As 2025 ends, I want to use this as an opportunity to tie up a loose end of my own. After nearly 14 years, I’m formally bringing the curtain down on the Motorsport Broadcasting website. Why am I writing this when I’ve only published two articles in the past 18 months? For me, it’s important to acknowledge the closure of this chapter in my life rather than let it drift off into the sunset.

I started Motorsport Broadcasting, then The F1 Broadcasting Blog, when I was 19 back in April 2012 towards the end of my first year at university, my love of motor sport broadcasting having stemmed from many a day over on Digital Spy Forum (which still exists). Motorsport Broadcasting served me well through my twenties, with countless hours spent writing articles, combining the blog with my day job. For the first few years, it really was a side gig. Attending Channel 4’s F1 press day in 2016 changed that, and made me realise that there was so much more to this, as the years that followed showed: 8 x MotoGP weekends, 4 x Formula E weekends amongst many included.

While my love and interest in sports broadcasting remained into my 30s, I felt my love for writing regular pieces waning, not helped by a challenging content landscape. My interests outside of this site are more varied than what they were five to ten years ago, with running (a marathon runner too!), swimming, and an increased social circle filling the time, as well as going through a process of self-discovery. I’ve spent long periods this year without even thinking about this site. A few years ago, I would have resented writing that sentence, but now, I’m genuinely at peace with it. Time has moved on, the moment has passed, and I’ve come to accept that is okay.

As Motorsport Broadcasting grew, so did I. I made mistakes, some terrible ones to boot. I wrote things that I later regretted, but we live and learn. There’s things I didn’t do that I wish I did, but you can’t do everything. I must admit in hindsight, I do wince at how much content I wrote pre-COVID. Wait, did I really write that? Yes, Dave, yes you did…

Across the 13 years, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to see first hand what goes into creating the product you see on television. It’s tough. For every presenter or commentator on-air, there’s an editor, a producer, a replay operator amongst many working out of view keeping the show on the road. I don’t envy the person who makes the tough calls. But being close to the action has given me an appreciate for all the hard yards that goes into producing motor sport broadcasting.

No one goes into their shift on-air or in the booth thinking “hey, I’ll only give it 80% or 90% today.” No one. You’ll be found out, quickly. It’s easy to be an armchair critic without having access to all the facts, thinking that you can do it better. I’ve always tried to be fair and present different perspectives, sometimes with success and on other occasions less so. But hopefully I’ve never come across as unnecessarily critical towards a single party or another. In more recent years, I’ve made a concerted effort to shine a light on the wonderful voices and faces that make up our sport.

I’ve been lucky enough to interview many stars in front and behind the camera, and there are a few I want to thank. Firstly, a special thanks go to Kevin Brown and Billy McGinty. Kevin and Billy lead up TNT’s MotoGP operation and Sky’s F1 coverage respectively, both of whom have been extremely kind to me in terms of access – helping facilitate behind the scenes pieces and helping me to get closer to the production process.

Sticking with MotoGP, David Emmett, and Simon Patterson for their support with two-wheel coverage. Karun Chandhok for always being a friendly face in the Formula E paddock and during various Autosport weekends. To the person that once called me an “angry student,” David Croft, I should probably admit all these later that this quote was justified despite my best attempts to deny it! Genuinely though, Crofty, thank you for the support, and for the hours of entertainment over the years.

To the whole Whisper team, led by Jake Humphrey, David Coulthard and Sunil Patel, thank you for your generous access and hospitality behind the scenes at both W Series and Formula E. The last thank you needs to go to someone who isn’t just a great broadcaster, but frankly an inspiration to me and many others: Jennie Gow. Jennie had a stroke three years ago and has since returned to broadcasting on 5 Live F1. Jennie’s words to me ring true every day: “When you’re having a bad day, just remember that a good day is just round the corner.” Those words struck a chord when she first said that to me, and they still do now. Thank you, Jennie.

There’s countless other people I could thank, but I worry I’d invertedly miss someone off, and it may turn into a “who’s who” role call of motor sport broadcasting personalities. Thanks to this small corner of the internet, and through my role as Community Champion with Racing Pride, I’ve met people who I’m proud to call friends. It’s opened doors that I didn’t realise existed, and I’ll be forever grateful for that. While this chapter may be ending, I will never be too far away from a motor sport paddock.

There’s one last thanks to give, and that is to you, the reader. Because without you, there wouldn’t have been 3.5 million hits, 2 million words, 1,500 articles and 7,500 comments on this site. Thank you for engaging, whether you have been there from day one, or a more recent follower. Nearly 14 years isn’t bad for something that I never intended to last anywhere near that long!

All posts will stay online, but there will be no new content moving forward. If you want to see what I’m up to moving forward you can find me on LinkedIn or follow my Substack. As I said up front, my love for sports broadcasting has not waned, so if you’re working on a project and you feel my input would be valuable, I’m still happy for you to drop me a message and I’ll see how I can help. If you’ve met me and want to follow my Instagram, I’m also happy for you to do so.

For now, thank you, and I hope you have a happy and healthy 2026. From me, over, and out.

Dave

A new documentary series telling the story of Formula 1 through the eyes of Bernie Ecclestone premieres later this month.

