''Grand Prix'', a British television programme based on the

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

World Championship, had three main presenters during its history:

Murray Walker Graeme Murray Walker (10 October 1923 – 13 March 2021) was an English motorsport Sportscaster, commentator and journalist. He provided television commentary of live Formula One coverage for the BBC between 1976 and 1996, and for ITV (TV netw ...

from 1978 to 1996,

Jake Humphrey Jacob John Humphrey (born 7 October 1978) is an English television presenter, best known for formerly hosting Champions League football on BT Sport, CBBC's '' Bamzooki'' and BBC Sport's coverage of Formula 1 Grand Prix. Early life Born i ...

from 2009 to 2012 and Suzi Perry from 2013 to 2015. Among the more occasional hosts were Steve Rider,

Des Lynam Desmond Michael Lynam (born 17 September 1942) is an Irish-born British television and radio presenter. In a broadcasting career spanning more than forty years, he has hosted television coverage of many of the world's major sporting events, pr ...

Sue Barker Susan Barker (born 19 April 1956) is a British former television presenter and professional tennis player. During her playing career, Barker won 15 WTA Tour-level singles titles, including a major at the 1976 French Open. She reached a career- ...

and Lee McKenzie.

Production

In the early days of the programme, all races apart from the

British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor racing event organised in the United Kingdom by Motorsport UK. First held by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) in 1926 British Grand Prix, 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 ...

were commentated at

BBC Television Centre Television Centre (TVC), formerly known as BBC Television Centre, is a building complex in White City, London, White City, West London, which was the headquarters of BBC Television from 1960 to 2013, when BBC Television moved to Broadcasting H ...

in London due to the high costs of travelling to races with live broadcasts done on location. The team would not usually travel to non-European races to commentate unless another broadcaster paid for the travel expenses. Murray Walker would usually be flown to the location of the tracks to record a short scene before returning to England to watch the race from London with some broadcasts having commentary live with highlights aired or recorded commentary in highlights. On occasions the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

employed a "ghost commentator" which was someone who would be in touch with the production team in London and gained access to timing monitors so that cameras could record what was occurring off the track. The first "ghost commentator" was Mark Fogarty with Joe Saward taking over in the early 1990s.

Conception

Following the excitement and interest of the 1976 Formula One season, the BBC decided to cover all races from 1978. The BBC originally wanted to have Raymond Baxter as commentator but his commitments with ''

Tomorrow's World ''Tomorrow's World'' is a British television series about contemporary developments in science and technology. First broadcast on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003. The ''Tomorrow's World' ...

'' and air shows that aired on BBC taking his priority, BBC had

on their list as well and Walker got the job. The corporation had initially shown the odd race that featured on the calendar from 1959 till 1977 either live in segments or in highlights (these mostly being Monaco, Belgian, British (BBC being host broadcaster), German, Dutch and Italian Grands Prix) but elected to go with as many races as possible from 1978.

History

1978–1996

The first broadcast of the programme came at the

1978 Monaco Grand Prix The 1978 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 7 May 1978 at Monaco. It was the fifth race of the 1978 World Championship of F1 Drivers and the 1978 International Cup for F1 Constructors. The 75-lap race was won by Frenchman Pa ...

and the show featured one of the most iconic theme tunes in sport, with Fleetwood Mac's "

The Chain "The Chain" is a song by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on their 1977 album '' Rumours''. It is the only song from the album with writing credits for all five members (Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie, John ...

". In 1978, the BBC showed 11 races,

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Most of their highlight shows were aired on BBC2 late at night although the British Grand Prix was shown live and they aired highlights of the Canadian Grand Prix on the Wednesday after the race on ''

Sportsnight ''Sportsnight'' was a midweek BBC television sports programme that ran from 1968 until 1997. Sportsview ''Sportsnight'' was a successor to ''Sportsview'' which started on 8 April 1954. ''Sportsview'' was devised by Paul Fox (TV), Paul Fox, la ...

