This is an analysis of Network 10 TV (Channel 10, ONE SD, ONE HD) exclusive Australian live TV coverage of the 2006-2015 Formula One Grand Prix World Championship (Practice & Qualifying sessions, Race Day and highlights packages) including Q&A with Host Greg Rust about the 2010 season.
In 2009 and 2010 Australians have finally been able to watch more Live F1 coverage on TV than ever before with the launch of the new Network 10 “ONE” HD/SD sports channel.
Jake Humphrey presents the BBC TV coverage shown by Channel 10 in Australia, joined by 13-time Grand Prix winner David Coulthard and former team boss Eddie Jordan as pundits. Jonathan Legard commentates alongside award-winning broadcaster and former F1 driver Martin Brundle and the pit lane reporters are Ted Kravitz and Lee McKenzie.
In essence Ch10 relay the feed from the host broadcaster BBC in the UK with their expert commentators for much of the race with additional commentary from Australian hosts. F1 fans are well known for complaining about badly timed interjections from the Channel 10 hosts which many people feel really ruins the telecast.
In fairness F1 coverage in Australia has improved in leaps and bounds compared to a few years ago and it must be hard for ONE HD to time breaks for ads and Australian comment because we have to have ads and the host broadcaster BBC doesn’t.
However I think Greg Rust (Rusty) did a better job in 2009 and from what I’ve seen swapping Cameron McConville for the new co-host Craig Baird and James Allen filing news from the race will improve coverage further. Not so sure about the addition of former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer Darryl Beattie as the other new co-host, he seems a nice guy but not sure if he truly knows F1 as much as a host should.
Network 10/ONE HD F1 Host Greg Rust’s Thoughts on 2010 Season
I recently had the opportunity to interview Network 10/ONE HD F1 Host Greg Rust and ask him some questions about the 2010 season. Here are his answers after the 3rd F1 Grand prix of the year at Sepang in Malaysia:
Neerav Bhatt:
1. Regarding the shock comeback by Schumacher, what more is there to achieve after all he’s done already besides perhaps hitting 100 wins?
Greg Rust:
It’s a big risk isn’t it? Will we remember Michael for his comeback or his prior results? For me nothing will change his incredible achievements either way. I was fortunate enough to conduct a 1 on 1 interview with him in Melbourne for Bridgestone as part of the Make Cars Green campaign. He seemed more relaxed but still a very driven human being. He said he’s fitter now than when he retired in 2006 and I believe him.With each outing he’s getting quicker. When the series gets back to Europe I think Mercedes will take a step forward and already Michael’s great skill of motivating the team is making a difference. Hopefully he cracks the 100. I reckon he’ll be on the podium this year for sure. And you’re right we have definitely noticed a greater interest in the sport in 2010 thanks, in part, to his return.
Neerav Bhatt:
2. I like the extension of points to 10th place because it hopefully encourages 11,12,13 etc to scrap and try to get into the points towards the end of a race. Your thoughts?
Greg Rust:
I agree. Already I think we have seen evidence of this at the end of some races. It’s good to see the likes of Jamie getting a breakthrough and Force India stepping up. Its early days but even the race for the points lead of the driver’s championship tightened up in Malaysia so hopefully we have a close battle for the bulk of the season.
Neerav Bhatt:
3. What priority will live F1 qualifying and races take on ONE HD/SD considering the huge increase in rights for other live sport rights network 10 has this year?
Greg Rust:
Although I work very closely on our coverage of the series, as you can appreciate, I don’t get involved in rights deals, scheduling of programs or the timing/volume of commercial breaks etc. That kind of question you would need to ask of management. Ten/One is a business and in my opinion the management team run it exceptionally well. They make television for everyone.I am very conscious of looking after the passionate supporters of F1 as much as the casual viewer and that’s not always easy. The best way I could answer this is to give you an insight into the culture at One.
I am lucky to work there because a number of people genuinely love/follow motorsport and they’re also very talented at making TV. From the top and right across our network there is a strong commitment to Formula One. That’s the reason why we broadcast qualy and provide a detailed race preview show complete with information from a correspondent at every Grand Prix. In 2010 that commitment to you doesn’t change.
Neerav Bhatt:
4. Which is your dark horse team to watch out for this year to unexpectedly steal some points? Perhaps Sauber with de la rosa and kobayashi?
Greg Rust:
During the pre-season testing Sauber looked pretty reasonable but man I hope they can sort the reliability and finish some races. It’s odd to think of Renault as a dark horse. Doesn’t feel like all that long ago that Fernando Alonso was winning races for them. Robert Kubica is doing a very good job there. He was a smart acquisition and they seem to be quietly toiling away rather than boasting about their potential. I don’t reckon Melb. will be the only time we see them on the podium this year.
