It’s going to be a busy weekend. There’s MotoGP from Assen, Formula 1 from Valencia, not to mention the World Cup, Wimbledon and Glastonbury. All on the BBC. Fighting over the single BBC Red Button stream on Freeview. This isn’t going to work, is it?

Inevitably, MotoGP comes off worst. The Dutch TT, as it’s known, isn’t the same as other weekends, so it’s qualifying for all three classes on Friday 1150-1505. That’s on the Red Button, but not on Freeview, which only has eyes for Wimbledon at that time. So for qualifying, the place to go is the BBC MotoGP website. Which, given that most people will be at work anyway, probably isn’t the biggest problem in the world.

The news most likely to outrage, is that the MotoGP race won’t be live on any proper BBC channel, just the Red Button. Thankfully, that will be on Freeview: 0950-1205 for 125cc and Moto2, then 1240-1405 for MotoGP. Highlights are then on BBC Two for an hour at 0200 on Sunday morning, repeated at 0700 on BBC One. Brilliant, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Those MotoGP shenanigans mean that Saturday’s final practice session for the European Grand Prix, on the Red Button 0955-1105, won’t be on Freeview. So Formula 1 does lose out a bit. Again, the BBC Formula 1 website will be the place to go for that. Except you really ought to be watching the MotoGP.

The reason the MotoGP race has been demoted to the Red Button is presumably because it clashes with Formula 1 qualifying, which is on BBC One, Saturday at 1210. Having MotoGP on BBC Two at the same time would be too much motorsport for the BBC to get away with, realistically, so it’s Wimbledon instead.

The good news is that the Freeview Red Button looks pretty free on Sunday, so the Formula 1 race from the tedious streets of Valencia should have full alternative stream and F1 Forum service.

So there you go: it’s all there to be enjoyed, you just have to find it. Accentuate the positive and all that.

Handy Links:
BBC TV motorsport schedule
BBC Sport Red Button schedule

The weekend’s MotoGP action from France set me thinking. About what? About a lot of things, as it turned out.

The same venue, Le Mans, hosts what must be France’s biggest motorsport event in three weeks: 24 Heures du Mans, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Le Mans 24 Hours – whatever you want to call it.

That would probably be the biggest event on the French motorsport calendar, even if the country still held a Formula 1 race – which it hasn’t done since 2008. That means the MotoGP race is the only event we’d call the French Grand Prix.

Le Mans is ubiquitous in endurance racing, giving its name to championships (Le Mans Series, American Le Mans Series) and classes of car (Le Mans Prototype – LMP1, LMP2). So France is hardly a third world motorsport country because of a lack of Formula 1.

You do have to feel a bit sorry for France’s former Formula 1 circuit, Magny-Cours, though. Looking at the calendar, it has a round of the World Superbike Championship, and the Bol d’Or endurance event – so bikes are pretty well catered for. On four wheels, the best it can offer is Superleague Formula, and a bit of World Series by Renault.

But like Le Mans, Magny-Cours has seen its name taken on elsewhere. Curiously, in this case by an AMD processor.

Whatever you say about Magny-Cours, it’s in a better position after losing Formula 1, than Donington Park is after Formula 1 failed to arrive. It’s looking positive though: the track should be open again around August, and in the meantime the rest of the facility is open as usual. The BTCC should be visiting as planned in September. Fingers crossed.

Recently – and indeed belatedly – there was a big fuss about the barcode on Ferrari‘s Formula 1 car, and whether it was effectively Marlboro branding, and thus tobacco advertising – which is banned. Ferrari denied it, but removed it nonetheless.

Their argument was undermined by the Ducati MotoGP team – which too has Marlboro as a title sponsor – using the exact same barcode on their bikes. When I wrote about it all a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to see whether Ducati too drop the barcode. This weekend at Le Mans we found out, and they have.

From the MotoGP website, here are handy before and after shots of Nicky Hayden’s bike, from last time out at Jerez, and this weekend at Le Mans.

The bar code is gone. Not from the team’s clothing, but certainly from the bike.

Someone – with a bit more weight than I – should put this to Philip Morris, Marlboro’s parent company. If the barcode was so innocent, and Ferrari added and removed it of their own accord, then why was it also on the Ducati, and why was it removed? It would appear that there might be a case to answer.

This is big news: it looks like Freeview will be getting a full serving of MotoGP action this weekend from the French Grand Prix.

If you’ve not been keeping up, it’s been a bit of a hot topic around these parts.

