Help shape classic grand prix

It would be good to have some option to fill in with "full" highlights of some of the better races that narrowly missed out (and got short highlights) before.

Where a specific track has a history, it's great that the "classics" come from it (it means you can get to know the track a bit better) - otherwise I'm not too bothered, you could select based on any criteria you like and I'd be happy.

I agree with #1, some of the races which were shown as short highlights could be shown in full version.

As for missing first 30 years of F1 - as far as I know BBC showed in 64-75 a lot of F1 races in "Wheelbase" program (something a bit like Top Gear). If the tapes were available in your archives, then perhaps you could check them out and find some of the races. That would help a lot with having variety of eras in highlights.

Why don't you show a whole classic year instead.
At the start of next season, pick a year and follow it through, in order. That way we can all see how the year developed, which i think would be a lot more entertaining than showing races from different years.
that way you would never run out of options for the "classic grand prix series"
anyway, i like the idea even if nobody else does!

#3 - You're onto a winner there! There have been some pretty uneventful seasons (Schumacher years 2000-2004) but if we could see a "classic" season, such as the brilliant (albeit tragic) 1982 season from start to finish you could see how it ebbed and flowed throughout.

If nothing else you would avoid people saying "Spa 1998" whenever there is a classic GP blog!

I agree with no.3, it'd be great to see a whole season - it'd have to be a close one though, not where one driver walked it!

Or choose a driver / team for each race and let us choose one from one of their wins, So we can choose from 5 of Sennas wins one race, Prosts, Mansell etc or Williams, Ferrari, McLaren - it doesn't have to be track related then and you might have some in the archives from before 1980 for some teams.

I think Pauls idea, above #3, is a great one.

Many of the classic races are classics because that seasons championship has been tight or involved some form of controversy or that the competition between the drivers/teams has been so close.

Being able to follow a season from race to race would be a good opportunity to showcase everything that we love about F1, which isn't just the racing. If your researchers could dig up the issues of the time and update this race to race as the season progresses then I think this would be something that a lot of fans would follow with great interest either to bring back great memories or perhaps it would help fill in on the history for newer F1 fans.

Everyone knows about the Senna/Prost battles but how many of todays younger fans would have seen anything more than a few minutes worth of footage to cover this? These great battles deserve more and only the BBC can help put this right.

Perhaps you could get this years F1 Drivers Champion or the legendary Murray Walker to pick his classic year and take it from there.

Paul's idea is good. I also like Stuey's idea (No.5) with showing classic grand prix spanning the career and story of a particular driver or team. A mix of the greats (Moss, Villenuve, Senna, Prost, Schumacher etc.) and some of the current crop. Or possibly still, an interview with current driver each race, with them picking a race that inspired them/they enjoyed, plus a race showcasing their best performance.

Let us vote for the genuine favourite grand prixs from yesteryear. By that I mean let us choose from the same options as we did the year before. The feature has lost some of the magic this year because all the choices are not the best. Personlly I would like to watch spa 98 each year, and in doing it this way it night attract some newer fans to the sport.

I like the ideas above. Could we get the views of drivers be it current or past on their favourites races for that particular GP, or give us a longer list of short highlights and we pick the 5 we wish to see the longer highlights for. But i must say i do like the way the current Classic GP works

Paul (#3) is bang on the money, that's a fantastic idea.

I like the idea of concentrating on a single season and running with it, with a season preview from Murray perhaps (wishful thinking I know)

I agree with #3. I have had this idea before but never got around to suggesting it. Showing a whole years worth of full race highlights over the course of the season would be really interesting.

I am a pretty new fan, and seeing a whole season develop would teach me, and lot of other people a lot. I guess the only small problem is amount of races next year is more than..well.ever, so it wouldn't completely match up.

The other idea is great also.

#3 is a fantastic idea. I would also suggest if that was implemented showing highlights for the key qualifying sessions for that particular year if any were key to the races - depending on year of course.

And I think it'd be worth Andrew, to check all the seasons beforehand to see which options are 'available' and which are not and then to get approval to see who wants what season based on the options available.

