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This is a list of Formula One broadcasters and 'World Feed' producers. Formula One, the highest level of circuit racing defined by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, motor sport's world governing body, can be seen live or tape delayed on television in almost every country and territory around the world.

It attracts one of the largest global TV audiences after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games, with a total global audience of about 352 million people for the 2017 season.^[1]

Overview

TV broadcasters all take what is known as the 'World Feed', which since 2007 has been produced by FOM (Formula One Management), for almost every round of the World Championship. Every race is produced in 16:9 widescreen.

Previously, a 'host broadcaster' from each nation produced the World Feed for their home race, for example TF1 for the French Grand Prix. This led to a two-tier system which was unpopular with viewers due to local broadcasters focusing heavily on local teams and drivers, whilst missing key moments.

For the 2018 season, the World Feed is produced by FOM for every race apart from the Monaco Grand Prix, which is produced by Télé Monte Carlo.

Alongside the main World Feed, FOM also produce a Pit-lane channel, showing shots from the pitlane and alternative camera angles, along with detailed weather and tyre information, and extra team radio. FOM also produce onboard channels, showing live video from cameras installed on the drivers' cars. The channels switch between different cars throughout the session. FOM also make available a "Driver tracker" channel, showing live positions of all the cars on the track during a session, as well as a timing screen showing live lap-times and circuit sector information.

Currently, broadcasters offering coverage of these FOM-produced extra channels include Sky Sports F1 (UK), Fox Sports Australia, Sky Sport F1 (Italy), Movistar F1 (Spain) and Play Sports (Belgium). Out of the 9 on board channels, Fox Sports Australia only shows the Master onboard channel to its viewers, whereas Sky Sports F1 makes all the on board channels available. The Pit lane, Driver Tracker and Live Timing channels are available to Sky viewers in the United Kingdom.

For the 2011 season, FOM released a high definition feed to broadcasters for the first time, and for 2012, the footage was filmed with 5.1 channel Dolby Digital surround sound audio. From 2017, footage began being broadcast in 4K ultra-high definition by Sky Sports F1 in the UK.

In 2018, FOM launched an over-the-top streaming platform known as F1 TV, providing live commercial-free coverage of all races including access to all on-board cameras.^[2] The service launched initially in Germany, France, the United States, Mexico, Belgium, Austria, Hungary and parts of Latin America.

Broadcasters

United Kingdom and Ireland

In 2011, Sky Sports signed a seven-year deal with the BBC to show live Formula One on Sky in the United Kingdom for the first time. The deal which ran between 2012 and 2015 saw Sky Sports show live coverage of every session of the season on their own F1 dedicated channel, Sky Sports F1.^[3] Sky Sports F1 show all races and qualifying sessions live without the interruption of adverts.^[4] In 2016, Sky extended their contract to 2024, and will be the exclusive live rights holders in the UK and Ireland from 2019; the British Grand Prix and highlights of all other races will be shown free-to-air, on a channel which has "90% technical availability".^[5] At the same time it was announced that Sky will broadcast all events in ultra-high-definition (UHD) from 2017. In July 2018, it was understood that Channel 4 were in final negotiations with Sky and Liberty Media to continue with the free to air rights.^[6]

The BBC continued to broadcast live coverage of half the races and all 20 races had "extended highlights". In 2012, they broadcast live coverage from China, Spain, Monaco, Europe (Valencia), Britain, Belgium, Singapore, Korea, Abu Dhabi and Brazil.^[7] They also showed live coverage of practice and qualifying sessions from those races.^[8] The deal set that the British Grand Prix and the final race had to be shown live on the BBC.

For each Grand Prix (even if live) the BBC showed "extended highlights" of the race just a few hours after it had been broadcast. Late afternoon for early hours races and/or early evening. Late evening races were shown on the day and repeated on Monday evening.^[9] The BBC Radio 5 Live coverage was unaffected.