The problem stems from late last year, when one of the BBC Red Button streams was dropped from Freeview to make way for Freeview HD. Qualifying, and the 125cc and Moto2 races are all shown on the Red Button. That’s fine for viewers on Sky or Virgin, where there’s plenty of room for Red Button streams, but so far this season there’s always been something else deemed more important, which has bumped non-race MotoGP coverage off Freeview’s single stream. We’re talking Masters Golf and Badminton Horse Trials.

But not so this weekend! According to the BBC Sport Red Button schedule, we’ll have qualifying on Saturday from 11.50am to 3.00pm, and the support races on Sunday from 9.50am to 12.05pm. The only thing Freeview will miss out on is half an hour of post-race coverage. Cross referencing that with the BBC Press Red Blog schedule, it looks plausible.

All of which means I’ll finally be able to watch a Moto2 race in proper full definition on the actual telly, rather than the slightly ropey live streaming on the BBC Sport website, or the iPlayer afterwards. Joy!

All about the good ship Quote Boat, for some choice quotes from the last few days.

Formula 1 first, and Lewis Hamilton, who at the Monaco Grand Prix responded to being told to look after his brakes in an unusually sarcastic manner:

“We’re only halfway through the race. What the hell? Do you want me to race these guys or look after the car?”

Although that’s not quite how McLaren represented Hamilton’s words on their otherwise admirably comprehensive commentary log:

“Am I not even halfway through the race yet?”

Yeah, that’s nearly what he said.

Further, Hamilton had the cheek to say this to Reuters about Red Bull Racing‘s performance:

“It’s not scary, it just takes the mickey a little bit. They were just not pushing at all really.”

Frustrated at all, Lewis? Well, I’m sure he’ll get over it.

BTCC next, and as predicted, the Team Aon Ford Focus has had its LPG-turbo engine detuned a touch. But series big man Alan Gow was keen to point out that only TOCA can access the data needed to come to such a decision:

“Therefore anyone who may moan or theorise about the relative performances of different cars is generally using little more than self-serving guesswork, often laced with a fair amount of paranoia.”

Either that, Alan, or they have eyes, and can see how fast the only car with an LPG engine is. One of the two.

Finally to MotoGP, and Jorge Lorenzo, who autosport.com have quoted as saying:

“Despite our victory in Jerez and taking the lead in the world standings I continue to think that I am not the favourite.”

Don’t worry Jorge, I don’t think anyone has you down as the favourite for the championship. You certainly have a chance, but Valentino Rossi is obviously the favourite, and will probably remain so until he retires. But thanks anyway.

This weekend sees the second race of the MotoGP season, at Jerez. It should have been the third, but the Japanese Grand Prix was postponed by the ash cloud. It’s the first of a frankly astonishing four rounds in Spain. Sounds like we need a map of MotoGP 2010.

Unlike my Google Maps powered map of Formula 1 2010, I thought I’d go a bit abstract. So I’ve overlaid on a map the nationalities of all riders listed for the MotoGP, Moto2 and 125cc races in Qatar, the size of the label proportional to the number of riders of that nationality.

In short: Spain doesn’t fit. With 23 riders, it spills out of Europe, into Africa, and halfway into the Atlantic. Italy, with 16 riders, isn’t much better. It’s as well that not all European countries are represented, because they wouldn’t fit. San Marino is somewhere over Turkey as it is.

No such problem on other continents, and as in Formula 1, there’s no African representation whatsoever. But with 4 riders from the USA, and two races in the country, MotoGP is certainly doing more in that important market than Formula 1.

I hope you like it. It’s colourful if nothing else.

(more…)

I’ve had a response through from the BBC regarding the BBC Red Button scheduling over the weekend, which saw MotoGP qualifying and support races not broadcast live on Freeview, in favour of Masters Golf.

“We understand Moto GP fans who use Freeview would like to see qualifying and support races. However we are often faced with tough choices when there is a busy sport schedule and as there was not capacity for us to show every part of this weekend’s MotoGP we chose to stay with The Masters live play before coverage on BBC network began. Instead we showed the full race live on BBC Three, while on the Freeview red button service we offered a replay of the qualifying from 1200-1730, with the 125/Moto2 races being replayed from 1900-2330 on Monday, 12 April. Live video coverage of all MotoGP weekends is also available on the BBC Sport website along with a full replay of the 125/Moto 2 races from every round on BBC iPlayer. We did also take steps to alert viewers that live coverage would be unavailable on Freeview and this was highlighted in all our listings well in advance of the event: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/5345480.stm.”

I’ll try to interpret that.

Masters Golf started on the Freeview Red Button at 6.15pm, before the BBC Two coverage started at 6.55pm. So Masters Golf justifiably took priority over the 125cc race, which started at 6pm.

