement, I have ditched the original post. For the remainder of the weekend, refer to the amended times below:

Saturday 16th March
13:00 to 13:55 – F1: Qualifying 1 (BBC One)
17:45 to 18:00 – Ted’s Qualifying Notebook (Sky Sports F1)
18:45 to 19:00 – Inside F1 (BBC News Channel)
23:45 to 01:30 – F1: Qualifying 2 and 3 (Sky Sports F1)
00:00 to 01:00 – F1: Qualifying 2 and 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Sunday 17th March
04:30 to 09:30 – F1: Race (Sky Sports F1)
05:15 to 06:00 – F1: Qualifying 2 and 3 (BBC One)
05:30 to 08:00 – F1: Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)
12:30 to 12:45 – Ted’s Race Notebook (Sky Sports F1)
14:20 to 16:20 – F1: Race (BBC One)
– note: For Scotland viewers, the race is on BBC Two

As you can see, BBC’s Qualifying 2 and 3 coverage directly clashes with Sky’s build-up. I don’t know if that is deliberate on their behalf, or just a case of not room for maneuver regarding their main highlights show in the afternoon.

‘GP Uncovered’ added to Sky schedule

A new strand of shows has been added to the Sky Sports F1 schedules starting this Sunday at 09:00. GP Uncovered will look back at Formula 1’s early days.

The first edition, entitled ‘1967 – Nine Days In Summer’ will air following the Australian Grand Prix, lasting an hour. The description is as follows: “The story of the Lotus 49, the revolutionary car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe and driven with startling success by both Jim Clark and Graham Hill.”

Furthermore, the Sky website says that the programme will air following race weekends, so presumably as soon as the main race programme has finished. The films come from the Beaulieu archive.

A few Sky Sports F1 schedule updates

Ahead of this weekend’s season opening Australian Grand Prix, I have spotted a few updates to the previously published Sky schedule, with a few extra additions.

– On Thursday at 20:00, there is a half hour programme entitled The Martin Whitmarsh Interview, which does what it says on the tin.
– On Friday at 08:30, there is an airing of The Petrol Age by Paul McGann. Whilst the programme is new to Sky Sports, the programme is not new to Sky, as it was aired on Sky Atlantic this time last year.

Both programmes are repeated on the channel throughout the weekend. Elsewhere, the 2009 German Grand Prix and 2008 Italian Grand Prix will be shown on Saturday 30th March and Sunday 1st April at 21:00 to conclude the “Debut Wins” strand.

Later in that week, the 2007 Chinese Grand Prix is on Friday 5th April at 21:00 to begin the Chinese five races. One thing to note is that The F1 Show for that week is listed on the Friday at 20:00, so I am unsure why the previous week is listed as Thursday at 20:00.

I will update the blog if anything changes.