Following on from the announcement that Sky Sports F1 are to extend their schedule times for November, below is a list of all of the GP2 and GP3 season repeat times that start this Wednesday.

GP2 Series
23:00 – Wednesday 31st October – Malaysia, Race 1
00:25 – Thursday 1st November – Malaysia, Race 2
12:40 – Thursday 1st November – Bahrain, Race 1 (Round 1)
14:05 – Thursday 1st November – Bahrain, Race 2 (Round 1)
16:40 – Thursday 1st November – Bahrain, Race 1 (Round 2)
18:05 – Thursday 1st November – Bahrain, Race 2 (Round 2)
16:30 – Tuesday 6th November – Spain, Race 1
18:25 – Tuesday 6th November – Spain, Race 2
20:00 – Wednesday 7th November – Monaco, Race 1
22:55 – Wednesday 7th November – Monaco, Race 2
18:35 – Friday 9th November – Europe, Race 1
23:30 – Friday 9th November – Europe, Race 2
12:45 – Saturday 10th November – Britain, Race 1
14:10 – Saturday 10th November – Britain, Race 2
12:45 – Sunday 11th November – Germany, Race 1
14:10 – Sunday 11th November – Germany, Race 2
23:00 – Monday 12th November – Hungary, Race 1
00:25 – Tuesday 13th November – Hungary, Race 2
23:00 – Tuesday 13th November – Belgium, Race 1
00:25 – Wednesday 14th November – Belgium, Race 2
23:00 – Wednesday 14th November – Italy, Race 1
00:25 – Thursday 15th November – Italy, Race 2
15:20 – Thursday 15th November – Singapore, Race 1
16:50 – Thursday 15th November – Singapore, Race 2

GP3 Series
14:50 – Tuesday 6th November – Spain, Race 1
15:40 – Tuesday 6th November – Spain, Race 2
16:15 – Wednesday 7th November – Monaco, Race 1
17:05 – Wednesday 7th November – Monaco, Race 2
16:20 – Friday 9th November – Europe, Race 1
17:10 – Friday 9th November – Europe, Race 2
09:00 – Saturday 10th November – Britain, Race 1
09:55 – Saturday 10th November – Britain, Race 2
09:00 – Sunday 11th November – Germany, Race 1
09:55 – Sunday 11th November – Germany, Race 2
16:20 – Monday 12th November – Hungary, Race 1
17:10 – Monday 12th November – Hungary, Race 2
16:20 – Tuesday 13th November – Belgium, Race 1
17:10 – Tuesday 13th November – Belgium, Race 2
16:20 – Wednesday 14th November – Italy, Race 1
17:10 – Wednesday 14th November – Italy, Race 2

So if you want to relieve GP2 and GP3 again, or alternatively record all of them to watch over the Winter, then above are all the times you need to do so.

Sky Sports F1 are to extend their channel scheduling hours throughout November, I can confirm. Normally, the channel is only open from 18:00 onwards on weekdays, however the schedules on the Radio Times website show that the channel will be open for longer, starting on Tuesday 6th November straight after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend.

– Tuesday 6th November – 12:50 to 00:00 (mainly Legends, GP2 and GP3 repeats)
– Wednesday 7th November – 14:00 to 00:00
– Thursday 8th November – from 17:00
– Friday 9th November – from 14:00
– Saturday 10th November – from 07:00
– Sunday 11th November – from 07:00
– Monday 12th November – from 15:00
– Tuesday 13th November – from 15:00
– Wednesday 14th November – from 15:00
– Thursday 15th November – from 13:50
—> USA race weekend
– Tuesday 20th November – from 16:00
– Wednesday 21st November – from 16:00

As far as I can see, there is no new programming listed, although I am pleased to see the hours being extended. The possible reason for this may be regarding the closure of the channel throughout the Winter. Although nothing concrete has been confirmed on that front, the advertising document published by Sky Media before the start of the season (archived here by F1Fanatic.co.uk) noted dates of “Between March 9th and November 30th”, suggesting the channel will not operate over the Winter from December 1st.

It may also be that the channel will just operate X hours a day from December 1st, say two hours a day for sake of argument in ‘Winter shut down’ mode. Finalised schedules have not been publicly released yet so I don’t know whether the channel will close for definite. It harks back a bit to F1 Digital+ in 2002, in that case the channel closed forever, it is always entirely possible (but not very likely) that Sky could take the decision to move all content from Sky Sports F1 to their main Sky Sports channels.

I’ll update the opening part of this post in any case as the schedules update further through November. UPDATE at 16:30 – This article has now appeared on the Sky Sports F1 website, so the above has been updated earlier than I anticipated!