Scheduling: The 2016 Australian Grand Prix

Just over three months ago, Nico Rosberg won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to finish the 2015 Formula One season. Meanwhile, in the pit lane both BBC and Sky Sports went off the air to conclude another year of racing. Unbeknown to the viewing public at the time, that race would also mark the end of BBC’s television coverage.

Fast-forward to March, and in just a few days, a new era of Formula 1 broadcasting begins in the United Kingdom. Enter Channel 4. A mix of new and old will greet viewers when their first programme hits the air on Saturday 19th March. Whilst commentary will continue to be provided by David Coulthard and Ben Edwards, Steve Jones is the new face at the front of Channel 4’s coverage.

Karun Chandhok and Lee McKenzie will be patrolling the pit lane. Both of them will be in Melbourne, the latter finishing her Six Nations Rugby commitments with the BBC this weekend. Coulthard, Edwards, Jones and Chandhok will be part of Channel 4’s team for round one, alongside (presumably) one or two of the pundits that the corporation have announced. Who that will be out of Channel 4’s range of analysts, we don’t yet know.

Their qualifying highlights programme is 105 minutes long, with the race programme a whopping two and a half hours long. The main reason for the extended length is commercial breaks. As I’ve discussed before, Channel 4 will be taking breaks as usual meaning that the length of the highlights programming will be longer than their predecessor. Based on previous years, the highlights edit will consist of around 65 to 70 minutes of action. Factor in adverts, and this increases to around 85 to 91 minutes of air-time (of which 20 minutes is adverts), which is the length of your typical Formula 1 race.

In other words, this will feel like an ITV F1 programme from back in 2008. The slot length for the race indicates that the race edit will start at exactly 14:00 and finish around 15:25/15:30. In my opinion, the only edits Channel 4 will make are to trim 5 minutes of action every time they wish to take an ad-break, giving an ‘as live’ feel to it. Qualifying is different: there will have to be edits within the individual sessions that will be noticeable to the viewer. Qualifying has three natural commercial break points and it makes little sense to force an ad-break in half way through a session. So, expect the qualifying session itself to be a bit more ‘sliced’ than the race edit…. which in itself may be a tricky task under the new format.

“It’ll make it that little bit harder to make sure that drivers and teams optimise the performance of their cars to get the best lap time out of it. The good thing about it is that the grid we’re going to get left with won’t be quite as refined and that means we’re going to have a few of the better drivers further back and there will be more action in the race as they gradually carve their way to the front.” – Jonathan Palmer, commenting on the then-new format during the 1996 Australian Grand Prix Qualifying session for BBC TV. Some things don’t change…

In terms of supplementary programme, Channel 4 have a special with Guy Martin as well as an extended 5-minute preview entitled Fast and Furious. Over on Sky, there are several significant changes to their portfolio. The F1 Show during each race weekend has been reduced to 30-minutes and I believe those episodes will no longer be live. Furthermore, the studio editions of The F1 Show have been axed, with the F1 Midweek Report being renamed to the F1 Report. The F1 Report will be airing on a weekly basis, with Natalie Pinkham presenting and Marc Priestley featuring as a regular guest. For Australia at least, every session will be simulcast on Sky Sports 1, continuing a trend that started last season.

Sky’s F1 team is similar to previous years. Simon Lazenby presents all the action alongside pundits including Damon Hill, Anthony Davidson and Johnny Herbert. Martin Brundle and David Croft will be commentating on all 21 races, with Ted Kravitz roaming the pit lane. Rachel Brookes and Craig Slater are primarily covering the action for Sky Sports News, but expect the former to turn up frequently on the channel during 2016 whilst Pinkham is on maternity leave. The only difference for Sky is that Bruno Senna, who was part of their team, has moved over to Channel 4. I don’t think Sky are bringing in anyone else, but I imagine the likes of Paul di Resta will appear in their programming as the year progresses.

For the first time since 2002, we have three broadcasters covering Formula 1 in the UK. Back then, it was Sky (through F1 Digital+), ITV and BBC. Now, it is Sky, Channel 4 and the BBC. Yes, the BBC are still covering Formula 1, but from 2016 through radio only. Independent of BBC dropping Formula 1 from television, the corporation also decided to replace James Allen with Jack Nicholls as lead commentator for their radio coverage. Nicholls will commentate on 20 of the 21 rounds, the exception being Austria, which clashes with the London ePrix II. Nicholls will be joined on commentary throughout the season by Allan McNish and Mark Gallagher, with Tom Clarkson and Jennie Gow down in pit lane.

