How F1 plans to revitalise its 2018 TV coverage 

Formula 1 commercial chief Sean Bratches has promised to “revitalise the way F1 is produced”, after revealing the first details about the sport’s television coverage shake-up for 2018. 

F1 is set to overhaul its TV coverage in 2018 as new owners Liberty Media continue its bid to improve the show and further engage fans from across the globe following its takeover. 

While the plans are yet to be officially announced, Bratches has provided initial details about changes that can be expected during the upcoming season, including new camera angles and the addition of ‘spotters’ strategically positioned around circuits to pre-warn race control when an overtake is about to occur. 

“We’re going to close the apertures and focus directly on racing,” Bratches explained. “We’re going to lower the [positioning of the] cameras - to show the realism of speed. We will also have 25 spotters around each Grand Prix to call back to race control to tell them where there is overtaking about to take place. 

“We’re going to put a brand new graphics package together and going to put ‘mph’ in countries that use miles per hour. As an American I’d watch a Grand Prix and I don’t know what 312kph is, I don’t have that reference point.

“So we’re going to put in graphics in the local language. We’re doing a lot of amplify the experience and even from a broadcaster standpoint we’re spending time with them to talk about stories and narratives.”

Other ideas such as improving the sound of engines through the positioning of additional onboard microphones, use of music during in-race broadcasts and increased use of a highlights reel are also being mooted. 

Liberty has already confirmed a radical revision of the race start time schedule in 2018, with grands prix now starting at 10 minutes past the hour to help television broadcasters who begin their show on the hour. 

Bratches said Liberty was working to ensure F1’s new coverage would cater for all audiences, including avid fans as well as casual viewers who might be watching F1 for the first time. 

“We have this fictional fan who is 22-years-old person, who is not an F1 fan but who has an a friend who is an avid F1 fan who tells his friend to watch a Grand Prix. When that person tunes in we want them to understand what is going on. 

“Ross Brawn, one of the legends of the sport, told me that he would come into the middle of a Grand Prix during his three year retirement and he didn’t know what was going on. We’re trying to make it simpler to convey the show.”

Bratches also revealed the countries that will get access to F1’s new streaming service. 

“We’re going to launch in China, United States, Latin and South America other than Brazil, Germany, France and a number of Nordic countries. This is a very complicated proposition so the media rights agreements we had come up this year before them none of them would permit us to do this. 

“We’ve come to terms with many of our territories and we think we’ve done so in a win-win way. At the same time we’re adding value back to our broadcast and paid partners. We will revitalise the way F1 is produced.”