'' and also the first race in Argentina on the Wednesday after again on Sportsnight both on BBC1. While South Africa, Brazil, USA West Long Beach (both as highlights the week later) and Sweden were shown on ITV. 1979 saw

and

live on BBC1, highlights of all their races were shown on BBC2 except

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

which was aired on the Wednesday after the race on ''

'', and the Austrian Grand Prix which was not aired due to a TV dispute with host broadcaster ORF and the race promoters. From the Italian Grand Prix onwards saw

James Hunt James Simon Wallis Hunt (29 August 1947 – 15 June 1993) was a British racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Shunt", Hunt won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with McLaren, and wo ...

join the commentary booth alongside Walker after Hunt announced his retirement from racing that year. 1980 saw

and

live on BBC1, highlights of all their races were shown on BBC2 except

. From 1981 onwards, they showed some of the races live in '' Sunday Grandstand'' and the rest as highlights in ''Grand Prix''. with all of the European races shown live in segments on ''Sunday Grandstand'', with highlights on the ''Grand Prix'' programme. Some races were shown only as highlights in ''Grand Prix'' due to either race times in the morning/evening or because ''

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

'' was showing another major events at the same time. The last race of the season in 1981 Las Vegas Grand Prix, 1986 Australian Grand Prix both due to being title deciders were shown live strangely the 1982 Las Vegas Grand Prix with John Watson being in title contention at the last race of the season was not shown live the final race title deciders in 1983 South Africa and 1984 Portugal were both live on Grandstand these first 4 years of regular live BBC coverage 1981-84 the title went to the last race of the season. 1992 saw Jonathan Palmer join as a pit reporter for the live races but following the 1993 Canadian Grand Prix, Hunt died from a heart attack and was replaced in the commentary box by Palmer. For the following race in France, BBC aired a tribute show to Hunt following their highlights show. In 1995, all the races were shown live and all qualifying sessions were shown live in 1996. previously qualifying was shown as a brief report during ''Grandstand'', apart from qualifying for the

which was generally shown live and in full. Many of these live races were fronted by either Steve Rider or former tennis player

End of ''Grand Prix'' (first run)

In 1995 it was announced that the BBC had lost the television broadcast rights to Formula One to ITV for the 1997 season. Murray Walker would continue in his role as the lead commentator. The final race broadcast by the programme was the 1996 Japanese Grand Prix in which viewers saw

Damon Hill Damon Graham Devereux Hill (born 17 September 1960) is an English former racing driver and broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Hill won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won 22 Grands Prix acr ...

win his only world championship.

2009–2011

In March 2008, ITV announced the coverage would be transferred to the BBC from the 2009 season to allow ITV to focus on its' UEFA Champions League football coverage. The BBC would air all races Live on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

with

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

being used if clashes occurred. Practice sessions were aired on

BBC Red Button BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to cl ...

with commentary provided from

BBC Radio 5 Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts mainly news, sport, Talk show, discussion, interviews and phone-ins, and is on air 24 hours a day. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadca ...

. Highlights of the races on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

at 7:00pm on Sunday evenings (except for races such as Brazil and Canada, where later start times meant the highlights were aired late at night or Australia, Japan or Malaysia which were shown late Sunday afternoon on BBC One or BBC Two). Lee McKenzie made her debut as the main presenter at the 2010 Japanese Grand Prix however the qualifying was postponed until Sunday morning, resulting in the qualifying highlights being scrapped on Saturday afternoon.She remarked when facing a similar situation in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

for Channel 4 F1 podcast, 'I was grabbing people to fill air time', before the session was postponed on Friday night. The

2010 Korean Grand Prix The 2010 Korean Grand Prix (formally the 2010 Formula 1 Korean Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held on 24 October 2010 at the Korea International Circuit in Yeongam, South Jeolla, South Korea. It was the 17th round of the 2010 Formul ...

had a delay of the start by 10 minutes, then a red flag stoppage after three laps which lasted 45 minutes both in rain. That resulted in coverage initially delaying