BBC ended their television contract after the 2015 season, transferring their rights to Channel 4 until the end of the 2018 season.^[10] Sky Sports F1 remained unaffected and BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra's coverage was extended until 2021.^[11] Like the BBC, Channel 4 always show the British Grand Prix and the final race live.

Channel 4's live broadcasts for 2016 until 2018 were Bahrain, Spain, Europe, Britain, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico and Abu Dhabi.^[12] Non-live races have "extended highlights" of the race shown a few hours after it has taken place. Highlights of races held early morning are broadcast mid-afternoon, with afternoon races shown early evening and late evening races shown later in the evening.

Sky Sports F1 have broadcast every practice, qualifying and race since 2017 in 4K Ultra-HD, exclusively for Sky Q 2TB customers.

United States

On 14 October 2012, NBC Sports reached a 4-year deal to broadcast Formula One races in the United States, replacing Speed and Fox Sports—who have been long-time F1 broadcast partners. The majority of its coverage (including most races, and all practice/qualifying sessions) was broadcast by the pay channel NBCSN (with CNBC as an overflow channel), while 4 races were aired by the free-to-air NBC network per-season. The network also streamed additional camera feeds through its digital platforms. NBC's broadcast team consisted of David Hobbs, Steve Matchett, and Leigh Diffey (who commentated from NBC Sports' headquarters in Stanford, Connecticut), with Will Buxton as pit reporter.^[13]

On 4 October 2017, ESPN announced that it had acquired rights to Formula One under a multi-year deal beginning in 2018. ESPN had previously broadcast Formula One from 1984 to 1997. The majority of coverage will be carried by ESPN2, but two races (Monaco, Britain) will be carried on the main ESPN channel, and three races (Canada, United States and Mexico), as well as an afternoon encore of the Monaco Grand Prix following its Indianapolis 500 telecast, will be broadcast free-to-air on ABC.^[14] Unlike the previous contract with NBC Sports, Formula One will retain over-the-top rights, ESPN will reportedly not pay a traditional rights fee, and it was originally announced that the broadcasts would rely primarily on the world feed.^[15][16] However, it was later announced that ESPN would utilize Sky Sports' coverage.^[17]

2019 TV broadcasters

These are the broadcasters for the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Radio broadcasters

Official internet broadcasters

World Feed producers

Current producers

For the 2018 season, only the Monaco Grand Prix is not produced by FOM.

Former producers (1950–2018)

Below are the previous World Feed Producers for Grands Prix from 1950 until 2015.

• Between 1997 and 1999 the Brazilian GP World Feed was produced by FOM. What was shown was a reduced version of the F1 Digital+ main feed, mainly lacking onboard angles and without the pay per view graphics. Rede Globo continued to produce an alternative National Feed for Brazilian viewers.


• From 2001 to 2003, the Australian Grand Prix was produced and broadcast nationally in native widescreen (16:9) on Channel 9 Digital (2001–2002) and Channel 10 Digital (2003). For National Viewers watching on Analogue TV, they received a letterbox (14:9 feed in a 4:3 frame) version of the Feed, while international viewers got a standard 4:3 feed. When FOM took over the broadcast in 2004, the local coverage was reverted to 4:3 - from 2004 to 2006, only the Channel Ten studio, pit lane reporters and support races' onboard cameras were in widescreen.


• In 2001 and 2002 the US Grand Prix was broadcast locally by ABC Sports. However, they did not ever produce the World Feed.


• In 1991, the French GP was broadcast in France by La Cinq, which held rights for F1.

Commentators

By zones

Austria

Live broadcasts of Formula One Championship races on ORF are commentated by ORF's sport correspondent Ernst Hausleitner with aid from Alexander Wurz. Occasionally other co-commentators like Adrian Sutil or Christian Klien substituted for Wurz.

For the entire 2015 Formula One season, Pascal Wehrlein was Hausleitner's main co-commentator.

