BBC Unveil New Line-up for 2009 F1 Coverage
Formula One Move from ITV to the Beeb this Year after 12 Years
Feb 24, 2009
Formula One is coming homes it seems. Not only is young Stevenage born Lewis Hamilton the current world champion but the BBC has now re-gained the broadcast rights for the next five years. BBC Sport, who had held the TV rights for over three decades until ITV gained them in 1997, has now announced the new line-up to kick off the 2009 season along with the on-screen talent who will host it.
This isn’t the first time the BBC has taken important sport coverage away from ITV this decade as they stole back the highlights for Premiership football (with the return of Match of the Day) in 2004.
Interactive TV, Podcasts and Internet Streaming are part of new Schedule
The BBC are pulling out all the stops to provide a service it hopes will cater to F1 fans not only through interactive TV broadcasts (ie the red button) across their channels but also having regular updates on their sport website, live commentary and analysis on Radio Five Live (with added podcast), repeats of races on the iPlayer and video content for mobile phones.
F1 fans will be able to customise and choose how they want to watch the broadcast with a variety of options including split-screen action, live leaderboards, in-car cameras, choice of commentary, online streaming, interactive forums, circuit guides and blogs.
The full TV schedule for the first race (Australian GP) is as follows:
- Practice - Friday, March 27, Red Button and BBC Sport website, 1.25-3.05am and 5.25-7.05am
- Practice - Saturday, March, 28 Red Button and BBC Sport website, 2.55-4.05am
- Qualifying - Saturday, BBC One, 5-7.15am
- Qualifying (repeat) - Saturday, BBC One, 1-2.15pm
- Race - Sunday, March 29, BBC One, 6-9am (7am race start)
- Interactive forum - Sunday, Red Button, 9-10am
- Race (repeat) - Sunday, BBC One, 1-3pm
- Highlights - Sunday, BBC Three, 7-8pm
BBC F1 Team includes David Coultard, Martin Brundle and Murray Walker
The new show will be presented by Jake Humphrey whose rise from CBBC host to sports presenter has been nothing short of rapid. With the F1 coverage he is adding another sport to his presenting belt along with football, cricket, athletics and American football. A case of jack of all trades, master of none perhaps? Who knows, he might turn out to be a revelation in motorsport.
The pundits for the main TV show are David Coultard, who retired from Formula One last season, and Eddie Jordan, who founded racing team Jordan Grand Prix in 1991, and Ted Kravitz joins as the pit lane reporter. The BBC has poached ITV commentator and former F1 driver Martin Brundle who will assist Jonathan Legard with the live TV commentary during the races.
The move to BBC also sees the return of Murray Walker, perhaps the most familiar voice in the sport on British TV, who will have a regular feature on the BBC website by giving opinion on events and races and also interacting with fans.
The dates for the new season are:
- Australian GP – Sunday, March 29
- Malaysian GP – Sunday, April 5
- Chinese GP – Sunday, April 19
- Bahrain GP – Sunday, April 26
- Spanish GP – Sunday, May 10
- Monaco GP – Sunday, May 24
- Turkish GP – Sunday, June 7
- British GP – Sunday, June 21
- German GP – Sunday, July 12
- Hungarian GP – Sunday, July 26
- European GP – Sunday, August 23
- Belgian GP – Sunday, August 30
- Italian GP – Sunday, September 13
- Singapore GP – Sunday, September 27
- Japanese GP – Sunday, October 4
- Brazilian GP – Sunday, October 18
- Abu Dhabi GP – Sunday, November 1
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