F1 fans miss crucial moment of Aussie Webber’s race weekend
Ten Network’s new sport channel One has infuriated motor racing fans by failing to show live qualification for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix – during which Australian driver Mark Webber suffered an incident that effectively ended his hopes of winning the race.
In what was the crucial moment of Webber’s weekend, he was blocked in his flying lap, relegating him to the tenth row of the grid.
But – despite One’s show Sports Tonight having told viewers the qualification would be shown live – One continued with its coverage of the Indian Premier League cricket.
Fans flocked to Ten’s forums to air their disgruntlement.
One complained: “F1 fans going to get shafted again”
Another said: “I guess I’ll have to watch it on the net to get ANY coverage at all. Very poor by Ten/One.”
Another added: “If this is meant to be a better coverage then it sucks. This new move is a backward step for me by Southern Cross 10. How can less content be a better service?”
Yet another said: “We have an Australian driver doing great guns in the sport yet we always seem to treat F1 as a second fiddle sport. No wonder australian drivers in F1 are few and far between. I mean to break into the cricket for a quick 1 hour coverage of qualifying I dont think is much to ask for, do you? Qualifying is a big part of F1. Get your act together 10 One or leave it to the professionals like Pay TV.”
However, the arrival of One has improved the lot of Formula One fans to a certain extent, as they now get to see the main race live. Previously Ten used to air a delayed version in the early hours of Monday morning.
Update: A spokesman for Ten told Mumbrella: “We endeavour to show F1 qualifying live whenever we can. Saturday nights are often the busiest of the week in terms of live sporting commitments, including AFL and IPL as well as other sports. In this instance, an IPL match started at 8.30 pm and we ran that live. We then commenced F1 qualifying immediately at the conclusion of the IPL. We strive hard to balance the needs of our audience in considering our live schedule.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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Stop complaining – just use formula1.com
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Qualifying may be a big part of F1. But it is still NOT the event that decides who wins and who doesn’t. The IPL game was a win/lose situation so I understand ONE’s decision. Would the shoe be on the other foot, if they broke into the GP itself to show practice for the IPL game?
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Bad analogy.
Qualifying and the race are linked the same way as IPL fixtures, and IPL finals. Qualifying is not a practice, cricket practice is not shown at all.
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