With the beginning of the 2009 Formula One season, Hausleitner took over the Formula 1 commentator position from Heinz Prüller, who is a legend in Austrian television history because of his enthusiasm for the sport and immersion into the races.

Brazil

Live broadcasts of Formula One Championship races in the Globo network are called by Galvão Bueno, Luís Roberto or Cléber Machado, with Reginaldo Leme and former F1 driver Luciano Burti serving as race analysts. Pit reports are provided by Mariana Becker or Guilherme Pereira.

On SporTV, all practices, qualifying and races except for Canada, US and Mexico GPs, are called by Sérgio Maurício or Daniel Pereira, with Brazilian motorsports journalist Lito Cavalcanti and Stock Car driver Max Wilson as analysts. For Canada, US and Mexico GPs, the commentary team is Sérgio Maurício, Reginaldo Leme and Luciano Burti and the race commentary is the same shown on the Globo delayed Sunday night broadcast. Pit reports are provided by Mariana Becker or Guilherme Pereira.

Bulgaria

Ivan Tenchev, Trayan Sarafov, Georgi Ivanov and Momchil Manchev.

China

In China, the main commentators for CCTV are Sha Tong and Cheng Congfu. The commentators for Great Sports (Shanghai Sports) are Li Bing, Ye Fei and Shi Yiying. Main commentator for Tencent are Liu Yao and He Xin. The following people also commentates on selected races: Jin Haonan, Shi Yiying and Shao Yiwen.

Croatia

Live broadcasts of Formula One Championship races on Arenasport which is only available on MAXtv because of exclusive rights and on the MAXtv To Go Match via Internet are commentated by Ivica Blažičko with Neven Novak as co-commentator. Free practice sessions commentating Ante Vetma and Zvonimir Martinčević.

Finland

Live broadcasts of Formula One Championship races were available on MTV3's pay-TV-channel C More Max. Current main commentator since 2017 is Niki Juusela. Before him Formula One Championship races commentate Matti Kyllönen (1985–2009) and Oskari Saari (2004–2016). Nowadays co-commentators are Ossi Oikarinen, Mika Salo, Toni Vilander, Aaro Vainio and Tommi Pärmäkoski. Studio host is Tomi Tuominen.

Greece

In Greece, the commentators for COSMOTE TV (pay tv) are Kostas Psarras with Giannis-Marios Papadopoulos. In free-to-air coverage from ERT, main commentators are Nikos Koromilas with Ilias Papaioannou.^[58]

Hungary

In Hungary, the commentator is Zoltán Szujó, who had been previously pit reporter between 2002-2012. The colour commentator is the former Seat Leon Eurocup Champion and the former chief-editor of F1 Racing Hungary, Gábor Wéber. The studio analysts are the FIA European Rallycross Championship driver Tamás Pál Kiss, the two-time FIA European Truck Racing Championship champion, Norbert Kiss, and the two-time WTCC Yokohama Driver's Trophy winner WTCR driver, Norbert Michelisz. The pit riporters are (in changing each other) Róbert Bobák, Máté Ujvári and Ádám Szeleczki.

Italy

In Italy, Sky Italia's commentator is Carlo Vanzini, co-commentated by ex-F1 driver and Ferrari test driver Marc Gené or Jacques Villeneuve. Davide Valsecchi, Jacques Villeneuve and Matteo Bobbi serve as pit lane reporters. Paddock reporter is Mara Sangiorgio. Presenter is Federica Masolin.

Poland

In Poland, Eleven Sports' commentator is Michał Gąsiorowski, co-commentated by Formula 1 journalist Mikołaj Sokół or Eleven Sports' commentator Filip Kapica.

Portugal

Live broadcasts of Formula One Championship races were available on Eurosport (through the Eurosport 2 Xtra channel) for the 2016 Formula One season only, with João Carlos Costa as the lead lap-by-lap commentator, former F1 driver Tiago Monteiro and DTM driver António Félix da Costa as the co-commentators and Pedro Nascimento as the pit reporter.
Currently broadcasts are available on Sporttv.

