BBC announces 2013 Formula One coverage plans

[Teppic]

BBC Sport said:

BBC announces 2013 Formula 1 coverage plans

Formula 1 practice sessions will be broadcast live on network television this season from grands prix which the BBC is showing live.

There will be around 40 extra hours of network output, with practice generally shown on BBC Two and BBC Two HD*.

Former F1 driver Allan McNish joins BBC Radio 5 live as an analyst, while BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson will work across TV, radio and online.

Suzi Perry takes over from Jake Humphrey as the presenter on TV.

Ben Edwards continues as commentator alongside co-commentator David Coulthard and Eddie Jordan remains the chief analyst.

F1 journalist and broadcaster Tom Clarkson joins the TV presentation full-time team as a pit-lane reporter alongside Lee McKenzie, who also presents Inside F1 on the BBC News Channel on the Friday and Saturday of live race weekends, with the latest news and interviews from each grand prix.

On 5 live, James Allen and Jennie Gow continue as commentator and pit-lane reporter.

BBC One and BBC One HD will show nine live races, including those in Canada, Great Britain and Brazil, with extended highlights of the remaining races.

Live grands prix will continue to be followed by the popular F1 Forum on the red button.

Radio 5 live will broadcast every grand prix live, with the show also live on the BBC Sport website, while 5 live Formula 1 on Thursday night ahead of each grand prix will feature guests, interviews and insight ahead of the weekend.

Ben Gallop, BBC's head of Formula 1, said: "Everyone on the BBC team is hugely excited about the new season.

"Last year saw us rise to the challenge of bringing the action to fans through the mix of live television and highlights, delivering great programmes which were reflected in impressive audience figures.

"This year sees new faces, practice on BBC Two & HD on live race weekends and a greater sharing of talent across BBC television, radio and online.

"With Suzi Perry at the helm, we're aiming to bring even more content, insight and access to audiences throughout the season."

The BBC Sport website will broadcast a simulcast of the TV and radio output, and at live races will also have the 'driver tracker', on-board cameras and a pit-lane stream.

Legendary F1 commentator Murray Walker will be providing a series of archive-based videos and written articles for every race of the season.

'Murray's Memories' are his personal recollections of some of the greatest moments in the history of F1.

Coverage of the F1 season is now available on our new BBC Sport smartphone app, available for iPhone and Android devices.

The app brings together BBC Sport's live and on-demand video coverage, along with news, features and stats.

*BBC HD Becomes BBC Two HD on 26th March.

Edited to sort out the formatting, which went a bit wonky.

Edited by Teppic on Wednesday 6th March 11:30

[TheHeretic]

Good news.

[RobGT81]

Suzi..

[Swervin_Mervin]

The list of races actually shows 10 live races but with TBA against the 21st July.

My first reaction was disappointment at the loss of some races, including Melbourne. But on reflection I think thye've got a pretty good mix in there. Plus there's no way I'd be pu early to watch races like Melbourne live so an extended highlights the following day at 2pm is almost what I'd have bee watching with a full replay anyway.

[joewilliams]

I dumped Sky a few months ago, so I'm hoping the BBC can fulfill my needs in 11 days time

[lxix]

Swervin_Mervin said:

The list of races actually shows 10 live races but with TBA against the 21st July.

Bernie's confirmed that there's no race replacing New Jersey this year, so it's a 19 race calendar. BBC would have had the replacement.

[ajprice]

Happy with that. The Radio 5 audio gets used for practice sessions doesn't it? So McNish would be on the practice session TV commentary.

[rdjohn]

I suppose the other way to express this is that BBC2 is to lose 40 hours of daytime TV.

That it is not a big loss, but I was quite happy with their red-button coverage of practice.

i would much rather have 19 races covered well.

[ewenm]

Why does the BBC Sport website insist on a paragraph per sentence? The content is fine, but we are capable of reading larger chunks of text!

[TheHeretic]

Bedazzled said:

Can't believe they've dropped USA after a cracking race last year and I know it's a marmite track but personally very sad there's no Monaco or Australia; my two favourite street circuits. I'd quite happily sacrifice China, Spain and India for those. Are we only getting 9 races live?

Anyhow glad they've retained Ben and David as commentators, and I think Suzi will do a good job too. Looking forward to it.

The Austin track remains on the calendar.

[HustleRussell]

RobGT81 said:

Suzi..

Murray

[TheHeretic]

ewenm said:

Why does the BBC Sport website insist on a paragraph per sentence?

The content is fine, but we are capable of reading larger chunks of text!

I agree.

[CaptainSensib1e]

I hope they have 2 hours of highlights for more races this year. An hour and a half just isn't quite long enough and can make the races hard to follow.

EDIT: Looks like 2 hours of highlights for Australia, which is good news!

[ewenm]

TheHeretic said:

ewenm said:

Why

does

the

BBC

Sport

website

insist

on

a

paragraph

per

sentence?

The

content

is

fine,

but

we

are

capable

of

reading

larger

chunks

of

text!

I

agree.

Now you're just being silly!

[TheHeretic]

ewenm said:

Now you're just being silly!

Nicely done!

[TheHeretic]

Bedazzled said:

Sry I thought the Beeb showed it live last year, must have watched a live stream.

I think we are at crossed purposes. I thought you meant they had dropped the race. I thought you were mistaking the New Jersey race, as Austin is still on the calendar. I think you simply meant the BBC weren't showing it. My mistake. The BBC never screened Austin live last year, just to clarify.

[ewolg]

I used Radio 5 live and RTL for the races the bbc didn't show last year . Worked better than anticipated.

[davepoth]

I used Five live and some dodgy Russian website or other last year, that worked fine too. Probably spring for a Raspberry Pi this year so I can watch in HD though.

[Chrisgr31]

How was it decided who screened what race this year? Last year the BBC went first didnt it? Presumably this year Sky went first?

[woodypup59]

RobGT81 said:

Suzi..

Suzi and Lee ...... mmmmmmmm