Formula 1 2008

The BBC has secured the television rights to show Formula One in the UK from the 2009 season.

The five-year deal marks the return of the sport to BBC screens 12 years after ITV began broadcasting Grands Prix.

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Formula One is to return to the BBC from next season after it took the rights from ITV.

The corporation today said it had secured all-platform rights from 2009-2013. The deal is reportedly worth around £200m.

Dominic Coles, the BBC's director of sport rights, said: "The biggest motorsporting event in the world is returning home after 12 years.

"F1 is a crown jewel of sports broadcasting, so to bring the rights back to their traditional home from 2009 is tremendously exciting.

"Fans will be able to enjoy uninterrupted, state of the art and innovative coverage from BBC Sport, across all of our TV, radio and new media platforms, for the first time since 1996."

ITV, whose contract was due to run until 2010, said pulling out "was a straightforward commercial decision".

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<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pigeon @ Mar 20 2008, 07:11 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>The BBC has secured the television rights to show Formula One in the UK from the 2009 season.

i merged your thread with the official F1 thread, just to keep things a bit organized.

Cool, so I can watch it on BBC as well. Always good to have more options!!
Who will be the commentator?

The weather forecast looks quite promising, I hope it rains on sunday's race!!

weather

A rumour after the recently announced "retirement" of Toadt. One says Massa will get the boot at the end of the season to make room for Vettel (who supposedly has signed a 5 year contract with Ferrari)

At this point of the season seems bollocks.

Anyone as cynical as me in thinking that this will be a death knell for Motogp?
Especially on the weekends that they clash. I can see motogp becoming a second rate series in the eyes of the BBC and only being broadcast on bbci in times to come. Any thoughts?

I'm shocked, really. I remember the BBC trying to get F1 back a few years ago, but it seemed ITV had a watertight contract. Really strange time for them to terminate it, with the Hamilton effect on viewing figures? I agree with Murray on this one, theres more to it than meets the eye.

Might be a good thing for F1 though, if they do a good job of it.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (yamaka46 @ Mar 20 2008, 03:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Anyone as cynical as me in thinking that this will be a death knell for Motogp?
Especially on the weekends that they clash. I can see motogp becoming a second rate series in the eyes of the BBC and only being broadcast on bbci in times to come. Any thoughts?
Yup, crossed my mind too. They might have to cancel their deal with MotoGP tbh.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Franco Fangio @ Mar 20 2008, 11:47 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Cool, so I can watch it on BBC as well. Always good to have more options!!
Who will be the commentator?
Hopefully Ben Edwards, and not James Allen...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Orrmate @ Mar 20 2008, 04:33 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Hopefully Ben Edwards, and not James Allen...
and who's Ben Edwards??
I hope he's not a Lewis-lover, if he's a Kimi-lover, then for sure that would be ok

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Franco Fangio @ Mar 20 2008, 03:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>and who's Ben Edwards??
I hope he's not a Lewis-lover, if he's a Kimi-lover, then for sure that would be ok
Ben Edwards is the guy who does A1GP for Sky Sports, and should really have got the F1 job when Murray retired. He does F1 season reviews too. And he isn't biased. Thats one of the reasons hes well liked You might recognise him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVsCRLZwlJc

I just realised, this should mean the return of the Chain!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8gB8-9sQGc

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Orrmate @ Mar 20 2008, 05:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Ben Edwards is the guy who does A1GP for Sky Sports, and should really have got the F1 job when Murray retired. He does F1 season reviews too. And he isn't biased. Thats one of the reasons hes well liked You might recognise him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVsCRLZwlJc
Ohhh...I know him!!
He can't even pronounce ''Jeroen Bleekemolen'' correctly
He's alright actually.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Orrmate @ Mar 20 2008, 05:28 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I just realised, this should mean the return of the Chain!!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8gB8-9sQGc
This looks/sounds familiar to me!!!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Franco Fangio @ Mar 20 2008, 04:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Ohhh...I know him!!
He can't even pronounce ''Jeroen Bleekemolen'' correctly
He's alright actually.
Neither can I. I don't think any English people can

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE <div class='quotemain'>This looks/sounds familiar to me!!!
It was the BBC F1 theme tune, and it always got the anticipation going before the race! I'd like to see it return.