Spain

In the pay-per-view channel Movistar F1, which holds the rights of the entire championship exclusively in Spain from the 2016 season, the main commentator is journalist Antonio Lobato. Co-commentators are former Arrows, Jaguar, McLaren, Sauber and HRT driver Pedro de la Rosa and F1 engineer Toni Cuquerella, who worked for Williams, Ferrari, and HRT. They comment from a TV studio in Madrid, where journalist Iñaki Cano acts as presenter. Pit reporter are female journalists Noemí de Miguel and Roberto Rodríguez, Miguel Portillo, as well as former F1 engineer in Super Aguri and HRT Albert Fàbrega. Also, Ferrari test driver Marc Gené provides analysis from the circuit during some periods throughout the weekend.

In Teledeporte, the sports channel of the Spanish national public TV, which offers a 60-minutes time highlights of every race (except the Spanish Grand Prix, which is shown live in the TVE main channel La 1), journalist Marc Martí is the main commentator, with GP3 Series driver Alex Palou as co-commentator. In the live broadcast of the Spanish Grand Prix, they were joined by FIA World Endurance Championship and former Manor Marussia F1 driver Roberto Merhi and journalist Juan Carlos Garcia, who was the pit reporter.

In Catalan channel TV3, which has the same coverage as TVE, the main commentator is Francesc Latorre, with veteran journalist Francesc Rosés as co-commentator. In the live coverage of the Spanish Grand Prix, they were joined by former HRT and current DTM engineer Arnau Niubó, with journalist Jordi Gil as pit reporter.

Spanish-speaking Latin America

Live broadcasts of Formula One Championship races on Mediapro-owned Canal F1 Latin America are called by lap-by-lap announcer Christian González Rouco, son of Argentine motorsports journalist Eduardo Gocuntlez Rouco, and grandson and grandnephew, respectively, of Isidro González Longhi and Andrés Rouco, with Colombian motorsports journalist Diego Mejía as race analyst. Pit reports are provided by Spanish sports journalist Nira Juanco, who previously worked on Antena 3's F1 broadcasts, and has been with Canal F1 since its launch in 2015.

Fox Sports, who was formerly the official Latin American Formula 1 broadcaster from the 2002 until the 2014 seasons, broadcasts, in the 2016 season, ten races live and the other eleven races on a delayed basis. The races are called by Argentine motorsports journalist Fernando Tornello, with fellow Argentine motorsports journalist Adrián Puente and Mexican motorsports journalist Luis Manuel "Chacho" López as analysts and Juan Fossaroli handling the pit reports and pre-race interviews.

ESPN Latin America broadcasts the highlights show ESPN F1, hosted by Mexican sports journalists Javier Trejo Garay and Adalberto Franco in Mexico and Central America. The show highlights the races, from the practices to the checkered flag and shows interviews with the F1 drivers.

United Kingdom, United States and Ireland

In the UK, Channel 4's commentator is Ben Edwards, co-commentated by ex-F1 driver and 13 time GP winner David Coulthard, with some races a third man commentator in Mark Webber is used.^[59]Lee McKenzie is the main pit lane reporter. For Sky Sports F1 and ESPN, David Croft commentates with Martin Brundle^[60] and Ted Kravitz contributes from the pit lane. Either Anthony Davidson, Paul di Resta or Johnny Herbert will co-commentate during practice sessions instead of Brundle . Both broadcasts are also available in the Republic of Ireland. For BBC Radio 5 Live and the Formula One App, Jack Nicholls (or Alex Jacques when Nicholls is unavailable) commentates with Jolyon Palmer and reporter Jennie Gow.

United States-Hispanic

Univision Deportes serves as the official F1 broadcaster for the Spanish community in the United States, with Sergio Rodriguez handling lap-by-lap commentary, Gustavo Roche handling race analysis and Christina Romero handling pit reports.

References