The Andrew Marr Show ''The Andrew Marr Show'' is a Sunday morning talk show presented by Andrew Marr. It was broadcast on BBC One from 2005 to 2021. The programme replaced the long-running ''Breakfast with Frost'' as the network's flagship Sunday talk show when Dav ...

which was scheduled at 9:15am, before the rest of the race was moved from

at 9:30am. This channel switch resulted in 273 viewers complaining that they had set their PVRs to record the race but had missed out on its climax, when most of the exciting incidents occurred. BBC spokesman said to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' "Sunday's Korean Grand Prix was delayed due to extreme weather. The subsequent disruption to the schedule was flagged up to the audience throughout via the commentary and was also made clear again just prior to switching the coverage to BBC Two. However, the BBC also has a responsibility to reflect a wide range of interests and therefore the decision was taken to switch the F1 coverage to BBC Two until its conclusion." The 2011 Canadian Grand Prix saw a red flag that lasted 120 minutes, that resulted in coverage initially cancelling ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...

'' which was scheduled to air at 8:00pm before coverage of the Grand Prix switched to

and

BBC HD BBC HD was a high-definition television channel owned by the BBC. The channel was initially run as a trial from 15 May 2006 until becoming a full service on 1 December 2007 before its discontinuation on 25 March 2013. It broadcast only during ...

at 9:00pm, that resulted in 700 fans complaining about the cancellation of ''Antiques Roadshow'' in favour of the Grand Prix.

2012–2015

In July 2011, BBC announced that half their races would be live from 2012 and got a contract to 2018 with

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

covering all races.

Martin Brundle Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster who competed in Formula One from to . In endurance racing (motorsport), endurance racing, Brundle won the World Sportscar Champions ...

and Ted Kravitz left BBC for Sky at the end of 2011 and were replaced by Ben Edwards as lead commentator and former

Jordan Grand Prix Jordan Grand Prix was a Formula One constructor that competed from 1991 to 2005. The team was named after Irish businessman and founder Eddie Jordan and was based at Silverstone, England, but raced with an Irish licence. In early 2005, the team ...

designer Gary Anderson joining as reporter and technical analyst. Jake Humphrey continued to host,

Eddie Jordan Edmund Patrick Jordan (30 March 1948 – 20 March 2025) was an Irish motorsport executive, broadcaster, racing driver and businessman. From to , Jordan served as founder and team principal of Jordan in Formula One. Born in Dublin, Jordan in ...

analysed on live races and

David Coulthard David Marshall Coulthard (born 27 March 1971) is a British former racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster from Scotland who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "DC", Coulthard was runner-up in the Formula One World Drivers' ...

stayed as colour commentator. Humphrey was forced to skip Canada and Europe due to him hosting

Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

for BBC's ''

Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a Association football, football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights during the Premier League season. ''Match of the Day'' is one of the BBC's longest-runn ...

'' and skipped Germany and Hungary due to him hosting the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

for BBC. Lee McKenzie filled in for him at these races and her role was taken by Tom Clarkson. Humphrey left at the end of 2012 to join

BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...

and was replaced by Suzi Perry.

Allan McNish Allan McNish (born 29 December 1969) is a British former racing driver, commentator, and journalist from Scotland. He is a three-time winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, most recently in 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, 2013, as well as a three-time wi ...

joined as analyst and Clarkson joined full time. BBC aired all three practice session for their live races on

. Anderson left at the end of 2013. The BBC kept their remaining staff for 2014 and 2015.

''Grand Prix'' axed

In late 2015, BBC wanted a budget cut of £21 million to the sports department. In December 2015, BBC axed ''Grand Prix'' as part of their budget cuts and was replaced by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

from 2016. Coulthard, Jordan, Edwards and McKenzie all joined

in the same roles. Some episodes are still available but hidden on the BBC's website.

Broadcast history

Presenters

Races

Below is a summary of the BBC's broadcasts on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

and

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and ...