Neerav Bhatt:
5. If Webber doesn’t have a good year in 2010 will last year’s effort be good enough for him to keep his seat at Red Bull?
Greg Rust:
I guess it depends on who is on the market at the time. Clearly RedBull was impressed with Daniel Ricciardo at the end of ‘09 season test too. I haven’t spoken to Mark about this but my read is that the rivalry is escalating between he and Sebastian. How RedBull manage this will be interesting. And how Mark deals with it to for that matter. I have no doubt Mark will win more races this year. The car is strong and he knows he can do it. Sebastian is a special talent so this will require Mark to dig deep and push himself to another level.
Neerav Bhatt:
6. No refueling. Everyone’s talking about it and many worry that it will reduce the number of passes in a race because everyone will start with a heavy fuel load. What’s your reaction to the new rule?
Greg Rust:
I said from the very beginning I didn’t like it. This is a team sport and we should showcase that. 3-4 second pit stops is certainly impressive but it severely limits strategy choices if the race is straight forward like Bahrain.Some drivers are turning up to the track now on Sunday and their engineer is telling them “sorry mate 6th is the best we can hope for today” for example. The options are that limited. I get the need for cost cutting but how much of a saving are we really making with no refuelling? I also understand the safety aspect and that is important.
I think the real reason we went down this path is to give a greener perception….to show the wider community the drivers/cars could do the entire race on 1 tank of fuel. Frankly I don’t think that fools anyone.
Bringing back KERS and introducing other measures will send a better environmental message and that is something we should make a priority! Motorsport stands to lose the next generation if serious green measures aren’t brought in. Not band aid stuff….real change. But it still has to look and sound exciting.
With 3 different winners from 3 rounds here’s to a great remainder of the F1 season. Enjoy. Rusty
Technical Aspects: Widescreen, High Definition & Internet Streaming
In 2008 LIVE High Definition coverage was available on Channel 10 HD 
However ONE HD was not be able to provide F1 coverage in high definition for the 2009 and 2010 seasons because they rely on Formula 1 Management (FOM) for all of it’s video/audio and FOM decided not to film F1 in HD until 2011 at the earliest 
In previous years: 2007 Channel Ten finally decided to broadcast qualifying sessions for every round which was a key request that fans had made for years and F1 finally moved to widescreen digital TV coverage as well which was much appreciated.
Formula One Management’s deal with the BBC includes Internet / Mobile rights (but only from UK internet connections) but Aussie F1 fans who know how to setup a private VPN will be able to get around that difficulty as in previous years.
Coverage Overseas and on the Internet
- Visit Australian Formula 1 driver Mark Webber’s official website to find out more about him and read his latest race report or join his supporter’s club
- To view live F1 driver lap times and rankings as races are in progress visit www.scorespro.com/formula1/ or more detailed live stats at the Official F1 site (which requires registration)
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Australian F1 fans should be quite jealous of their British counterparts who will be able to customise their viewing experience through the BBC’s multi-platform offering with options such as: split-screen action; a live leaderboard; in-car cameras; choice of commentary; live online streaming; live text; video highlights from classic F1 races in the past; extensive post-race video highlights; video race reviews by Murray Walker; interactive circuit guides; several blogs, including a diary-type F1 mole; columns; and comprehensive results and statistics.interactive forums; circuit guides; and blogs.
Experiment: LIVE view of F1 Fans Chatting on Twitter
This is an experiment to allow F1 fans to see LIVE what other fans and news organisations are saying about F1 on Twitter. It includes all the comments using the hashtags #f1 or #formula1. If you’d like to suggest other hashtags to add please tell me.
{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
Why the hell wasn’t qualifying shown last race???
You mention that it’s possible to get a live stream of the F1. Please explain how and where. I would really like to watch it without the mindless garbage that the Channel 10 commentators discuss over the sensible comments of the ITV crew. Please print instructions!
Monza on at 2am 4 hours late, disgracefull Channel ten! does anyone know a petition website to get F1 off channel ten and onto foxtel?
How fantastic is the motogp on foxtel? Formula 1 seserves the same respect it’s the pinnacle of auto racing.
Fox Sports has just reported that leading Formula One team McLaren Mercedes has been kicked out of the 2007 constructors’ title race and fined $US100 million ($119 million), as a result of the spying controversy involving Ferrari information.
The world governing body of motor sports, FIA, ruled, however, that team drivers Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso would keep their points to keep the drivers’ championship alive.