The BBC then stayed with the Masters Golf, when it could have switched the Freeview Red Button to Qatar for the first ever Moto2 race, since the golf was by that time on BBC Two. That decision is what I don’t think has been justified. Presumably it’s not that simple to switch the Freeview Red Button stream mid-broadcast, or it wasn’t deemed worthwhile.

So there we go. A response, of sorts.

It was all so good last year, before the one of the two BBC Red Button streams on Freeview was turned off to make way for Freeview HD. I probably wouldn’t be so bitter if Freeview HD wasn’t two years away where I live. So now I have one fewer interactive channel, and no HD. It’s a lose-lose situation.

Formula 1 coverage is affected, most significantly in that the only way to listen to BBC 5 Live commentary is by watching the on-board camera stream. Which is clearly a daft thing to watch for any extended period of time. But at least practice sessions tend to make it to the single BBC Red Button channel on Freeview, and of course qualifying is on a proper channel.

Not so MotoGP. The BBC doesn’t have to do much to anger MotoGP fans – Charlie Cox tends to do a good enough job of that on his own. So last night’s MotoGP qualifying from Bahrain being bumped down the BBC Red Button order, and thus off Freeview entirely, has not gone down well. Especially since it was bumped in favour of Masters Golf, which was also being covered on BBC Two.

The same is happening tonight for the 125cc and Moto2 races: they’re on the BBC Red Button, but not on Freeview, because Masters Golf will be instead. At the same time as Masters Golf is on BBC Two. So instead of broadcasting two races with potentially front-running British riders – Bradley Smith in 125cc, Scott Redding in Moto2 – the BBC is doubling up on Masters Golf coverage. Yeah, thanks for that.

I can’t argue that 125cc and Moto2 races have a broader appeal than Masters Golf. They don’t. But Masters Golf is already being broadcast on one channel, so what justification is there? I have no idea. I’ve asked the BBC for comment, and we shall see if I get a response.

Meanwhile, I shall have to watch the support races on my laptop via the BBC Sport website. It’s 125cc at 6pm, Moto2 at 7.15pm. Then it’s MotoGP on BBC Three – which has annoyed yet more people – at 9pm, the build-up starting an oh-so-generous 15 minutes earlier.

Yes, the BBC does treat MotoGP a bit like Formula 1′s embarrassing little sister, best kept out of sight. But at least it’s all out there somewhere, free to watch, even if only online. And there are promising signs: new presenter Jennie Gow has been given a blog, and reporter Matt Roberts is as confused and frustrated as we are. Let’s hope they’re given a chance to improve the BBC’s MotoGP coverage.

The BBC‘s replacement for Suzi Perry as MotoGP presenter was announced yesterday: Jennie Gow. She told the BBC:

“I’ve got a lot to learn, and I’m very aware of that, but hopefully the biking community will welcome me.”

Good luck with that. The BBC’s MotoGP coverage always provokes a reaction, that’s for sure.

The ever reliable mob on Crash.net are on form. There’s a delightful mix of dismissal and contempt, reasonable reserving of judgement, and of course a barrage of abuse directed towards Charlie Cox – who has been confirmed, with Steve Parrish, as commentating once more.

Gow is on Twitter, and the response there looks to be warm and welcoming. As it well should be.

I’m surprised that Matt Roberts didn’t get the job, but he remains in the team as pitlane reporter. I have seen nothing of Gow before, but the BBC got it very right with Jake Humphrey on the Formula 1 coverage, so I’m optimistic.

Motorsport on TV in 2009 – that’s the theme for this last normal week of the year

It’s not been an easy year for MotoGP coverage. First it was going to be BBC only, then Eurosport got it back too, albeit with the MotoGP race delayed.

Then there was Sepang, when the BBC switched channels halfway through and finished before the podium and interviews. Not a lot to make die-hard fans happy.

One BBC highlight was an appearance from Randy Mamola, who was lost from the Eurosport coverage. He couldn’t resist a cheeky comment about the furore, if you can call it that.

What of the BBC‘s coverage, then? Suzi Perry is fine, and seems to put riders at ease well and get some decent interviews as a result. Matt Roberts I rate very highly, mainly because he knows what he’s talking about and isn’t self-obsessed.

Which brings me to the commentators. I had warmed to Charlie Cox, but now I’ve very much cooled again. I’ve heard his one-liners too many times (“he needs that like a third armpit”, “are there any questions”, etc), and the tedious banter between him and the rather bland Steve Parrish is tiresome.

There are exceptions though, and one such was Cox bursting Jorge Lorenzo’s pomposity bubble during his victory celebrations in Japan.

Plenty of room for improvement, then. But I’m not sure I can see it being made.