The series, called Lucky! will air across a multitude of streaming platforms, including in the UK and Ireland on Discovery+. Manish Pandey, who produced the Senna movie, is the man behind bringing the story to life through Lucky!

The series contains many of Ecclestone’s thoughts through interviews exclusively conducted for Lucky! as well as a rich array of archive footage from the official Formula 1 vault.

Production on the documentary series began in 2020, and I am thrilled to confirm that I have been collaborating with Manish and production company Jiva Maya throughout 2022 to add an additional layer of storytelling to the series.

Formula 1 evolved significantly during Ecclestone’s tenure leading the sport, including on the broadcasting front, with a television revolution.

To help the team tell the Lucky! story, I have been researching worldwide audience data, combined with historical UK television schedule data.

Trying to calculate a global historical F1 audience figure was challenging, but one made possible through hours of research, which viewers can see during the second half of Lucky! from episodes five to eight.

Combining publicly available data (both for the season and individual races) with other insights such as population data and total TV penetration, has allowed us to present a reasonable trend spanning the past four decades.

The trend shows how F1’s popularity boomed during the 1980s, plateaued following the death of Ayrton Senna, before rising again during Michael Schumacher’s reign at the top.

Lucky! – Formula 1: How it happened as told by Bernie Ecclestone, motor-racing’s Wizard of Oz. An 8 part series coming to Warner Bros Discovery 27th December 2022 pic.twitter.com/UBoBylRhIm

— Manish Pandey (@ManishPics) November 23, 2022

In addition, I curated over 2,000 data points from the BBC’s Genome service, combining them with historical Radio Times television listings sourced from the BBC’s Written Archives Centre and The Library of Birmingham.

The research has allowed us to quantify for the first time how Formula 1’s UK free-to-air television exposure has changed over the past four decades. Keep an eye on the Motorsport Broadcasting site for more in-depth analysis on this front.

From just 40 minutes of live coverage per race in 1988 to nearly 3 hours on average a decade later in the UK, Lucky! shows how the sport changed over the decades.

For me personally, it is the first time ever I have contributed – and been credited – on a Formula 1 television documentary in this way, which is something I never thought I would say.

It has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with Manish and the team on the Lucky! project during 2022, and I would like to extend a massive thank you to them for the kind words of encouragement throughout.

Lucky! premieres in the UK on Discovery+ on Tuesday 27^th December, and overseas on platforms including DAZN, Viaplay and ESPN LATAM.

Contribute to the running costs of Motorsport Broadcasting by donating via PayPal. If you wish to reproduce the contents of this article in any form, please contact Motorsport Broadcasting in the first instance.

After a three-month break and a few interruptions along the way, Motorsport Broadcasting is back, with a new look.

I honestly want to say thank you to everyone who commented and messaged following my announcement last October.

During the last year, there were times where I felt like there were fewer people reading the site, or enjoying what I wrote, and that the site was becoming a burden to maintain. What you made me realise was that this is simply not the case.

If anything, I needed a break, and I am glad I took said break. I have reflected on events, both inside and outside of Motorsport Broadcasting, trying to focus on the long-term picture, long after this pandemic has disappeared.

There will be a day when motor sport journalists and experts can mingle in the paddock. There will be a day when fans, en masse, can flock to racing circuits across the UK and worldwide to watch their favourite drivers race. There will be a day when we can smell the rubber for ourselves.

And there will be a day when I walk into a circuit representing this brilliant site once again to chat to the wonderful artists that bring this amazing sport to the small screen. I honestly cannot wait until that day comes (although I suspect I will be a little misty eyed when it comes).

It is for those reasons why stopping Motorsport Broadcasting would be an error of judgement on my behalf. As the 7 Habits say, “Begin with the end in mind,” thinking about the long-term goals, not the short-term hurdles.

Some changes

I want Motorsport Broadcasting to be distinctive in nature, of high quality, and a reputable source for motor sport broadcasting content.

Motorsport Broadcasting will focus on exclusive news stories broken before mainstream media outlets, whilst also taking readers behind the scenes to show how the sport reaches fans worldwide.

If you work in motor sport broadcasting and want this site to shine a light on your part of the world, drop me a message. This site is authored by a fan, for the fans.

Underpinning the distinctiveness is an emphasis on analysis, both social media and television, understanding the latest numbers and providing a unique take on the story of the day.

And lastly, Motorsport Broadcasting is interested in hearing what you think of the current landscape, through guest articles. Occasionally, the site may deviate onto other topics, where time allows.

I have, regrettably, decided to stop publishing scheduling articles on a regular basis, for the moment at least. I know many of you rely on them, but ‘list’ content is not only low quality, but also very time consuming to compile.

Instead, I intend to publish schedules for the key events in the motor sport calendar (e.g., F1 and MotoGP season openers, British Grand Prix, Le Mans, and Indianapolis 500), supplementing that with additional information in standalone articles where time allows.

I enjoy giving you, the reader, a unique perspective on this sport. When I do write content, I want my head to be in that space.

There will be fewer articles but of higher quality during 2021. Previously I became irritated if I did not write something by a certain date, but now I have accepted, that it is okay to go a couple of weeks without writing.

2021. Time to get started….

Thanks,
Dave
Owner and Editor of Motorsport Broadcasting