Formula 1? Formula when, more like...

Formula 1 roars back into the lives of armchair motorsport fans this weekend, with the first race of 2019 taking place in Australia on Sunday.

If you’ve paid up to watch the races on Sky, congratulations – you get all of the races live, and an extra Button too, with the former F1 champion, Jenson, joining their presenting line up.

If, like me, you’ll be watching it on Channel 4... well, there’s less to be excited about. Only the British GP will be live, as a deal signed by former F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone kicks in, giving Sky the rights to show all other races exclusively live in the UK.

Instead, Channel 4 will have highlights only. Cue the tricky task of trying to avoid picking up your phone, turning on the laptop, or watching TV/listening to the radio for half a day after the race has finished, to try and avoid an unwelcome “and the winner was...” situation. Plus, some awkward late-night timeslots. Formula when..?!

Sky’s big promo film also conspicuously used Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” – which has been the F1 theme for coverage on the BBC in the past, and Channel 4 up until now. Have they pinched that too?

Channel 4 have also lost some of their presenting team, but are adding double-leg-amputee racer Billy Monger, who will doubtlessly bring enthusiasm, but probably not a wealth of presenting/racing experience – he’s just 19.

Whilst Sky have been heavily promoting their offering over the off-season, Channel 4 went missing in action, only adding to their Twitter feed for the first time since Christmas earlier this week. Their website was also severely lacking in updates until mid-week too.

So, whilst Sky viewers are pumped up for the new season, the rest of us are somewhat deflated.

At least the racing itself seems likely to be exciting. The battle between Britain’s Lewis Hamilton and arch-rival Sebastian Vettel looks set to resume, with winter testing suggesting that Seb’s Ferrari may have the edge. But how many times have we heard that?

With many other drivers swapping teams and a bunch of newbies on the grid, as well as some regulation changes to (supposedly) make overtaking easier, we could be in for a vintage year.

Depending on how you’re watching it though, you may need to search through the late-night small-print in your TV guide and have an extra shot in your coffee on Monday mornings.

This post first appeared as my "A wry look at the week" column, in The Mail, on Friday the 15th of March 2019. The version used on their website was re-titled as "Formula 1 is back - but there's little to be excited about for non-Sky viewers".

At the time of typing, I haven't seen the race yet (for obvious reasons!), but did catch qualifying on Channel 4 yesterday. Wow - their coverage has been neutered by Sky's dominance allowing them to basically tell C4F1 what they can and can't do. The Chain is gone, and they aren't allowed to interview in the pit lane, in the 'pen' after quali and the race, or go on the grid pre-race.

Hence, interviews were from Sky or F1's own coverage, and were only snippets of drivers talking - no interaction. Depressingly, Sky have apparently also demanded that coverage of quali and the race makes up no more than 50% of the TV slot. Previously, when C4F1 had highlights of half of the races, they could go up to 60-70%.

Of course, during the first commercial break there was a lavish advert for Sky. Billy Monger hardly set the world alight with his interviewing, and former Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali was less than stellar in his first outing as a pundit, looking vaguely confused and unsure where to look most of the time. Maybe they'll both improve. Let's hope so.

The final indignity for us terrestrial viewers was having presenter Steve Jones forced to plug at the close of quali that you can see the race live on Sky. Ouch.

We've got five years of this - let's hope F1 sees sense and ensures that there's a way for everyone to see full coverage after that time without having to fork out for Sky's F1 package.

Sheesh.

(Tape time: No 108 - The Best Of The Monkees, plus some 7"/12" tracks from Dr, Calculus, Queen, Mike Oldfield, Funkmeister and ELO. 1984!)

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