Documentaries

Notable moments

* The

1979 French Grand Prix The 1979 French Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 1 July 1979 at Dijon-Prenois near Dijon, France. It marked not just the first victory of a forced-induction car in Formula One since the Alfa Romeo 159's victory at the Spanish Gr ...

where Gilles Villeneuve and

René Arnoux René Alexandre Arnoux (; born 4 July 1948) is a French former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Arnoux won seven Formula One Grands Prix across 12 seasons. In 1977, Arnoux won the European Formula Two Championship. His be ...

had a tremendous battle for second place in the closing laps and is considered to be one of the finest motorsports battles of all time. * The 1982 Monaco Grand Prix where the lead changed five times in the last five laps. * The fatal accident of Riccardo Paletti at the 1982 Canadian Grand Prix. * The

1991 Australian Grand Prix The 1991 Australian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 3 November 1991 at the Adelaide Street Circuit. It was the 16th and final race of the 1991 Formula One World Championship. Torrential rain resulted in the race being stopped a ...

which had been the shortest race in history until the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. *

Nigel Mansell Nigel Ernest James Mansell (; born 8 August 1953) is a British former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Mansell won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in with Williams, and won 31 Grands Prix across 15 seasons ...

winning the 1992 Championship after many failed attempts. * Ayrton Senna's dominating win at

Donington Park Donington Park is a motorsport Race track, circuit located near Castle Donington in Leicestershire, England. The circuit business is now owned by Jonathan Palmer's MotorSport Vision organisation, and the surrounding Donington Park Estate, sti ...

in the 1993 European Grand Prix. * The deaths of

Roland Ratzenberger Roland Walter Ratzenberger (; 4 July 1960 – 30 April 1994) was an Austrian racing driver, who competed in Formula One at three Grands Prix in . Born and raised in Salzburg, Ratzenberger began his racing career as a protégé of Walter Lechn ...

and

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Senna won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with McLaren, and—at the time of his death—held ...

at the

1994 San Marino Grand Prix The 1994 San Marino Grand Prix (formally the 14º Gran Premio di San Marino) was a Formula One motor race held on 1 May 1994 at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, located in Imola, Italy. It was the third race of the 1994 Formula One World Cha ...

. *

Michael Schumacher Michael Schumacher (; born 3 January 1969) is a German former racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to and from to . Schumacher won a record-setting seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles, tied by Lewis Hamilton in ...

winning the 1994 Championship in controversial circumstances. *

winning the 1996 Championship in Japan with Murray Walker saying live "And I've got to stop, because I've got a lump in my throat." *

Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver, who competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Jota. Button competed in Formula One from to , and won the World Drivers' Championship in with Brawn; ...

and

Brawn GP Brawn GP was a Formula One constructor which competed in the 2009 Formula One World Championship, with drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello. The team was formed in 2009 by a management buyout led by Ross Brawn of the Honda Racing F1 T ...

winning their debut race at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix first race of the revived series * Button winning the longest race in F1 history 04:04:39.537 at the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix This broadcast ran for six hours over three channels (

and

) * The fatal accident of

Jules Bianchi Jules Lucien André Bianchi (; 3 August 1989 – 17 July 2015) was a French racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Born and raised in Nice, Bianchi was the grandson of endurance racing driver Mauro Bianchi and the great-nephew ...

at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix *

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

becoming a three time champion and first British driver to successfully defend a championship

2015 United States Grand Prix The 2015 United States Grand Prix (formally known as the 2015 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that took place on 25 October 2015. The race was contested over fifty-six laps and held at the Circuit of the Americas ...

Notes

{{notelist

References

External links

Andrew Benson's Blog Archives
1978 British television series debuts 2015 British television series endings British television series revived after cancellation BBC Sport 1970s British sports television series 1980s British sports television series 1990s British sports television series 2000s British sports television series 2010s British sports television series BBC One original programming BBC Two original programming BBC Three original programming Motorsports television series Formula One on television