Even if the on-track action does not live up to the hype, it promises to be a fascinating year off-track as Channel 4 embed themselves within the paddock and try to challenge the opposition. The thrills and spills start in Australia, and as usual the full schedule can be found below.

Channel 4
Sessions
19/03 – 12:30 to 14:15 – Qualifying Highlights
20/03 – 13:30 to 16:00 – Race Highlights

Supplementary Programming
17/03 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Speed with Guy Martin
18/03 – 21:00 to 21:05 – Fast and Furious

Sky Sports F1
Sessions
18/03 – 01:00 to 03:20 – Practice 1 (also Sky Sports 1)
18/03 – 05:15 to 07:30 – Practice 2 (also Sky Sports 1)
19/03 – 02:45 to 04:15 – Practice 3 (also Sky Sports 1)
19/03 – 05:00 to 07:45 – Qualifying (also Sky Sports 1)
20/03 – 03:30 to 08:15 – Race
=> 03:30 – Track Parade (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 04:00 – Pit Lane Live (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 04:30 – Race (also Sky Sports 1)
=> 07:30 – Paddock Live

Supplementary Programming
16/03 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Report: Australia Preview
17/03 – 04:00 to 04:30 – Driver Press Conference
17/03 – 20:45 to 21:00 – Paddock Uncut: Australia
18/03 – 07:30 to 08:00 – Team Press Conference
18/03 – 08:00 to 08:30 – The F1 Show
23/03 – 20:30 to 21:00 – Report: Australia Review

BBC Radio F1
17/03 – 21:00 to 22:00 – Preview (BBC Radio 5 Live)
18/03 – 01:25 to 03:05 – Practice 1 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
18/03 – 05:25 to 07:05 – Practice 2 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
19/03 – 02:55 to 04:05 – Practice 3 (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
19/03 – 05:55 to 07:05 – Qualifying (BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)
20/03 – 04:00 to 07:00 – Race (BBC Radio 5 Live)

As always, if anything changes, I will update this post. Given the size of the above text, MotoGP’s schedule for Qatar will follow early next week.

Update on March 16th – Mark Webber is part of Channel 4’s team for the Australian Grand Prix.

Update on March 18th at 08:10 – Correction to the main body, The F1 Show is indeed live.

Sky Sports unveil 2016 pre-season trailer

Sky Sports have unveiled their 2016 pre-season trailer for the new Formula One season, which for the second year running will air across their UK, Germany and Italian outlets. The trailer, called the Constant Fight, in my opinion is a marked improvement on last year’s effort.

The 90 second film may remind readers of Sky UK’s promotion heading into their inaugural 2012 season. The 2016 version features drivers preparing for a Formula One weekend and was filmed during the last two race weekends of the 2015 season in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

The music in the campaign was created by Dave Connolly, with creative and direction led by Jacques Salmon. The trailer aims to “bring to life all of the fights fought out at every level of this intense competition, demonstrating that F1 really is a constant fight.” Whilst last year’s trailer, #TheChasingPack also aired in Germany and Italy, Salmon notes that this year’s trailer marks “first truly pan-European 360* campaign for SKY.”

Marc Priestley joins Sky’s F1 team

Marc Priestley has joined Sky Sports F1, it has been confirmed.

Priestley, who worked as a McLaren mechanic from 2000 to 2009, has most recently been part of ITV’s Formula E team. He was also part of Sky’s extensive live testing coverage in 2013. The move is a fairly big surprise considering Priestley was one of the possibilities to join Channel 4. The announcement is low-key, with the Sky website article above simply making reference to “Sky F1’s Marc Priestley”.

With Craig Scarborough and Mike Gascoyne part of Sky’s F1 Report programme in a few weeks, it means that Channel 4’s technical expert is either Gary Anderson, Ross Brawn (as suggested in the blog survey last month) or someone else new to F1 broadcasting. It’s an interesting move, Sky’s reinforcements may imply that Channel 4 have got a relatively big name in as technical analyst.

Update on February 19th at 17:40 – Sky’s website article has been updated, noting that Priestley will be a regular pundit on Sky’s F1 Report show, so it doesn’t look like Priestley will be travelling to races.

