Channel 4 Should Follow the BBC's Winning Formula After Earning F1 TV Deal

The chain has been broken and an era has come to a premature, avoidable end.

The conclusion of the BBC's television coverage of Formula One appeared increasingly likely when presenter Suzi Perry signed off the 2015 season by saying she would "hopefully" see us next year.

And it became inevitable when, per the Times' Kevin Eason, a bunch of the Beeb's executives marched into a Kensington office and asked Bernie Ecclestone—Bernie Ecclestone!—whether he would, er, y'know, maybe consider a reduction in the £10 million-per-year fee to keep following the adventures of Lewis Hamilton and friends.

Yet while the BBC's exit from its share deal with Sky Sports—a "tough and unwanted" decision, director of sport Barbara Slater told the cooperation's official website—hardly came as a shock, the news still managed to spring a surprise.

Rather than returning to the safe haven of ITV, which held the British television rights between 1997 and 2008 and, according to Broadcast, had been set to regain them, Mr. E elected for Channel 4, whose entry to the pinnacle of motorsport has sent waves of mild terror among viewers and raised a number of important questions.

Does this mean, for instance, Davina McCall—whose previous life in the F1 paddock was revealed in a Top Gear interview—will be let loose in the media pen once more?

Could Dermot O'Leary take a Ted Kravitz-style role in the pit lane? At least, we suppose, the floodlit qualifying sessions in Bahrain, Singapore and Abu Dhabi would give the former X-Factor host an excuse to resurrect his "your Saturday night starts right here" catchphrase.

How will they manage to fit the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in between all those repeats of Come Dine With Me? And just how will the Gogglebox gang be integrated into proceedings, as you just know they will be at some stage? 

Formula One is arguably the most difficult sport for broadcasters to perfect, not only due to the sheer amount of manpower and logistics involved but because the audience—as tends to be the way with a minority sport—is more demanding and unforgiving than any other.

Paul Gilham/Getty Images

As there are only around 20 grands prix per season, compared to the hundreds of televised events in other sports, there is a large emphasis on the cameras to stick to a tried-and-tested style or run the risk of trial by social media.

Time spent experimenting is time wasted, which makes it reassuring that the new free-to-air rights holder, even at this early stage, is resisting the urge to "C4-ify" F1, instead vowing to replicate the BBC's highly successful approach.

Channel 4's promise to screen 10 live races, including practice and qualifying sessions, with "no advertising breaks"—presumably the crucial factor in pipping ITV to the three-year contract—is the move of a company intent on maintaining a winning formula. 

And if it is to succeed, it should continue to pick at the Beeb's carcass, in terms of both ideas and personnel, over the coming months.

With the iconic Fleetwood Mac theme tune and those grainy clips described by Murray Walker and James Hunt, the BBC is still regarded as the spiritual home of Formula One in the United Kingdom.

Despite failing to screen a complete season since 2011, the Beeb understands and embraces motor racing in a way the smug, self-congratulatory mob at Sky Sports—for all its success with its revolutionary football and cricket coverage and despite its award-winning F1 analysis—cannot buy.

Take the recently televised season-review programmes, with which the BBC still managed to offer valuable insight even though the story of 2015 had already been told.

We learned, for instance, that on the morning of the Hungarian GP, Hamilton spent time with Ridley Scott and Matt Damon, who were filming in the Budapest region, and "hit a wall" when he found himself sitting in an engineering meeting a few hours later. 

No surprise, then, that he described his fall from pole position to sixth place as "one of the worst races I think I’ve had," per Autosport's Ben Anderson and Ian Parkes.

We came across a reflective Sebastian Vettel, who had "no problem" admitting Daniel Ricciardo "was...quicker" than him at Red Bull in 2014, the pause proving the four-time world champion did, in fact, have a problem acknowledging defeat.

We discovered that Claire Williams, far from being overcome with excitement, felt "hideous" when Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas surged into the lead on the opening lap at Silverstone, and we found out Fernando Alonso knew exactly what he was doing when he dismissed Honda's power unit as a "GP2 engine" over team radio at Suzuka.

Sky's effort, meanwhile?

The dedicated broadcaster with the dedicated F1 channel—which, if you're wondering, has morphed into a specialised darts channel over the Christmas period—stitched together a string of highlights as well all the interviews and features we may have missed the first time around. Or the second. Or the third.

It was the kind of lazy, self-satisfied production of a company that has found a comfort zone. 

And while Channel 4 will broadcast only half the races live, perhaps an organisation with F1 at the heart of its sports coverage—something you could never say of the Beeb or Sky—will encourage the latter to do more, which can only be beneficial for both free-to-air and pay-per-view viewers.

Had C4 had its way, F1 would never have fallen beyond the paywall, with the Mirror's Byron Young reporting in 2012 that the channel had made a "£45 million-per-year bid"—featuring a "10-point plan" of action including "extra factual shows and advertising opportunities for sponsors"—at the time of the BBC-Sky deal.

Ecclestone declined its offer on that occasion and has undoubtedly entered a marriage of convenience this time to keep his product in the wider public's consciousness. But there is no reason why C4 will not do itself and the sport proud.

Just as long as it doesn't bring back Davina.

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