The Monaco Grand Prix will be broadcast live on free-to-air television in the UK for the first time in five years as Channel 4 revealed its programme details for the new season.
The terrestrial broadcaster will again show 10 live Formula One races as part of its co-broadcasting deal with Sky Sports, including the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 16 July. Sky will show all 20 races live.
Channel 4 will also broadcast live for the first time the Russian, Singapore and US grands prix, dropping Spain, Hungary, Italy and Mexico as a result. The channel has also retained the rights to the season-ending Abu Dhabi race.
Channel 4, which took over the rights from the BBC in 2015, has a deal to show Formula One until the end of 2018, when coverage in Britain is set to become solely available on pay-per-view through Sky.
“It’s a particular delight to welcome Monaco back to terrestrial television live, for the first time in five years,” said Channel 4’s head of F1, Stephen Lyle. “Once again our team will bring extensive coverage of every race with the Monaco grand prix, Great Britain and the finale in Abu Dhabi among our 10 live race weekends.”
Channel 4 will continue with the format it used last season, which was largely well received, showing practice and qualifying in full on the weekends it is broadcasting live, as well as the races uninterrupted by commercial breaks and in high definition. The other races will be shown as extensive highlights later in the day and available on its on-demand platform, All 4.
The services of the production company Whisper Films has been retained, after Formula One returned successful viewing figures for the channel – frequently achieving the highest ratings for the time slot during live races. The presentation team which was led last year by David Coulthard, Steve Jones and Ben Edwards, with analysis from Mark Webber and Eddie Jordan among others, has yet to be confirmed.
The decision to end terrestrial live coverage of the sport in the UK from 2019 onwards has angered fans and led to accusations that Formula One Management is pursuing short-term financial gain at the expense of the long-term future of the sport, amid falling worldwide viewing figures.
However, since that deal was concluded F1 has been purchased by the Liberty Media group, which has stated its intention to look at increasing the exposure of the sport and its popularity.
Channel 4’s F1 season
Bahrain, 16 April
Russia, 30 April
Monaco, 28 May
Azerbaijan, 25 June
Great Britain, 16 July
Belgium, 27 August
Singapore, 17 September
Malaysia, 1 October
USA, 22 October
Abu Dhabi, 26 November
