The testing season comes to a conclusion this week, beginning on Thursday, with the third and final test from Barcelona. But this time, for the first time ever, testing will be live. Viewers in both the UK and Italy will be able to watch the test via their respective Sky Sports F1 channels, whilst coverage will also be shown in 3D on Sky 3D. The 3D action will be a Sky production, whilst the 2D production will come from Formula One Management (FOM) cameras.

Simon Lazenby will front the coverage, with David Croft providing the commentary alongside a series of guests, whilst Ted Kravitz will be down in pit-lane – in essence, this is ‘Round 0’ for the Sky team. Rachel Brookes will be there for Sky Sports News, so she may pop up occasionally in the live coverage. As a general guide, all of the live action is in 3D, along with The F1 Show. The only live action that is not in 3D is the last 35 minutes on Sunday, as from 15:55, Sky 3D will be showing Tottenham vs Arsenal live.

On a side note, as FOM are producing the 2D feed, I wonder if Sky Sports have ‘exclusive’ access to that feed for United Kingdom viewers? If not, then it is always possible that the feed could turn up live on the BBC F1 website for each of the four days in the afternoon too. Personally I don’t think it will, but it is worth noting I feel. Another thing we don’t know is whether Sky’s coverage will have commercials, I suspect that like the practice sessions, there will be regular commercials at 15/20 minute intervals.

Over on The F1 Show, the show will have highlights of the Motor Sport Magazine Hall of Fame ceremony which takes place this Monday (25th February). Unlike with the first two test schedules, I’ve only labelled the first repeat for each of the day’s live action below as the live action is repeated a lot over the course of the four days, so if you miss the live testing, it is repeated multiple times.

Thursday 28th February
14:00 to 16:30 – Day 1 Live
18:30 to 21:00 – Day 1 Repeat (R)
21:00 to 21:35 – Day 1 Highlights
– 15-minute round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Friday 1st March
14:00 to 16:30 – Day 2 Live
16:30 to 17:30 – The F1 Show
17:30 to 20:00 – Day 2 Repeat (R)
21:00 to 21:15 – Day 2 Round-Up

Saturday 2nd March
14:00 to 16:30 – Day 3 Live
18:30 to 21:00 – Day 3 Repeat (R)
21:00 to 21:35 – Day 3 Highlights
– 15-minute round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Sunday 3rd March
14:00 to 16:30 – Day 4 Live
18:30 to 21:00 – Day 4 Repeat (R)
21:00 to 21:35 – Day 4 Highlights
– 15-minute round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Times above are in BST. Italian readers, Sky Sport F1 will be live on air at the same times with their own presentation.

As always, if there are any schedule amendments, I will update this blog.

Correction – Contrary to what I have written above, Sky are in fact producing both the 2D and 3D feeds. The 3D cameras can output in both 2D and 3D, so everything live next week will be a Sky production.

Update on February 25th – Marc Priestley confirmed as one of the guests alongside David Croft in the commentary box this weekend.

Sky Sports F1 are to broadcast five Classic races before every race weekend throughout the 2013 season, The F1 Broadcasting Blog can confirm.

Starting in Australia, the channel will broadcast a mixture of extended highlights and full races, depending on the timeframe that the particular race falls within. The schedule for Australia is as follows:

– 1994 Australian Grand Prix (extended highlights)
– 1999 Australian Grand Prix (full race)
– 2003 Australian Grand Prix (full race)
– 2007 Australian Grand Prix (full race)
– 2010 Australian Grand Prix (full race)

The above races will air from Saturday 9th March to Wednesday 13th March, the timeslot being 20:30 to 22:30 on all five days.

One of my gripes last year was the lack of Classic races, which was due to Sky Sports’ lack of material in their own archive. Between 2009 and 2012, BBC were lucky in that they had Formula 1 material before 1997 in their archive, therefore their Classic races series’ was mainly based on that timeframe, whereas Sky were not as lucky meaning they were restricted in what they could do – unless they went to Formula One Management (FOM) to request footage.

Nevertheless, it is a great move to see that a dedicated channel will have significantly more content during the week than what was present in 2012. Five Classic races is just the right amount, any more and there would be overload. I’m happy with five, personally. Some of the choices for Australia are not ‘obvious’ choices, for example 1999, but it saves races for future years, which is good.

Following the first test in Jerez, the Formula 1 teams move onto Barcelona for what will be the first test of two at the circuit. Craig Slater will be presenting the updates on Sky Sports News, alongside the round-up show. Rachel Brookes will be back for the final test beginning on February 28th. After the round-up, Ted Kravitz will be presenting his usual Notebook, with the exception of the final day of the test where The F1 Show is on at 17:00 with Kravitz in Barcelona and Georgie Thompson in the London studio. Below are all the Sky Sports F1 scheduling details that you need for Barcelona.

