Formula 1 has announced that the Hungarian Grand Prix in July will feature “the first ever F1 broadcast for children”.
A co-production with Sky, which holds the broadcasting rights to show F1 races live in several countries, the project will be made available to broadcasters internationally but is being produced primarily for British and German audiences. It will include “bespoke graphics, sound effects and special features, including 3D augmented graphics on specific camera angles” and be offered in addition to regular coverage.F1 world champion Jenson Button and former IndyCar racer Danica Patrick will front the coverage in the UK, which will be dubbed ‘F1 Juniors’ and be joined by three children for presenting duties. Two of them already work in broadcasting with Sky, while the third is a kart racer. Their broadcast responsibilities will include interviews, co-hosting with Sky Sports F1’s usual team of presenters and race commentary.
Sky Deutschland is yet to determine who will be front of camera for it content, which it is calling ‘Sky Next Generation’. It is “holding an open casting call for up-and-coming reporting talent between the ages of 10 and 14″ to be at the helm of its content aimed at younger audiences.”
Button said: “We are really excited about giving the next generation of F1 fans a platform to show their passion and excitement for the sport as F1 continues to grow in popularity amongst younger audiences.”
Charly Classen, executive vice-president of sport at Sky Deutschland, said: “With Sky Next Generation, we have done real pioneering work in our football broadcasts and shown that we at Sky are courageous and are also prepared to rethink our broadcasts and go in other directions.
“The response to the first Sky Next Generation productions from our viewers was overwhelming and so now we’re taking the next step with the first broadcast in F1. I’m sure young motorsport fans will be excited too.”
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asd
31st May 2023, 14:16
OMG, this is so silly…. I just can’t take it…
I fell in love with F1 in the early 90s when I was 9 or so. I loved it because it was serious, advanced, bloody fast and to the point. The last thing I needed were some silly cartoonish graphics on the screen and the commentators talking in a childish manner to me. I was a small boy aspiring to be a man some day, that’s why sports in general had great appeal. Why would you want to deprive the kid experiencing the sport as it is?
This sounds as bad as imagining a boxing match broadcast for children.
If you want a product for small children, then make a Mario Bros. karting racing series cartoon or whatever.
stefano (@alfa145)
31st May 2023, 18:55
this.
Imagine putting cartoons over a very serious accident. From Grosjean in Bahrein to worse
Jere (@jerejj)
31st May 2023, 14:16
Interesting idea, although one thing I started pondering is the ”Two of them already work in broadcasting with Sky” part.
I doubt they’d really work per se as in being paid employees, or do they?
I’m looking forward to seeing how the references about graphics, sound effects & others will appear on the world feed coverage, although I’m slightly unsure about specific camera angles because the general camera angles themselves will be the same as usual, so these must be something extra that have never appeared before on Hungarian GP weekends.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
31st May 2023, 19:04
@jerejj Children who work on some of Sky’s children’s programming would presumably qualify.
Jere (@jerejj)
31st May 2023, 19:11
@alianora-la-canta Okay, I didn’t know that.
JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
31st May 2023, 14:18
Maybe I’m misremembering, but didn’t the BBC briefly try this back when it the rights? I’m pretty sure there was a kid-friendly commentary option on the red button, and they’d use silly voices and tried to present the safety car like a lost middle-aged couple that had accidentally driven into the track…
Can’t find anything on google now, can anybody back me up on this? Or am I going crazy?
olpeculier (@olpeculier)
31st May 2023, 16:05
You might just be right, it’s ringing bells here too.
Think it’s a silly idea anyway. Any kids watching will presumably have parents or siblings watching that can explain what’s going on?
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
31st May 2023, 16:35
@jackysteeg In 2009 they had a CBBC commentary option available on the red button.
StefMeister (@stefmeister)
31st May 2023, 17:12
I uploaded the CBBC commentary track from Melbourne 2009.
https://archive.org/details/2009-melbourne-cbbc-commentary
PlosslF1
31st May 2023, 23:39
Listened to a small piece of the CBBC commentary and thought it was better than what we get now…
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
31st May 2023, 19:03
@jackysteeg You remember correctly. I tried it once and was unsure how it was meant to attract a child either – a lot of the humour didn’t translate well to non-scripted TV.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
31st May 2023, 22:41
@jackysteeg well had it not been for the others, I’d have said firmly said you were going crazy. What a strange thing. I wasn’t living in the UK then, but I’m surprised I’ve never heard about this.
PT
31st May 2023, 14:31
Would Mickey Mouse be in tow too for presentation duties? Just joking…
In reality, I feel this is a great initiative to popularize F1 among the younger generation.
StephenH
31st May 2023, 14:34
My 12 year old nephew understands Formula One perfectly well and his knowledge would already put most so-called experts and pundits to shame. Give our kids some credit, they’re often smarter than you think …
Coventry Climax
31st May 2023, 16:58
But that’s exactly what we can’t have, smart kids. They’re supposed to become stupid, willing consumer units, nothing else!
Jere (@jerejj)
31st May 2023, 19:19
@StephenH Indeed & he probably isn’t the only 12-year-old with enough knowledge to put most so-called experts to shame, but also many other 12-year-olds, or other people, even myself, at that age.
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
31st May 2023, 21:31
I dare say this is not the target audience. This seems like a great initiative to get kids involved who haven’t had any motorsport exposure, and there’s plenty of those getting around!
Imre (@f1mre)
31st May 2023, 14:52
So is Formula 1 officially a show?
I really don’t see the point. A 10-14 years old understands just enough of the regular coverage. Yes they may miss some of the more detailed stuff but so do casual adult viewers.