Yup, there was more to it than we first new:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7307971.stm

Seems there was a deal between the beeb and ITV that ITV would let F1 go, and the Beeb wouldn't counter-bid on the rights to the champions league (which would've pushed the price up). Thats the cynical view anyway.

FP1

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Massa Ferrari (Bs) 1:35.392 20
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (Bs) 1:36.459 + 1.067 8
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (Bs) 1:36.556 + 1.164 21
4. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (Bs) 1:36.578 + 1.186 23
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (Bs) 1:36.626 + 1.234 17
6. Alonso Renault (Bs) 1:37.022 + 1.630 18
7. Piquet Renault (Bs) 1:37.034 + 1.642 28
8. Kubica BMW Sauber (Bs) 1:37.218 + 1.826 9
9. Button Honda (Bs) 1:37.282 + 1.890 17
10. Trulli Toyota (Bs) 1:37.540 + 2.148 24
11. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (Bs) 1:37.649 + 2.257 17
12. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (Bs) 1:37.649 + 2.257 18
13. Barrichello Honda (Bs) 1:37.776 + 2.384 20
14. Glock Toyota (Bs) 1:37.782 + 2.390 27
15. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (Bs) 1:38.219 + 2.827 26
16. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (Bs) 1:38.232 + 2.840 7
17. Webber Red Bull-Renault (Bs) 1:38.707 + 3.315 12
18. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (Bs) 1:38.798 + 3.406 25
19. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (Bs) 1:39.046 + 3.654 21
20. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (Bs) 1:40.178 + 4.786 11
21. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (Bs) 1:40.351 + 4.959 14
22. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (Bs) 1:41.269 + 5.877 5

FP2

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.055 32
2. Massa Ferrari 1:35.206 + 0.151 33
3. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:35.428 + 0.373 36
4. Button Honda 1:36.037 + 0.982 40
5. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.474 + 1.419 35
6. Trulli Toyota 1:36.493 + 1.438 38
7. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.512 + 1.457 30
8. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:36.671 + 1.616 33
9. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:36.756 + 1.701 37
10. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:36.838 + 1.783 34
11. Barrichello Honda 1:36.879 + 1.824 38
12. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:36.908 + 1.853 36
13. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:37.106 + 2.051 35
14. Alonso Renault 1:37.328 + 2.273 23
15. Piquet Renault 1:37.331 + 2.276 42
16. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:37.346 + 2.291 37
17. Glock Toyota 1:37.512 + 2.457 35
18. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:37.614 + 2.559 35
19. Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:39.021 + 3.966 27
20. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:39.361 + 4.306 30
21. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari No time 1
22. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault No time

Ferrari vs McLaren for the win, Ferrari seem to have the better pace, but still some reliability problems. Kimi´s car stopped in FP2.

BMW seem a little slower than in OZ.

Honda looking good.

Renault still .....

FIA has requested Red Bull a technical analysis of the suspension failure DC´s car suffered this morning, in the worst case they could get banned from the race on safety grounds. Let´s hope they fix it.

No rain today despite forecast said it would rain. More rain forecasted for tomorrow and sunday. I really hope they get it right this time!!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Teomolca @ Mar 21 2008, 12:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Ferrari vs McLaren for the win, Ferrari seem to have the better pace, but still some reliability problems. Kimi´s car stopped in FP2.

BMW seem a little slower than in OZ.

Honda looking good.

Renault still .....

FIA has requested Red Bull a technical analysis of the suspension failure DC´s car suffered this morning, in the worst case they could get banned from the race on safety grounds. Let´s hope they fix it.

No rain today despite forecast said it would rain. More rain forecasted for tomorrow and sunday. I really hope they get it right this time!!
Ferrari already had a good pace in Australia actually, it just didn't show because they had some problems. Again they had some problems!! Kimi had the same problem he had in last week's quali, but it's fixed now, it was some communication problem. Something to do with the fuel pump?? At least that's what I read. I hope they wont have any problems tomorrow, then they should be able to qualify in the top 5. McLaren will be strong again, Lewis was fastest, but I think Ferrari could have gone faster as well. It's hard to say.

Good to see Honda do well!!! I really hope they can keep it up

Alonso also had some problems I read. It doesn't look too promising for Renault. Guess we'll find out tomorrow in quali.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Son of Doohan @ Mar 21 2008, 12:41 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Franco Fangio @ Mar 21 2008, 10:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>

These trolls are hard to get rid of...