Hi Andrew,
First of all, I applaud the BBC for providing so much extra content to the F1 fan, and digging around the archive really does provide an excellent resource for the lifetime F1 follower.
Seeing an old school Murray and James is great!
Like others above, I think you should focus on one classic GP and make it full length. That way you get to see all the texture of the race, not just the leaders, but all the other players and little incidents we might have forgotten about down the years.
I think you should still include the other four races, but make them ten minute clips.
If you run out of races down the years you could graduate some of the shorter clips to full races.
Within a few years we'll have every race since 1980 online in some form.
That would be awesome.
P

How about a different theme for each weekend for one of the races ie show a couple of classic races from the country of the current race plus have a couple of races with greatest car, most overtakes, bizzare events, 1 time race winners, Damon Hill/Nigel Mansell's favourite race etc. I would also like to see some of the non-championship races from the 70's which are in the BBC archive, some have been shown on ESPN Classic.

How about showing the classic races overnight on BBC2 / BBC3 ?

That way there are no issues with Freeview and they can also be recorded easily, unlike when they are shown on the red button.

Classic seasons would be good, working backwards from 1996, 1995, 1994....

I agree that I would like to see the whole year of certain seasons, particularly from the 60's, 70's and 80's. Maybe you guys could use iPlayer to host a library of all the races, to allow us to access them at any time, then have a featured race, chosen by different people (presenters, drivers, team members both from the BBC and F1 teams) for each race of the year?

Number 3's is a great idea. Alternatively, there could be a theme, for instance, McLaren's greatest wins, or Prost's greatest drives, best wet races etc.

i had been thinking for quite some time that showing a full season was a good idea and im chuffed you have opened this up to suggestions.
i watch the classic gp every week without fail. i love learning about the past greats from before my time, as well as re living those great moments i remember from my childhood like mansell chasing senna through the streets of monaco of fresh tyres but un able to pass, and the emergence of michael schumacher. i dont agreee with some comments saying "ignore the schumacher years" every season had varied levels of excitement for different reasons and i challenge anyone to come up with a year where there has been less than 5 exciting races, even dull seasons have exciting individual races. though i even found bahrain this season exciting but thats just me.

my ideal format would be at the start of the season name 5 years, say 85, 92, 97, 2000, and 2008 for example. then at the first race you give the subscribers a choice of which year they want to see extended highlights for. then repeat this for all the races. some weeks you would only be able to show 4 because of the different number of race meetings held every year but im sure you can work this out yourself.

i could quite happily watch all 5 full length races every week time permitting, i really cant get enough f1.

Hi Andrew, Web team and Classic F1 fans,
Firstly, thanks for the Classic Canadian GP races - great stuff, just a shame that it posed a problem for Freeviwers with poor web access, I'm just glad I've now got a £70 free TV HD sat system from a well-known DIY chain (with the letters B and Q in it!) and the 'Red Button' service picture quality is better too! Yes, I wholeheartedly with Paul #3, this was mentioned on a posting a few months ago, but I feared this would never happen, but it seems that with enough support it could become a reality. I also think Steve #16 has got a point - a late night one-off showing on BBC2 instead of say, Ceefax or BBC News Channel along side the usual Red Button and iPlayer availability should keep everyone happy. The only problem is it could put an end to these lively blogs every other week as the next race has already been decided at the start of the year. Unless you have a decision for pre '80 and post '97 'support' races that have a connection to the next 2011 GP, these shorts could also be used for race weekends that don't feature a race from 19xx due to the season being shorter than 2011. My vote would go to 1988 - Sennas maiden title, still in the glorious Turbo-era (though there was major disparity with the atmos engines) and a showing of dominance by McLaren that was the antithesis of '02 - 2 of THE all-time greats both sharing equal status unlike Schumacher #1 and Barrichello '#1a'. Sorry for the long post, but I want this feature to continue next year and beyond,

Cheers

"One thing I should add is that one of the key aims of this series is to entice sports fans who are less familiar with F1 to want to follow the forthcoming race, so I think we'll have to be wary about focusing too much on events that no longer exist - as would be the case if we were to pick one single season, for example."

How many people actually watch the Classic GP's behind the Red Button and online? Just curious.

Although it may not be possible, I think we should start from the very beginning with Silverstone 1950, then work our way through the years from there with short and long for 2 races per race (if that makes sense), and if and when we get to 1997 when ITV took over, you can probably do extended highlights without incurring adbreaks (or ask other countries who broadcast the event if they have tapes of the races still in their archives)

The idea of seeing a full seasons's highlights shows is a good one.

Other ideas could be to show full programmes for races that only got the short highlights treatment over the past couple of seasons. That still leaves plenty of choice for a while yet.

How about showing a complete Grand Prix from start to finish as shown on Grandstand.

Another idea could be to show F1-related documentaries like the tribute show to James Hunt or the one shown the day after Nigel Mansell won the championship. This is Your Life also had programmes on Murray Walker and Damon Hill. Jeremy Clarkson did a QED programme on Benetton in '95 or '96.

Still plenty of scope to continue this feature. Hope this helps.

I agree with anyone who put forward the idea of full length classic races. All you get these days either on the red button or youtube or whatever, is clips of old races. I would love nothing more than to be able to watch hours of old F1 action before the current action gets underway.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

Some of these seem a bit rubbish to be fair. I mean, it seems to me, if you've run out of "classic" material, you've simply run out. I don't think the "classic season" idea is much good. I'd rather see you guys run footage of processional races that at least correspond to the current race.

Why not have a classic F1 cars feature instead? I remember ITV doing some great features with Brundle running old cars around Silverstone. Why not send him out again in some classic GP cars? And you can just link to the old posts of the classic races at the same time because obviously not everyone will have seen them the first time you posted them.

Good suggestion by number 3. I also like the idea of themed events (i.e. best wins in the wet, races with the most overtakes - or even races with Murray's greatest moments! etc) but I also think that it would be hard to do this and come up with themes.

I also like the idea of increasing this series to old F1 documentaries, or perhaps looking into the possibility of making new ones! What about a 'best race of xxxx year'?

Or including old footage of other single seater events if there are any?

How about a a "Making Classic Moments" compilation with specific relevance to the forthcoming Grand Prix in question?

So, prior to the Canadian GP, we could have had a few great overtaking moves on the circuit, maybe a few incidents / accidents.

Also relevant clips of current events, for example, Mark Webber is currently enjoying the best success of his career, so a few clips of key moments in his career, etc.

Perhaps also include clips of statistical importance, for example if a certain driver is going to be racing in his 100th Grand Prix, or if a team is on a particular streak, for example consecutive podium positions.

Overall, the sequence could really capture the essence of the event in question and really get die hard fans and more casual fans in the mood.

Personally, I'd like to see you offer up choices of Driver or Team for each race weekend. We could then see the history behind each, satisfying (in some part) the F1 junkies and providing an excellent education to the uninitiated.

On the Driver front you could chart, for example, Alonso's career from Minardi to Renault/Ferrari or Button's travels from Williams to McLaren.

Similary, Team profiles could chart their early days (bearing in mind name changes - I'm thinking Jordan through Force India etc) through to their current incarnations.

You have a real chance here to educate AND entertain...

I don't think you necessarily need to keep the voting format. If you did there is no reason why you couldn't put races previously offered for selection on offer again. There are some very good races which missed out on being a 'full-highlights selection.'

If you want to make the classic Grand Prix feature a preview to the weekend, why not give it its own 45 min/ 1 hour show? Select 4 or 5 classic races, do short highlights of them all and have Murray Walker (preferably, or at least someone involved with F1 in the era the races took place) do a bit of explanation and introduction between them? It would fit nicely into a Friday night BBC2 schedule, or slot in on the red button after practice too.

OK, so, how about picking 1 full race (or highlights) and maybe a feature, I recall there was always something F1 related features on programmes like sportsnight, interviews, short documentaries .. what else have you got in the archives? interviews with drivers? team owneres, I can recall several features on Colin Chapman and Ken Tyrell over the years.

The other thing that springs to mind is to run a 'Classic Season' alongside the current season. Give people a chance to vote on a classic season and then you run the corresponding round from say 1988 with 2011 (I know this is going to cause problems because the old seasons where 16 races long but you could plug the gaps with other features as mentioned above) It wouldn't matter so much if the races are in different venues as you'd be running Race 1, Race 2 etc

might be worth a try.

it would be great if u could show 30 mins-60 mins highlights of all the races and maybe even the full race for the winner each week. There should be a click voting system under the videos, and the race highlights should be on bbc red button at sometime.

Agreed with Number 3!

I don't know if this is possible or not, but classic races shown with commentary from the drivers giving their point of view.

Obviously this is not possible in certain circumstances such as Ayrton Senna's classic moments.

But could get Mansell commenting on his eventful moments? and so on ...

Some things that spring to mind is commentary with Martin Brundle on the 1996 (I think!) Australian GP where he got flipped upside down several times.

Could also do commentary from David Coulthard on the 1998 Belgium GP where he had that famous coming together when Michael Schumacher was lapping him.

P.S An irrelevent suggestion, but it would be nice to see more videos from the BBC team about a race weekend from their point of view and just see the conversations they have about F1 ... in a casual format, maybe while they are having dinner or in the hotel etc.

why not carry on with the 5 grand prix per race idea, but have the races decided by an official polling system with the ability to vote for any 5 of the races previously held at the location, or possibly for the round number of each event [excluding any of the older races containing fatalities, because no-one wants to see those]. EG: if india was round 15 next year for example, people could vote for the races that were the 15th round of the season.

Races would be bound to change slightly each year because people would be unlikely to vote for the same race twice in a row

I also quite like the alternative commentary ideas for repeated races

The best way to do this would be to feature certain themes per race, to keep the concept fresh.

Races with a vibrant history you still can show the previous years at the track. Other events you can feature key races from drivers (Senna, Mansell, Schumacher etc). Whilst in other races you can focus on particular teams.

Branching out you could also feature the best wet weather races, races which changed the face of Formula 1 (Imola 94, Austria 02 etc). The choices are endless.

Andrew, massive thanks for letting us contribute to this idea. Classic Grand Prix is superb and should definately continue....
Short Comment:
Covering a full 'classic' season is a fantastic idea, along with showing extended highlights of races that previously received only the short highlights option imho.
Long Comments (Sorry):
I think the full season re-run idea is superb, however as per Andrew's comment...:
"One thing I should add is that one of the key aims of this series is to entice sports fans who are less familiar with F1 to want to follow the forthcoming race, so I think we'll have to be wary about focusing too much on events that no longer exist - as would be the case if we were to pick one single season, for example."
... it sounds as if this is an unlikely option. Furthermore, although i completely appreciate the bbc's 'aim' with this series (as above) it seems that it would be increasingly difficult to 'entice sports fans who are less familiar with the sport' by showing what is essentially 'events that no longer exist' - a classic Grand Prix. So what exactly are we voting on? What we think is best for showing a classic Grand Prix (OLD races and/or championships etc that are exactly what it says on th tin), or things to entice people new to the sport ((Arguably) extensive media coverage, driver bios, the 'glitz and glamour' of the Formula 1 circus (and not necessarily the on-track racing itself)).
My honest guesstimate is that people who are new to the sport because of the latest resurgence (Hamilton, further expanding calendar etc), are not going to be interested in races from previous eras. (I'm open to corrections here), and if they are, then you already have your answer - show them in all their glory.
Point being is i think what the BBC are trying to acheive and what 'Classic Grand Prix' literally is, is two different things. Maybe the best thing to do would be to split the two ideas, have classic grand prix in their best form (full race length etc) as a stand alone Classic Grand Prix project, and have a seperate idea(s) for enticing fans in a smaller package on a race weekend - history of the event, short highlights, opinions etc from old racers/people invloved - something that is more focused on the latest event.
I think 'the aficionados' like myself would love to see a full season, or if not then more of the same, but to try and make 'Classic Grand Prix' into a carrot for new fans for a new race is completely defeating the object?
Lastly, (apologies for this question as im sure it would've been asked before, but im new to the forums), if the Classic Grand Prix series is running out of steam, is there possibility that old races/championships could be released as dvd collections? That way you could make something out of the series - as im sure 'aficionados' would jump at the chance to own some of the stuff that's been shown here, and then a new system/project for enticing new fans could be put into place?
Cheers :)

One more vote for post #3's idea. I'd love to see a classic year of highlights from the 80's.

I agree with #37, themes would be the best way to go.
Accident filled weekends, wet races, recovery drives.
Ofcourse everyone remembers Alonso, Schumacher and Raikkonen scything through the field at Suzuka '05 that kinda thing.
Also choice between drivers who dominate one track, e.g Raikkonen and Schumacher both great record at Spa

Also, Just to add to my previous comment (#35), how about races from other levels of motorsport involving future F1 drivers? e.g Lewis Hamilton in GP2.

Although having the license for these junior formulae may be a problem ...

CrustyFlungDung puts a good idea across in number 30...i had a similar idea earlier but couldnt remember my beeb password

i would also like some "f1 junkie" type stuff...history of the teams, or short documetary/interview things with the people you dont normally see...things like how do the caterers manage to cook for a couple of hundred people in a kitchen no bigger than a broom cupboard, or the PR people...and how to get a chance in these jobs so the future generations may get some inspiration...not everyone is nuts enough to be a driver LOL

pick...ANY year that the grand Prix series was run on all BUT tilke tracks, and you will have a classic series...
THose of you who remember the years of the 60's through the 80's and pick any one of those years to show classic racing ON ROAD courses with the likes of peterson, Stewart Lauda Fittipaldi Amon Cevert Hill Clark Donohue,Huntjust to name a few... There were NO street circuits then except Monte Carlo... Nurbergring, South Africa Mexico Mosport, WATKINS GLEN...yea, #.$ miles long, one of the longer F-1 tracks with PLENTY of places to pass
Hey isn't that a world class track that is used BY NASCAR (at 3400lbs)and INDY cars and prototype endurance cars THIS YEAR...?
but not good enuf for that wallet rapist Bernie...?
DUH....1

One problem with this classic season idea is next season has more races han ever before, and when you sonsider in the early days there were just 7 race including the indy 500, some races my have to have no classic gp at all.

In a documentary I watched (about the backstage team during the 1997 European Grand Prix I believe), they had cameras inside the commentary box filming Murray and Martin commentating on the race. How about showing classic races which include the commentator's viewpoint, as in what they can see on their screens, their timing screens, and their reactions to the various events that happen over the course of the race. When we watch on TV we only hear their voices, but there must be so much more going on in the box, so might be interesting to have an insight into how all that works.

Why don't you give users a poll and possibly very short highlights of each grand prix and then let the users choose, upon which, the top 3 or 5 can be chosen and then analysed.

Personally I feel the best idea to come up so far is to have classic race "themes" based around whatever the current race is, i.e, the last race of 2011 could be based around Senna, as it will have been 20 years since he won his last title, and the first race of 2011 could have a classic grand prix section dedicated to the new world champion.

As Andrew has said, the classic grands prix section needs to be exciting and draw in new and more casual viewers, and there's no way that's going to happen if it becomes a "classic year" section (even though its a nice idea). As is ever the case, there are always a few boring races during a race year; who the hell would want to watch a race like Bahrain 2010, Europe 2008 or Belgium 2007 (to name but a few), regardless of how intriguing the championship fight is/was in each of those seasons? Not even a die-hard fan can find those sort of races exciting, and races like that will inevitably turn up if a "classic season" is shown, scaring off new and casual viewers.

Also it would be nice to still be able to have highlights of 2010 races in 2011 - we've had some absolute crackers that I know I'll want to relive next year!

Massive thumbs up to this section and BBC F1 coverage in general! ITV were good, but the BBC have really stepped up a gear. Really well done!

I like the idea put forward in #3, it would be great to see one of the classic seasons replayed so we can all follow how it was really like back then to follow Formula 1. It would really be a huge benefit to the younger followers of the sport.

If I was to pick a season to cover, then i'd go for that epic title fight between Senna and Prost in 1989, the one that ended so controversially at Suzuka that year and also produced one of the most open seasons i can ever remember, 29 drivers and 16 teams scoring points, the likes of Dallara and Onyx getting podium finishes, a Minardi leading a race, 89 had it all.

Id presume it would be difficult though if it was 1982 as i remember 2 of the highlights programmes that season contained footage of the crashes that killed both drivers that year, especially Riccardo Paletti's which went through the incident in very fine detail.

Features on drivers and teams would make interesting watching. Some teams have morphed from humble beginnings like Leyton House, Toleman, Matra. Some drivers like Rene Arnoux were triers but lacked that certain 'je ne sais quoi'. Some of the team principles - like Ken Tyrrell, Engine suppliers - like Cosworth all have an interesting story / history. Features on Senna and Mansell duking it out over a protracted period. Features on design, technology and aero changes ...'when pit stops go wrong '.... how qualifying has changed over the years, how race distances have changed.

Most races have boring bits but there is always something interesting going on that is not necessarily part of a single race time frame - even down to the latest driver posturing at McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari.