It should be for 3-6 year-olds.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
31st May 2023, 19:02
@f1mre Depending on how far off the aim turns out to be, aiming at 10-14-year-olds could be exactly the way to get the under-6 crowd interested.
Leroy (@g-funk)
31st May 2023, 15:04
I don’t mind this. It’s clearly not intended for me and if there is an audience for it, so be it. The important thing to me is it is not taking away from the regular version. If kids want to watch this version, they can watch this version. They can watch the regular version if they want to watch that instead. And honestly, maybe this will mitigate some of the forced sound effects Liberty has been adding to the broadcasts to attract younger viewers.
notagrumpyfan
31st May 2023, 15:51
I wouldn’t mind if Crofty (and even Kravitz) move over to the kids section.
olpeculier (@olpeculier)
31st May 2023, 16:07
“and the bright shiny circles have vanished in a puff of magic smoke and away we play ..”
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st June 2023, 6:46
Ahah, I can hear him saying that!
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
31st May 2023, 16:09
“Oh look children, there goes Mr Max disappearing into the distance!
Can the other funny little cars catch him?
No, no they can’t.
Well wasn’t that fun children … what shall we do now?”
Coventry Climax
31st May 2023, 17:03
Oh? I thought we were already served child level coverage, of a child level show?
Simon
31st May 2023, 17:46
“…joined by three children for presenting duties. Two of them already work in broadcasting with Sky…”
It’s going to be those stage school brats from FYI (Sky News) on a jolly, isn’t it?
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
31st May 2023, 19:00
The quote in the heading is false – there have been F1 broadcasts for children before.
The BBC had a simulcast broadcast for children in every race of its 2009 coverage. It didn’t get the audience figures needed to justify continued inclusion and was dropped for 2010.
The concept is good but children often want to watch something for people designed older than they are, so this will be a tricky balancing act between making the show distinct enough from the standard version to justify its existence and not so different as to alienate the audience it’s trying to attract.
José Lopes da Silva
31st May 2023, 19:34
Sometimes I feel we should get back in time for days when people seemed more adult.
People get offended by pretty much anything nowadays, especially about things that are not related with them and are none of their business if they’re not interested.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
1st June 2023, 7:57
You’re not offended by an initiative aimed at children are you?
José Lopes da Silva
2nd June 2023, 20:12
Look at the majority of the comments here
Tommy C (@tommy-c)
31st May 2023, 21:39
This seems like a great initiative to me. Think about the many kids out there who never encounter motorsport in their upbringing. Unless your parents actively introduce it to you, you’re not likely to be exposed to it in the same way as things like soccer, basketball and cricket which you’d see in the school yard daily. I think for this reason, people understand other sports more easily. F1 to newcomers is complex and so far removed from most people’s concept of sport. There really is a lot to it and while Martin Brundle’s insights are fantastic, a lot would be too complex for a child’s first experience of watching an F1 race. Remember this initiative isn’t replacing the ordinary coverage. I see it as expanding the net to capture a wider audience with a more accessible format for the uninitiated. If the end result is more passionate F1 fans in 20 years, brilliant!
Bojangles
1st June 2023, 8:06
Drive to Survive is already full of children and babies, so this seems a logical following step… Wokeness is everywhere nowadays…
PS: I wonder how they are going to translate Max´s vocabulary to the children…
Maisch (@maisch)
1st June 2023, 9:15
Well my kids are a bit younger than the ones mentioned in the article, but love numbers and data, the more on the screen the better, im not sure this is for them. What they would really want is commenting in their own language, though its way way to expensive so i keep to F1TV:
oweng (@oweng)
1st June 2023, 10:57
Aaaahhh change! I don’t like change! If it were good enough for me back in the day then it should be good enough for everyone! Political correctness gone mad! Kids are too soft these days! Children’s programmes? Whatever next? Children’s picture books? When I was 5 my parents read War and Peace to me and I was grateful.
Relax people. It isn’t replacing existing programming. It won’t turn a generation of 7 year olds into gibbering zombies. Any children who enjoy current coverage don’t need to watch this instead. It may bring in new fans of the sport who will move across to the standard coverage when they grow out of this. And if no one watches, it will get pulled.
It never ceases to amaze me how many of the people who complain about the young generation not being tough enough, come across as just so completely terrified of anything different to their own narrow way of life.
asd
1st June 2023, 11:47
@oweng
Owen, you are way too bitter about people simply being against something you are not against.
You come across as completely terrified of having a discussion where people are critical of something new, instead of blindly accepting it only because it’s new. Don’t be scared, mate :))
oweng (@oweng)
1st June 2023, 13:13
You dismissed it completely out of hand, called it silly and made a false claim that young children were now going to be deprived of the experience you (and I) had watching F1 when younger.
That doesn’t sound like someone wanting to have a discussion to me.
I have young children, they aren’t at all engaged in F1 despite me watching every minute of it. Something like this might grab them. Or it might not. And I won’t think any less of them if it does. Or if it doesn’t!
Just seems like something very strange to get so worked up about to me. If you don’t agree with it or don’t like it then don’t watch it. But my issue here is that many comments seem to think that this sort of idea is somehow indicative of generational failure!
Stop acting like you’d like to cancel something you don’t like that others might. Especially when absolutely nothing will change for your experience.
Tiaki Porangi
1st June 2023, 13:28
You all know what that means in today’s world – how much of THAT stuff is going to be shown on the feed?
Tonnes, I venture.
They’ve finally reached F1.