Martin Brundle Officially Announces Move To Sky Sports
Former Formula 1 driver and current BBC Commentator, Martin Brundle, has today officially answered speculations about his 2012 plans by stating in his Sunday Times column that he will join the new Sky Sports F1 HD channel next season.
The former Tyrrell and McLaren driver first commentated on the sport at the 1989 Monaco Grand Prix when he retired from the race and was asked to join Murray Walker in the commentary box as James Hunt failed to appear. His next appearance as a commentator was partially throughout the 1995 season as he shared a drive at Ligier with Aguri Suzuki, however for 1996 he gained a full racing seat with Jordan and didn’t commentate again until 1997 when he officially joined ITV as co-commentator alongside the legendary Murray Walker.
He continued this role as co-commentator at ITV all though the channels running of the sport, which included commentating alongside James Allen once Murray had retired in 2001. When, in 2008, it was announced that BBC were set to get the rights back, Martin Brundle (along with Ted Kravitz) were part of the ITV team to move to the BBC for the 2009 season. For this season Brundle was once again co-commentator alongside Jonathan Legard, who was replaced in 2011 by another F1 driver in David Coulthard. This promoted Martin Brundle up to the lead commentator role, a role which the BBC must now try and replace, and rumors are circulating of Ben Edwards joining the team for 2012.
It has yet to be announced who will be joining Martin Brundle as Sky Sports F1 Commentator for 2012, however there are strong rumors that Sky have signed another BBC commentator (this time of Radio 5 Live origin) in David Croft. Whether this information is true or not time will tell.
Martin Brundle said in his Sunday Times column that the key factor for him joining Sky was his need to commentate on all 20 live races, not delayed broadcasts. Another key factor, he said, was the fact that Sky will not show any adverts during the race, something which the British public grew frustrated over with the ITV broadcasts between 1997 – 2008.
Many BBC fans will greatly miss him, many will simply migrate with him to Sky. Whatever the outcome, it is undeniable that Sky have secured simply the best commentator there currently is for their 2012 Formula 1 coverage.
2012 Formula 1 Broadcasting Schedule Announced
After the announcement earlier today regarding the new Sky Sports F1 HD channel being launched in March, next seasons BBC/Sky broadcasting schedule has been announced. This comes after Sky and the BBC agreed to a new broadcasting deal from 2012 – 2018 that sees Sky show all 20 races live on their new channel whereas the BBC will show the full live broadcasts of only 10 races and delayed highlights of the others.
Today the BBC, who this weekend will broadcast their final race as the sole UK broadcasters of F1, announced which races they will broadcast live and in full next year. It is yet unknown who will commentate for the BBC or Sky however there are rumors that Sky have signed current BBC commentators’ Martin Brundle and David Croft for their coverage next season.
The BBC will begin their live broadcasting of F1 next season with Round 3 of the Championship with the Chinese Grand Prix, followed by the Spanish, Monaco, European, British, Belgian, Singapore, Korean, Abu Dhabi and Brazilian Grands Prix. The BBC will also broadcast all the Qualifying and Practice sessions live from these particular events. When the BBC are not broadcasting live races, they will instead show delayed highlights of 90 minutes duration on BBC One and BBC One HD as well as 120 minutes worth of highlights for early morning races such as Japan and Australia. They will also broadcast a 75 minutes delayed highlights show of the Qualifying sessions with Practice sessions not receiving any form of highlights.
Sky Sports F1 HD, however, will broadcast all the Races, Qualifying sessions and Practice sessions live and will become the only channel in the UK where you will be able to watch every session of an F1 weekend live and in HD all year round.
The 2012 Broadcasting Calendar in detail
Malaysian GP – Sky
Chinese GP – BBC & Sky
Bahrain GP – Sky
Spanish GP – BBC & Sky
Monaco GP – BBC & Sky
Canadian GP – Sky
European GP – BBC & Sky
British GP – BBC & Sky
German GP – Sky
Hungarian GP – Sky
Belgian GP – BBC & Sky
Italian GP – Sky
Singapore GP – BBC & Sky
Japanese GP – Sky
Korean GP – BBC & Sky
Indian GP – Sky
Abu Dhabi GP – BBC & Sky
United States GP – Sky
Brazilian GP – BBC & Sky
Martin Brundle Off To Sky Sports For 2012?
Next year the broadcasting of Formula 1 in the United kingdom changes as the BBC will co-broadcast F1 alongside major sporting TV company Sky Sports. Sky have almost monopolized sport over the last decade as popular sports such as Football, Cricket and Golf have made Sky their new home and as of 2012, Formula 1 will be added to the growing list of sports covered by the company.
The BBC will still broadcast F1 next year as they plan to show 10 races live and the other 10 in a delayed highlights format that has yet to be announced whereas Sky Sports will show all 20 races live next year including all three Practice Sessions and Qualifying.