Hmm, the idea of running previous seasons I like, however as Andrew has now posted an additional caveat for appealing to a wider (and new) audience, perhaps the theme could be developed further. I also assume there may be further restrictions/caveats governing the budget for this (such as these last two years where it seems to restrict solely to re-runs of BBC archive material, Andrew's multi-million salary and so on ;)

Perhaps showing a series, throughout the 2011 season, of the rich and varied history of Formula - from inception through to present day, could provide interest to a broad cross-section as well as satisfying possible monetary constraints? Where else can such history be viewed, to show how this global sport (and drama!) has evolved over the years. This is more than just re-runs of races themselves (albeit that would clearly be the majority part of such), but also using other archive footage from previous BBC documentaries, news reports, interviews with key players etc.

A huge undertaking perhaps, and probably more material than could be shown during the course of a single season in 2011, but perhaps a starting point? I can't believe the evolution of the sport would not appeal to a wide audience, from the "aficionados" through to new viewers.

i also love the idea of have a classic F1 season i think it a great idea so we can see how the season unfolded

Instead of classic F1 races for that particular track.
Why not consider showing new and previous interviews of previous F1 drivers from that GP country giving comments of their contributions in F1 as well as their predictions for the race. Plus a compilation of their favourite races
Example:- For the British GP:- Jackie Stewart, Stirling Moss, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill etc.
And any available race classics of late F1 drivers like Jim Clark, Graham Hill and James Hunt.
For the GP's on new tracks without any F1 drivers or history.
Why not show former teams involvement in F1 such as Hesketh, March, Tyrell, Orange Arrows and Minardi. Interviews with F1 car designers and marshalls on their close up .

To be honest id be quite happy you repeating the selections already used but showing the race voted for in full, and maybe not allowing this selected race to be the same as that of the previous year- a two year gap is quite a long time. There must surely be enough 'new' classic grand prix to combine with the best of what has already been shown to keep the current format going for another season.

One thing Id personally like to see is more archive footage from famous old circuits no longer on the calendar such as the nurburgring, the old spa, mosport, or monza with banking. Don't really mind if the race is boring on these tracks, although if it isn't then even better, just seeing them is enough. Maybe this could be one of the 4 unselected races where short highlights are shown.

Instead of showing a whole season race by race, a new viewer friendly alternative may be to show hour long highlights of several seasons throughout the year - then we could still see the 'story of the championship.'

The Classic F1 season idea was first floated at the end of last season if I remember correctly, the idea being to show one race per week to fill the empty weeks over the winter months until the new season starts. That's when I'd most like to see it to fill those cold winter months, this time of year I'm almost overloaded with F1 and other motorsport, so I could take it or leave it if it was to air during the current F1 season.

However I can appreciate that you Andrew have to satisfy all of the BBC's audience and also entice sports fans who are less familiar with F1 to want to follow the forthcoming race. To be honest I really don't think that the Classic F1 feature has really been that actively followed by the casual fan. But still I understand that you have to make sure that that part of the audience is catered for.

For each individual race in the course of the season I think it would be best to have a compilation of classic moments edited together to really get people excited about what's happened at that track before and the history of it. Perhaps Murray could even talk about his favourite memories of that race through the years or something, like one of those Murray's Magic Moments videos that he used to do. In fact it was one of those videos that got me into F1 in the first place the excitement of those moments, I thought wow this is why I need to be watching F1!

So in conclusion:

Your Classic F1 Season (For the off season)

Your Classic Canadian/British/whatever Grand Prix Moments (For during the actual season)

What about a teams/drivers classic races?

So say Ferrari or Alonso wins a race the next race would consist of 5 great races for him or the Ferrari team.

What you should do is:
Put forward a selection of 10 grand prixs, and then ask us to tell you about the best events in that race e.g: crashes, overtakes, pit stops, retirements, starts; and then put them all into one 10 minute compilation.
And for the races that have had all the previous ones used, at the blog before it, ask people which lost Grand prix to do e.g: San Marino, France, Dutch, USA.

i havenet watched the classic f1 much because i dont find it as satisfying without the context of a wider season and have been waiting in hope that the idea of following a full season would be adopted. also considering how often old drivers are shown or mentioned in the tv coverage, and how many of their descendants take part in the sport, surely this method of classic f1 coverage could be justified in relation to attracting casual or new fans as well.

I'd like to support the idea of showing an entire classic season too. The only small issue would be that not all seasons have exactly the same number of races, but I'm sure a way can be found around that easily enough (if nothing else, just start it a week earlier/later).

Should keep us going for a few more years, too. And maybe one day, people might be asking for 2010 to be shown again... let's hope so, anyhow. Long way to go yet, of course.

