Last Updated on March 21 2024, 3:41 pm

Back in the day, the broadcasting rights to Formula One in the UK ditched between free to air stations the BBC and ITV. The BBC had claimed the latest battle securing live F1 on its screens from 2009-2013 when Sky announced in 2011 they were setting up a dedicated F1 channel to run for the 2012 season.

The BBC negotiated an accommodation to show 10 races live per year along with highlights on BBC 2. This deal remained in place until Channel 4 outbid the BBC for the highlights rights alone from 2016 onwards.

 

 

 

Sky becomes the home of F1

Since then for UK viewers, SKY F1 has become the standard bearer for fans of the sport. The channel has established a rhythm for reporting all the track sessions along with support categories and takes a team of eight presenters to each race.

As the F1 calendar has grown, senior members of the team like Martin Brundle and Ted Kravitz have been opting out of certain venues, with neither present last time out in Saudi Arabia.

Other’s like Johnny Herbert have been dropped along the way, though SKY F1 has always looked to freshen up its presentation year on year. The addition last season of the former Aston Martin engineer Bernie Collins has added to viewer understanding of what goes on inside the garage and pit wall of an F1 team.

Along with Collins, Danika Patrick, USA IndyCar racer and champion of women in motorsport was recruited for several races, adding another female voice to the often male dominated conversations.

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Trackside TV presenters halved

TJ13 can reveal that Sky F1 are now slashing the number of presenters they take to the next three Grand Prix in Australia, Japan and China. The regular trackside team eight will be cut in half, with part of the traditional broadcast taking place from back in England at the broadcaster’s base in Osterley, West London.

Sky describes the studio as a “state-of-the-art” facility which is “surrounded by high resolution screens and immersive AR graphic – seamlessly blending cutting edge set design and best-in-class innovative technologies”.

For those who watch the popular Monday Night Football, the studio will be recognisable as one where high tech features and in depth analysis are delivered week in and out.

The SkyPad system which normally is situated inside the paddock to analysis on board footage from the F1 cars will feature inside the new studio setup. This of course means no longer will a driver be able to be interviewed about his pole position, with the pictures in front of him.

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State of the art studio

The studio boasts a huge LED floor which the broadcaster says, “will allow the presentation team to explain track maps in an innovative and entertaining new way”.

The change by Sky F1 can be explained by the re-organisation of the calendar, which now places the events with the biggest time differences back to back in the early season. So for at least Australia, Japan and China, Sky will be trialing their new way of broadcasting their live F1 shows.

In the past, Sky have taken a team of eight to these events, but for the next three races the main broadcast will come from the Sky studio in Osterley.

For the upcoming weekend in Melbourne, David Croft will be joined. By Martin Brundle in the commentary box. Ted Kravitz will continue his pit lane duties while Rachael Brooks will be the anchor for the part of the broadcast shown from Albert Park. Back in the studio will be Natalie Pinkham, alongside pundits Naomi Schiff and Karun Chandhok.

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Cost cutting model to stay?

Kravitz and Croft will also attend the races in Japan and China and will be joined in Suzuka by Anthony Davidson and Rachel Brooks again. Pinkham will again be back in the studio but this time alongside 1996 champion Damon Hill and former Aston Martin strategist, Bernie Collins.

For the Shanghai event, Nico Rosberg will return to the track side team along with Sky F1 news presenter Craig Slater. Simon Lazenby will be back at base joined by Hill and Chandhok.

Whether Sky will continue with this cost cut model as the European season begins is yet to be seem. However, with its Italian and German operations at the circuit too, less presenters means less interviews for the drivers to do, given they can be interviewed bye the same person in different languages.

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Sky F1 fall foul of Red Bull

Whilst generally an amicable bunch, the Sky F1 presenters portray a very chummy, ‘down with the F1 kids’ kind of feeling, though the team has had run ins with F1’s great and good.

Back at the 2022 United States Grand Prix in Austin, Sky’s Ted Kravitz did a piece to camera where he mused over the closing round of the 2021 season. Kravitz said that Hamilton was ‘robbed’ by Verstappen, before saying that he only beat the Mercedes star in Austin, Texas last week due to having a faster car.

Kravitz said: “[Hamilton] doesn’t win a race all year, and then finally comes back at a track where he could win the first race all year, battling the same guy who won the race he was robbed in the previous year, and manages to finish ahead of him.”

This unusual intervention saw Kravitz boycotted by Red Bull trackside personnel the following weekend out in Mexico.

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Lewis Hamilton slams FIA

While Red Bull have been stealing all the headlines, both on and off track, the FIA has been navigating through a particularly tricky time too. Accusations had been made that president Mohamed Ben Sulayem had attempted to fix certain Grand Prix results.

The matter was referred to Formula One ethics committee who revealed the results of their investigation this week. “After reviewing the results of the inquiries, the Ethics Committee were unanimous in their determination that there was no evidence to substantiate allegations of interference of any kind involving the FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem,” the committee said in its Wednesday ruling…. READ MORE: