Sky & Channel 4 announce coverage details

Sky Press Release:

Sky Sports F1® will be the only place to watch live coverage of the F1® season opener as Lewis Hamilton begins his quest for a fourth World Championship at the 2016 FORMULA 1 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX .

As part of a record-breaking year of F1® with more races than ever before, Sky Sports F1® will be the only place to watch all 21 races live. The Sky Sports F1® schedule offers 11 of those races exclusively live including Monaco, Canada and three of the first four races.

Sky Sports F1® viewers can enjoy exclusively live coverage from Melbourne on 20 March as Lewis Hamilton begins his bid to become the first ever British driver to win four world titles. This season also sees the return of Hockenheim in Germany, the only place to watch the race live on 31 July will be on Sky Sports F1®.

Sky Sports Head of F1®, Martin Turner, said: “This season offers everything. More races, more stories and more drama and only on Sky Sports F1® can viewers enjoy the complete story live.  All eyes will again be on Lewis Hamilton while Mercedes and Ferrari will go head to head for the Constructors title.  Our award-winning coverage will be there from the opening grid to the final chequered flag on our dedicated F1® channel and across our digital platforms.”

Commentary this season will come from Martin Brundle and David Croft, with expert analysis by Damon Hill, Anthony Davidson and Johnny Herbert. Presenter Simon Lazenby will be fronting the coverage alongside reporter Ted Kravitz. There will be a host of programming, features and archive footage throughout the year.

In addition to watching every session of qualifying, practice and race in the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship™, viewers can enjoy live coverage of F1® feeder series GP2™ and GP3™. Race weekends will be supported by weekly episodes of the F1® Show and rolling coverage on Sky Sports News HQ, and across digital and social platforms skysports.com/formula1 and @skysportsf1.

Viewers can watch live on TV with Dolby 5.1 surround sound, via Sky Go or using Race Control accessed via the red button, or the Sky Sports App for iPad. Non-subscribers can also follow the 2016 FIA Formula One World Championship™ without a contract through online TV streaming service NOW TV by purchasing a Sky Sports Day Pass for £6.99 or Sky Sports Week Pass for £10.99.

2016 FIA Formula One World Championship™ Sky Sports F1® schedule in full:
1                              20 March                            Australia                                             Exclusively live
2                             3 April                                   Bahrain                                                Live
3                             17 April                                  China                                                    Exclusively live
4                             1 May                                     Russia                                                  Exclusively live
5                             15 May                                  Spain                                                    Live
6                             29 May                                 Monaco                                               Exclusively live
7                              12 June                                 Canada                                                Exclusively live
8                             19 June                                 Azerbaijan                                          Live
9                             3 July                                    Austria                                                 Exclusively live
10                           10 July                                  Great Britain                                     Live
11                             24 July                                  Hungary                                              Live
12                            31 July                                   Germany                                             Exclusively live
13                            28 August                          Belgium                                               Live
14                            4 September                     Italy                                                       Live
15                            18 September                   Singapore                                           Exclusively live
16                           2 October                           Malaysia                                              Live
17                            9 October                           Japan                                                   Exclusively live
18                           23 October                        USA                                                       Exclusively live
19                            30 October                        Mexico                                                 Live
20                          13 November                     Brazil                                                    Exclusively live
21                            27 November                    Abu Dhabi                                          Live

Channel 4 Press Release:

British Grand Prix one of ten Formula1® races shown live in by broadcaster, with highlights of all 21 races

Live races to be broadcast without advertising breaks

Channel 4 has confirmed the ten Formula 1® Grands Prix it will broadcast live in 2016, which will include the 2016 Formula 1 British Grand Prix on July 10th.

As part of a new three-year deal from 2016-2018 with Formula One World Championship Limited, announced last month, Channel 4 will broadcast live coverage of ten Grands Prix, including practice sessions and qualifying over each season. Channel 4 will broadcast comprehensive highlights of all 21 races, including those broadcast by Sky Sports.

Channel 4 coverage will begin over the weekend of March 18th-20th with build up to, and comprehensive highlights coverage of the 2016 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix weekend. Channel 4’s first live race will be the 2016 Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix, broadcast over the weekend of 1st-3rd April.

Following a picks process with Sky Sports, the full list of races broadcast live by Channel 4 is:

(Provisional Grand Prix start times – which are subject to confirmation – are indicated in brackets.)

Bahrain– 1st-3rdApril (4.00pm)

Spain– 13th-15th May (1.00pm)

Europe (Azerbaijan) – 17th-19th June (TBC)

Britain– 8th-10th July (1.00pm)

Hungary– 22nd-24th July (1.00pm)

Belgium– 26th-28th August (1.00pm)

Italy– 2nd-4th September (1.00pm)

Malaysia– 30th September-2nd October (8.00am)

Mexico – 28th-30th October (7.00pm)

Abu Dhabi– 25th-27th November (1.00pm)

All of the live coverage and highlights will be broadcast free-to-air and in high definition.

Stephen Lyle, Channel 4 Head of F1® said: “We are delighted to announce the full line up of races we will be showing live across 2016. The British Grand Prix is a huge highlight of the sporting calendar and we’re looking forward to covering all the action live from Silverstone this summer. ”

This follows the news announced earlier in the month that Whisper Films will produce coverage of the FIA Formula One World Championship™ and that 13 times Grand Prix winner David Coulthard will be bringing his extensive knowledge in Formula 1®, as well as his considerable contacts in the sport, to Channel 4’s coverage.

The full presenting and commentary team will be announced in due course.