-excerpt from “McLaren loses spy game”, Fox Sports
I love F1 myself but unfortunately we do not get much coverage down here in the USA.
Once a week I go down to my sisters house and watch as much as I can get on the speed channel.
While Martin Brundle makes the ITV F1 commentary worth switching on with his insights, straight talking and inside knowledge, James Allen makes it worth switching off. I can’t stand the guy. It’s like he tries to be ‘one of the boys’, name dropping, making horrendous judegements and generally just annoying the living hell out of me. Pistonheads ran a ’stop the c*ck’ campaign, I really wish they’d complete it
If channel 10 can’t show the F1 races and qualifying live, why not let foxtel have it? showing the Malaysian at 01:40 in the morning is crazy. Local time for the race here in perth is 16:00 !!!!! Not everybody wants to watch football all the time.
Thanks Channel 10!!!!!!!
we have just moved here from the UK and without this website would not have known what channel F1 is broadcast on! do channel 10 even advertise their programme? cant believe that after taking the broadcast from the UK, they dont even run it live!!!
think we will take the advice shown and look for it on the net, better than getting up at “stupid o’clock” to watch a poorly commentated / produced “rip-off”!!!!
thanks for warning us in advance and we will start looking elsewhere now!
Very good video. Yes am also outraged about Channel 10 delaying the F1. They now put that strupid ‘Flight of the Concords’ on before it and Rove and Big Brother to more bad shows always go overtime with complete garbage when we could no should be watching racing at its finest. You see Channel 7 they put the V8 Supercars (which are pathetic in compariosn to Formula One) on primetime why can’t Channel Ten (apart form time zones i know but stil show them live not delayed). I do believe however that the coverage itself isn’t that bad i’m just glad that it is IV that commentate the race not Speed TV from America.
(EDITOR: LINK DOESNT WORK ANYMORE) and enjoy live coverage of qualifying and the race ITV style..
not sure we should expect anything but c$%p from channel ten (at the best of times) but shame on them for thinking delayed limited coverage is worth showing… give the rights to SBS.. or someone who might actually understand that there is a thinking audience still left in this country !!!
What a revelation finding this site. Im also an ex pat from the uk who also thinks Channel 10 is CRAP!!!and im a girl!!Im sick of having my intelligence insulted at 1 in the morning by the droning tones of Dum and Dummer!!!Give us a break. Where can i find live ITV COVERAGE IM DESPERATE. Pity i didnt find this site sooner as i tuned in half way through the British Grand Prix waiting up for another bleary eyed Sun night,god i hate that.ps we live in Country Q.L.D AND DONT GET fOXTEL so no hope there.
Any help wuold be appreciated
Thanks
Sarah.
Thank you soooo much for your F1 covering from ITV today (24/08/08). We live in Spain and the government has just pulled the plug on the re-broadcasting of British TV here so we thought we were going to miss F1 this weekend. Quality was excellent. Thanks once more!
It is fantastic In 2008 LIVE High Definition coverage is available on Channel 10 HD .
Yeah only live now if you are on the east cost. Still in WA we do not get it until its all over GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
We couldn’t see your streaming of the race last Sunday, but the qualifing was going out fine on the Saturday. Was there a problem on Sunday, or was it just at our end?
Brilliant transmission. We can’t thank you enough!
I cannot believe that you guys do not show the Formula races at the AEST -
I cannot believe that there is not a more informative review on the Formula One races. I lived in the U.K. for many years in the era of Nikki Lauder and my ex-husband was a Formula One driver and there is definitely not enough information transmitted to the Australian TV about what is happening in Formula One. I must admit that most Ozzies do not know one end to the other of a Formual 1 car, but in the late 1970’s I used to race a Formula Ford at Brands Hatch – and I am a female. I am just so in awe of the F1’s that I tape or stay up and watch every detail and plan of these drivers. I am sick of this sport not emanulating at a more upgraded and intelliculate race than the old Ozzie Sedans racing around Oran Park etc. The F1’s are a race and intelligently planned pit-stop strategy which is the most exciting and strategically plotted race. I suppose the F1 in Singapore will be televised at an abnormal hour on Australian tv even though it is only 2 hours behind us.
So disappointed. Ex female Formula Ford Driver in the U.k.
Well looks like live streaming of the F1 races are no longer covered by this site.I’ve downloaded some sites said above with no luck finding any live F1.I live in country QLD and we don’t get Channel 10 so no TEN HD.Please help life without F1 is s**t.
Big thanks for the F1 coverage,maybe it come back sometime.