Tuesday 19th February
21:00 to 21:30 – Day 1 Highlights
– 15-minute round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Wednesday 20th February
16:25 to 17:00 – Day 1 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:35 – Day 2 Highlights
– 15-minute round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Thursday 21st February
15:50 to 16:25 – Day 1 Highlights (R)
16:25 to 17:00 – Day 2 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:35 – Day 3 Highlights
– 15-minute round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Friday 22nd February
15:15 to 15:50 – Day 1 Highlights (R)
15:50 to 16:25 – Day 2 Highlights (R)
16:25 to 17:00 – Day 3 Highlights (R)
17:00 to 18:00 – The F1 Show
21:00 to 21:15 – Day 4 Round-Up

As a further reminder, The F1 Show returns this Friday (15th February) at 18:30 on Sky Sports 1 and F1.

Sky Sports F1 is to screen exclusive live coverage of the third test from Barcelona, The F1 Broadcasting Blog can confirm. The channel will be broadcasting two and a half hours live from each day of the third test, which takes place from Thursday 28th February to Sunday 3rd March. The broadcast will begin at 14:00 on each of the four days with Simon Lazenby presenting, David Croft and ‘guests’ will be commentating.

In another first, Sky will become the first broadcaster to show Formula 1 in 3D, as their coverage throughout the test will be shown on Sky 3D. Martin Brundle said: “This is a special moment for Formula 1 fans and exactly the kind of innovation and access that Sky Sports F1 promised. 3D will show us the real challenges of the race track with added depth and perspective. It will be a new, immersive experience for viewers and I can’t wait to see what F1 action in 3D will reveal.”

Whilst Sky Sports F1’s Executive Producer Martin Turner added: “This is groundbreaking.”We’re as excited as the next fan to see what Formula 1 will look like in 3D. It’s uncharted territory, but this is a big opportunity to experiment and innovate, and we’re grateful to Formula One Management for working with us on this. Sky is a world-leader in the field of 3D broadcasting, so in partnership with Formula 1 we’re in the best position to answer public appetite and take up the challenge of bringing live F1 in 3D for the first time.”

Quite simply put, this is brilliant news, and a Formula 1 first that testing will be broadcast live in this detail. It will also provide a significant boost to the Sky Sports F1 schedule with ’round 0′ being shown live. Two and a half hours a day is 10 hours across the entire weekend, so fantastic news for Formula 1 fans. I don’t think it is likely, but a nice gesture would be to make the channel available to all Sky and Virgin Media customers. The reason I say that is because it is difficult to gauge the exact interest of testing and just what viewing figures it would draw, by making it available to all Sky and Virgin Media customers, you could persuade a few customers to make the jump if they like what they see. Nevertheless, this is brilliant news, and more than what I was expecting a few weeks ago. Obviously it needs to be said that this will not have been all Sky Sports F1’s doing, as with the race weekends, all footage inside a race circuit at testing is controlled by Formula One Management, so no doubt co-operation was required by them as testing is generally covered with much less cameras than a proper race weekend, thanks therefore need to go out to them as well here I think.

As for 3D, I personally have little interest in it, the main news for me by far is that they will be screening testing live. And that, as a Formula 1 fan, makes me very pleased.

Important: You will be able to watch the coverage if
– you have access to Sky Sports F1 OR
– you have access to Sky 3D

You do not need to have 3D to watch it, it will also be screened in SD and HD on Sky Sports F1.

Update at 19:30 – As expected, the broadcast on all four days will be from 14:00 to 16:30, however there will be a repeat airing at 18:30 for those unable to watch it live. The F1 Show on Friday 1st March is also scheduled to air in 3D.

This blog is a rolling post that will be constantly updated in the next week or two in the lead-up to the first test in Jerez. Below is what has been added to the schedule at late notice:

Monday 28th January
16:00 to 16:15 – Inside Track: Lewis at Mercedes
– 15 minute segment as Johnny Herbert interviews Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes
– repeated at 19:00 and 22:00
– repeated also in the days following

Wednesday 30th January
19:30 to 20:00 – Lotus Car Launch
– repeated at 22:00 and in the days following
– note that as of writing the live launch on Monday 28th January is still scheduled for Sky Sports News

Friday 1st February
19:00 to 19:15 – McLaren Car Launch
– repeated at 22:00 and in the days following
– expect live coverage on Sky Sports News on Thursday 31st January

Sunday 3rd February
19:00 to 19:30 – Force India Car Launch
– repeated at 22:00
– expect live coverage on Sky Sports News on Friday 1st February

Monday 4th February
19:00 to 19:30 – Red Bull Car Launch
– repeated at 22:00
– expect live coverage on Sky Sports News on Sunday 3rd February

Tuesday 5th February to Friday 8th February
21:00 to 21:30 – F1 Testing: Jerez
– see this blog post for more details

I will update this blog in the next few days or weeks, it is possible more ‘repeats’ of car launches will pop up on the schedules.

Last updated on Wednesday 30th January.