Classic F1 returns to Sky F1, but The F1 Show undergoes a major shift

Classic F1 races are returning to Sky Sports F1 again for the 2016 season, provisional schedules show. The strand returns to the channel on Friday 11th March at 21:00, with a race that is yet to be confirmed.

Alongside Classic F1 is an episode of the F1 Report, which appears to have dropped its ‘Midweek’ branding. The one-hour report will air on Wednesday 9th March at 20:30. Entitled ‘Development Special’, the programme will focus on how teams are preparing for the Australian Grand Prix. Craig Scarborough and Mike Gascoyne are the two guests, with Natalie Pinkham presenting.

The biggest absence though from Sky’s schedule is The F1 Show. There were rumours towards the back end of last year that Sky were planning to axe the live audience studio based episodes, although the show was mentioned in Sky’s press release last month. A request sent from this blog to Sky on Saturday 13th February has so far yielded no reply. It could be that Sky are simply planning to not air a pre-season episode, but that seems a bizarre decision to me.

It will be interesting to see what happens, but if Sky do axe the studio editions of The F1 Show then it is further evidence of the downscaling of the F1 operation and channel as a whole.

Update on February 19th – The announcement of Marc Priestley appearing as a regular pundit on the F1 Report notes that there will be an Australian Grand Prix preview show on Wednesday 16th March at 20:30. It therefore looks like that the F1 Report is going to air weekly, in place of the studio editions of The F1 Show.

Update on February 24th – The F1 Show, as we know it, is no more. Half an hour episodes will air on the Friday (at least) of each Grand Prix, starting on Friday 18th March at 08:00 (immediately following the Team Principles’ Press Conference). I don’t think the episodes will be airing live, but cannot confirm that. Obviously this is a clear sign of cost-cutting. I would be surprised if Sky acknowledge the change in format for the show. Confirmation too that the F1 Report will air weekly, 30 minute episodes each Wednesday at 20:30.

Update on February 27th – A half hour Testing Special will air on Saturday 5th March at 20:00, with Ted Kravitz joined by guests in Barcelona.

Update on March 9th – Interesting wording from Natalie Pinkham on Twitter, describing The F1 Show and F1 Midweek Report as merging to form the F1 Report. Normally with a merger, you take the best elements of both, combine them and come up with something better. The F1 Report is the F1 Midweek Report, renamed. There are no elements from The F1 Show that are being merged into it, the studio audience has gone as does any interactivity that went alongside it. It may be a good thing (and I think it will end up having its benefits), but in my opinion describing this change as a merger is inaccurate.

Update on March 18th at 08:10 – Correction to the main body, The F1 Show is indeed live.

Update on March 18th at 08:35 – Okay, so the new style F1 Show contains Friday reaction and analysis, live interviews and reaction with a few VT’s. The lighter content has gone. All in all, it seems a welcome change even if the show length has halved.

Scheduling: The 2016 Barcelona test 2

The final opportunity for the Formula 1 teams and drivers to test their machinery before the Australian Grand Prix takes place at the beginning of March with the second Barcelona test.

The Sky Sports F1 schedule is currently the same as the first Barcelona test so no surprises, but nevertheless below are all the scheduling details you need. Everything is Sky Sports F1 unless stated:

Tuesday 1st March
21:00 to 21:30 – Day 1 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Wednesday 2nd March
20:30 to 21:00 – Day 1 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 2 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

Thursday 3rd March
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 2 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 3 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15
21:00 to 22:00 – Pre-Season Testing (BBC Radio 5 Live)

Friday 4th March
20:15 to 21:00 – Day 3 Highlights (R)
21:00 to 21:45 – Day 4 Highlights
– round-up at 21:00
– Ted’s Notebook at 21:15

If anything changes, I will update the schedule above.

Update on February 21st – BBC are doing a 5 Live special on Thursday 3rd March, so I’ve amended the above schedule and title.

Update on Febrary 27th – Minor Sky change, Ted’s Notebook on Day 1 is 15 minutes long. However, BBC’s 5 Live special has been dropped from the schedules. It is not in their schedule for 3rd March, so it looks like plans have changed on that front. In its place is a 5 Live programme looking at the state of British tennis.

Update on February 29th – We can breathe again, 5 Live’s special is back in the schedule. Jennie Gow presents the show alongside guests to be confirmed.