SHAME ON YOU CHANNEL 10,LESS HOPE SEVEN NETWORK GETS IT AND MAKE IT A LIVE BROARDCAST
Yet again I stay up in the hope of seeing some F1 qualifying action as advertised on channel 10. Advertised on TV, in TV guides and even on channel 10 website!
And yet again, there is no coverage what so ever, just an hour of proactive ads!!
I have rang channel 10 once before about this and all I got was “I don’t know, sorry.”.
I can’t remember our coverage of F1 being worse, ever! Shame on channel ten!!
If they can’t or won’t show the coverage that they have paid for then please give the coverage to a channel who will show the fans what they want to see.
I really reeeaaalllly hope that channel ten doesn’t disapoint me again tommorrow morning but I am sure that they will……
Try this – it is American, not as good as ITV as the quality of the picture is not so crisp, but it works.
First you need to download Sopcast from http://www.sopcast.com and then select Star Sports.
If you google for “F1 torrent”, you’ll find you can download reasonable quality ITV coverage using file share networks. It’s not live coverage but it does mean you don’t have to stay up half the night to watch it on channel 10.
Channel Ten don’t even broadcast to outback Australia! How can they say that they have the best F1 show that is to be seen in Australia when what they really mean is ‘best F1 show that is to be seen in Metro and highly populated areas of Australia only’!
In remote and rural Australia why can’t Ten let a regional broadcaster transmit the F1?
We live in Mitchell, QLD and have no HD transmissions and no Channel Ten so we miss out on it all. Have tried ITV.COM but a window says that broadcast is restricted.
I have lived in Oz for 13 years – the F1 coverage in Australian is APPALLING…
Delayed / Talks over UK commentary / no 1 hr preview / no after race action / no nothing!! / Channel 10 should be thoroughly asahamed of themselves.
They are not even showing the qualifyinbg on the Free to Air channel and boy we are lucky we even get it live at the Melbourne Race
Let’s hope someone like SBS picks it up after 2010
Thank goodness for http://forum.darmeth.co.uk/
what I hate most about channel 10 coverage is they play F1 coverage very late at night even for races that already happened in the day.
We F1 fans also have to work come monday mornings so if the race happens in the day then they should put it on earlier time slot.
We have just moved over to OZ from Zim where we recieved live coverage of all F1 races via the DSTV network. My wife and I live for F1 and are most unimpressed that we are not going to be able to get live coverage.
rest my case – Channel 10 still crap! – Qualifying not on until 11pm – this is crazy…just found a great new feed http://www.justin.tv/dragons_bar + have subscrivbed to this to get all BBC – http://www.ukproxyserver.co.uk
Gary I know what you mean, I am used to the coverage in the UK, which is amazing compared to what we get here in Australia. I am totally gutted and all ready looking at ways to grad the live feeds from satellite.
is Jenson Button (Brawn GP) cheating by not having the (required) heavy KERS hybrid system on their car this year ?
jeloz,
“Channel 10 still crap!” – I wouldn’t say that! At least they broadcast the F1 racing. I wonder where would you watch it in the other case.
So hard to get good F1 coverage over here in the US. DOn’t know why anyone watches NASCAR. F1 is so much more interesting.
Completely agree with you William, F1 is the action packed fast lane!
Steve
I’ve been using a high-speed VPN to watch this season’s action on BBC iPlayer – it’s actually really impressive and the commentary quality with Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle is really high. Martin’s pre-race pitwalks are sometimes legendary!
Hi I watch f1 on 10 HD yes the adds are annoying the commentators are not up to speed with F1 they should stick to the V8’s. Even for this they should take a note from the BBC get out of the studio and get to the circuits. If 10 got rid of there commentators for the F1 the money they save could mean we could see it without adds. I down load the coverage a couple of days after the race to get BBC red button discussion and see the interviews we dont get at the end of the race. Maybe if foxtel got the rights we could have the red button forum also.
We were watching the GP where Massa was injured ‘live’ in Australia, only to find out we were in reality some time behind the actuall BBC coverage. In fact they were saying on BBC1 that Massa was OK while the ‘live’ feed on 10 HD was still talking about if he would be OK or not.
Yes coverage is better than before, but its still pretty bad not showing things at the right time… live qualifying 3 hours after the event… wonderful.
YES, absolutely agree with that. The 2 commentators on Channel 10 are jokes. What they are talking is what we can see on the screen. Most of the time they just read out some useless junk such as: this is incredible, what a fantastic race, blar blar in first, second is blar blar. They obviously have no idea what they are talking about.
