F1 News

The news this morning that coverage of F1 in the UK is to return to the BBC after 12 years on ITV came as a big surprise to most observers.

In almost a complete reversal of what happened 12 years ago, it was Bernie Ecclestone who approached the BBC about the deal and not the other way around. Last time, the BBC was informed that ITV was paying £60m (as opposed to the BBC’s £6m) and that they would get no opportunity to counter the bid.

So why was Bernie courting the BBC? Is it normal for Bernie to do the chasing? It certainly isn’t the perception Ecclestone likes us to have of the way F1 works.

Is Bernie unhappy with ITV’s coverage? The channel’s F1 presentation has come under fire before, not least from Ross Brawn. “It’s a very frustrating business to watch F1 on British TV,” he said after watching races on his sabbatical year. His comment that “our commentators don’t seem very good at conveying what is going on” was most probably aimed at James Allen, who has proven unpopular with fans.

Maybe the “innovative ideas” the BBC has in the pipeline will make the coverage better in the eyes of Ross Brawn and other fans. It is interesting to note that ITV have put a lot of effort into providing live TV coverage from their website - and surprising too, considering they’re losing the rights at the end of the year. Were they fighting to keep F1 with the company? It seems unlikely that ITV, with all their millions, couldn’t pull some technical wizardry out of their hat to keep the BBC at bay.

Then there’s the financial conundrums. Back when ITV took over the coverage, they were able to offer ten times what the BBC had previously been paying, but the BBC wasn’t allowed a counter bid, so we don’t know how much the BBC had been willing to pay. But it seems impossible that they could afford to beat ITV in an all-out bidding war.

So, maybe ITV just didn’t want it anymore.

This would be surprising, considering the buzz around F1 that Lewis Hamilton has brought to the UK. But television advertising is a shrinking business and it is possible that ITV simply couldn’t afford it. They may have put in a lower offer to Ecclestone and Bernie - almost out of spite - then offered it the BBC, probably at a lower rate than ITV had been paying.

Still, at least the UK can return to watching uninterrupted coverage (no more bleeding car ads). And we’ll get Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain back on our screens.

For those of you who don’t remember the iconic BBC theme tune, here it is:

Stumble it!