The highlight of this slightly controversial decision has now switched to who Sky Sports will sign up as their presenters, commentators and pit lane reporters. It has been highly speculated over the last few months that former ITV and current BBC commentator, Martin Brundle, is in talks with both companies over his future with the sport. He has tweeted saying that he has received offers from both companies and that he will be taking the weekend to decide on his future.
If Martin Brundle does join Sky Sports, how will that affect the BBC F1 Team, who have produced some of the best F1 coverage the sport has ever seen in their long and colorful years covering the sport, their first race coverage being the 1978 Canadian Grand Prix which was won by local hero Gilles Villeneuve and featured commentary from Murray Walker before being joined a year later by former World Champion James Hunt. Will the BBC take the offer of using Sky’s commentary, an opportunity that must be offered to them as part of the deal with Sky or will they continue with their own commentary minus probably the only true heir to Murray Walker’s throne in Martin Brundle? If this decision is taken it is understood that David Coulthard will be joined by Speed TV’s Australian commentator Leigh Diffey. If Martin Brundle does join Sky it is believed he will be joined by current colleague and BBC Radio 5 Live commentator David Croft who is renowned for his colorful and sometimes explosive commentating style.
It is also understood that Sky are keen to have ex ITV and current BBC pit lane reporter Ted Kravitz and current ITV Sports presenter (and ex BBC and ITV F1 presenter) Steve Rider on their team, meaning that if this does become a reality that the BBC F1 Team will also be a pit lane reporter down, leaving only Lee McKenzie and Natalie Pinkham remaining.
Of course there are two races remaining in 2011, and there is a whole winter off season in which these various contracts will be flying ever other way before Sky can reveal their 2012 F1 Team Line-Up.
Indian Grand Prix Circuit Plagued By Teething Problems
The Buddh International Circuit that will see the first ever Indian Grand Prix race on it this weekend has been plagued by a number of teething troubles, most of which have come in power cuts that seem to have disrupted all events that have taken place today.
A short while ago there was a power cut right in middle of the FIA Thursday Press Conference that caused a slight delay. To add to the stack of teething troubles of intermittent power-cuts, a lack of signs outside the circuit culminated in more confusion as the press and team personnel battled their way to the track.
Another poor aspect of the track is the commentary booth in which BBC’s Martin Brundle and David Coulthard are expected to commentate from for this weekends Indian Grand Prix. But as the picture shows, the commentary box has no windows, and seems to be no-where near the track judging by the disconsolate tweet by Martin Brundle which accompanied the picture. It is hard to imagine Murray Walker and James Hunt excepting such poor qualities compared to other tracks where the commentary box generally looks out onto some part of the track in question.
Still, let the incomplete buildings, poorly designed commentary box and intermittent power-cuts not deter from what will hopefully be a highly successful, and exciting inaugural Indian Grand Prix.
F1 News 24/7
Andy's GP Blog 
Sky Announce Full 2012 Line-Up
Sky have today announced their complete line-up of presenters, commentators and pit-lane reporters in preparation for their inaugural season covering Formula 1 in the UK. This comes after it was agreed earlier in the year that Sky and the BBC would share the rights to broadcast F1 in 2012 with Sky showing every track event throughout the season live with the BBC showing ten races live and the rest as a highlights show later in the day.
It was announced a few weeks back that Sky would be launching a standalone Formula 1 channel in the UK named Sky Sports F1 HD and that Martin Brundle would be joining the team from the BBC to commentate on next years proceedings.
Today, however, Sky confirmed that David Croft would be joining the new team from BBC Radio 5 Live along with fellow commentator and ex-F1 driver Anthony Davidson to partner the already confirmed Martin Brundle. Davidson will commentate on the weekends Practice Sessions along with ‘Crofty’ recreating the famous commentary team that the BBC have used for the last three years on their Red Button Service.
It has also been announced that Sky have also acquired two more ex-BBC F1 staff in Natalie Pinkham and Ted Kravitz, who will continue their roles as pit-lane reporters with Sky. Ted Kravitz has also been announced as the co-presenter of the weekly magazine show which will be fronted by current Sky Sports News presenter Georgie Thompson. The presenter of the weekends F1 show will be Simon Lazenby, who has had experience in presenting Sky Sports Rugby coverage in the past.
Also announced as part of the new Sky Sports F1 HD team is the ex-BBC and ITV F1 presenter, Steve Rider, who has had experience presenting Formula 1 as part of the BBC’s Grandstand show in the 1990s and with ITV in the 2000s. His role within Sky will be to stage a series of interviews with some of Formula 1’s legends both past and present.
It is undeniable that Sky now have the most experienced team covering Formula 1 that has existed in the past. With three of the best commentators in the sport, two of the best pit-lane reporters and a superb presentation team, the new Sky Sports F1 HD channel looks well set for an impressive inaugural season!