PLEASE, Bring us LIVE Race & Qualifying + Official Commentators. Thank You
After being in the UK recently I hadn’t quite realised just how bad channel ten and one HDs F1 coverage was. Ignorant studio input and no in-depth anything. Just get the full BBC coverage – everything about their coverage is excellent and demonstrates just how utterly abysmal and amateur Australia’s efforts are. It is pathetic.
Foxtel Please please please can you show formula 1 coverage and take over from the appalling channel 10. How come even in New Zealand you can get uninterrupted (no adverts) LIVE coverage of all practice, qualifying and race sessions – not to mention the UK.
I don’t have Foxtel at the moment but would sign up instantly if there was coverage, any coverage would be better then channel 10’s offering! This season is shaping up to be one of the best ever with brilliant driver parings, the return of Schumacher, more cars on the grid etc. – viewing figures are bound to crack the already monumental 600 million worldwide..come on Foxy..do it!!
Hi My Name is Terry Bainton
I have just watched the first race in Australia for 2010 at the Bahrain gp. I have anxiously anticipated the start to this season but I have got to say that the new rules have made formula one a bore.
I am a very hardened very long time formula one fan, & I think that from what I have seen the rule makers have turned formula one into a precetion. It seemed as though I was watching at best a gp2 race rather than the pinnacle of motor sport.
The strategy that re-fueling allowed, really priced up the field & induced interesting racing. Their are now to many rules in the sport that makes it hard for even a hardened follower like me to work out whats going on.
Also our coverage here on Ten one – was represented by two new commentaters in craig beard & Daryl Beatty.
Daryl Beatty is right out of his depth commentating in formula one. I don’t believe that bike racing fans are the same people as formula one fans. A few times he got his facts wrong for example stating that ( Mike Gascoyne was an ex mclaren designer, he never was) .
The rule makers have succeeded in killing f1 for me.
If Channel 10 and One have sole rights to F1 broadcasting until 2015 where are you guys showing it?
I can’t find practise 1, 2, 3 or quali anywhere on either channel on a weekend where the time difference is slight (Maylasia) and it could be watched real time.
Honestly its pathetic that I have to turn to computer tech to get info when I could be watching it on my tv. This not only applies to the Australian F1 GP but to Malaysia, China, Singapore, Japan and Korea.
Its great to watch when this hopelessly unreliable digital tv actually works….
And this is the future???
Its Fantatic to see the F1 live on HD….but the only thing that spoils it is the ad breaks and the back chat from the presenters in Australia! They are slow talkers…boring stat chats, and always seem to talk over the action after an ad break….Channel 10 please sack them all and just show the race and leave the Commentary to the brits please. We need fast talkers that know what they are talking about and your team reresent The Three Stooges!!!
When is channel ten going 3d in mpeg-4
Please, when you are talking about Mark Webber’s Le Mans crash, stop showing the video of the car flying into the trees. This was NOT Mark Webber’s crash, but Peter Dumbreck in the sister car. Mark’s car flipped in qualifying, and again in warmup, however it stayed on the track. The warmup crash was in fact captured in still photos. It may look good, but it is not correct.
I would like to see Mark Webber world champ in 2010& 2011 he deserved to be.
He’s a good man.
At the risk of appearing ignorant – well the certainty really – I have a question about downforce on modern F1 cars. When I learnt to drive Indy cars then F1 cars (on my PC of course), there was a clear tradeoff between top speed and downforce. Add some wing, increase downforce, reduce top speed. So why can’t MacLaren sacrifice its top speed advantage to improve downforce relative to the Red Bulls?
Hi.. people complaining since 2008 and not much has changed, still have Rusty and the other two on there talking slow like they just smoked a huge reefer, just regurgitating what’s been broadcast by BBC..
WHY? WHY? WHY? What a WASTED effort that looks soo expensive.. WHY pay these guys and then have to chop up the race with SO MANY AD-BREAKS?? WHY make such a big deal about having it on at all when they DON’T EVEN PLAY QUALLI LIVE? Have none of them heard of LIVE TIMING???
You hardly see anything on the TV footage, it effectively compliments the live timing.. if they don’t play it live, what’s the point? AND they don’t play the practices AT ALL.. The AU GP loses tens of millions in tax payer funds every year, when it could be huge here.. but it’s not.. the coverage is crap and the Melbourne race is a rip-off that no-one goes to.. I bet if the FIA knew of the sorry state of affairs they wouldn’t be happy with the deal! Who needs AFL on two channels at once when there’s an Aussie doing REALLY WELL in the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS?? COME ON F1 – PLEASE – Give it to SBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!