Sorry haven't had time to read the previous suggestions so don't know if anyone has suggested this (or something like it).

How about focusing on the great drivers rather than the actual races themselves. I would maybe drop the public choice (something I have greatly enjoyed) and instead show people what actually made drivers great drivers.

I would suggest maybe doing 4-6 races highlights per driver, allowing us to see Senna, Fangio, Prost, Mansell, Clark, Stewart e.t.c at their best. There are many younger /newer fans who never got to see the races of these greats and only know them by legend.

I agree with post 3 , but also you could show a classic qualifying session like this weekend in canada it was breathtaking.

What about classic duels between drivers at the events. You could have a build up to the history of the event as well. With information on drivers and teams that have done well at the circuit.

For India how about a short documentary on how the circuit come aboust and the reason behind the design.

seek/negotiate content from other rights holders for older unavailable events

I think you should show certain championship battles say a certain year & 5 races from that year that defined the championship. IE Schumacher / Hill 1995 maybe Belgium, Nurburgring, Estoril etc... or 1991 Mansell / Senna etc... This would give fans an insight into how certain races defined that years championship battle.

With 31 different world champion drivers and 20 races scheduled for next season, perhaps a profile of each world champion? Obviously more archive material would be available for different champions, so I'm sure 31 could be shoe horned into 20.

I think many people have probably have had these ideas already - I haven't read any of the above comments, so I don't know if I have anything new, or whether I'm just agreeing:

- We could follow a particularly good season, showing extended highlights of each race. Okay, some might not be classic races, but they all add up to a classic season.

- Do classic overtaking battles. So pick maybe 3 classic overtaking battles. There's plenty of them. Would be nice to see. Some races which maybe aren't classics may just have that one moment of action.

- A bit more of an outside one - but you could do the best/most exciting qualifying sessions.

- You could look at things from certain scenarios. For example, best wet race, best recovery from a front runner who started/ended up at the back.

- Bit more sinister, but you could look at crashes and incidents - they are part of formula 1 and add to the entertainment - of course, not ones which were fatal. Maybe this one is a bit too far.

That's all I have.

#3 is a great idea.
Me being fairly young at 20 I'd love to watch a classic before-my-time season.
Also seeing the cars develop would be great.
Id make a request of Senna and Prost - I'd love to watch them!

Firstly I'll apologise that I haven't had time to read everyone's replies so my thoughts/ideas may alrady be suggested by others.....

Andrew, you say we have several races with little or no history, but also there are plenty of races, and circuits for that matter, that we don't see any more such as Imola, Austria, France, Holland etc....so how about making more use of these?

The idea of focusing on one particular driver or team is a good one...

The whole idea of showing classic highlights has been great, long may it continue

I think it would be good to watch an entire season - race by race
For example next year show all of the 1982 races - Show race 1 at race 1 and so on. Show us how that season unfolded and ended. Yes there will be a few boring races in it but I would love to watch the entire 1989 season again.

I'd rather there was a pick from the BBC Grand Prix archives and do away with ITV/5live highlights.

Same format but only show the best 2 races in their entirety and the choices that didn't win can be used for another year because I'd rather we had the chance to see full highlights than the 10min edits.

Hi,
thought I would add that I have been following this blog this season, am very much a casual F1 fan who watched it as a child when Damon Hill won it, and then again last season. Have been really enjoying F1 and getting back into it.

I have never before posted on this blog as I just dont really know the classic grand prixs and though am trying to learn I dont know too much about any of the drivers that are mentioned.

However after reading the comments on this blog I think its Paul (#3)'s idea is fantastic. That would act as a really great introduction to teams and drivers that most people here seem to know as legends yet I can't really say I know anything about. I really would like that idea if possible.

If it would not be attractive enough to do it for a whole season maybe you could summarize a few races at a time and show one, thus covering a season over 4 or 5 races?

Thanks

I feel, like many others, that picking five themed Grand Prix (eg. Best Senna drives, one-time winners, etc.)each race would be fantastic for a wide cross-section of the audience, the huge fans, who are hugely passionate about the sport (They can see heroes and great races from the past), but also for people just dipping their toe into the sport (As F1, like most sports, is about personalities and performers who are just a cut above the rest).

Also, the person that suggested that full seasons should be shown through the winter is onto something. As a young fan who knows the simple statistics of these races and seasons, but hasn't seen many of the races from the past, it would be fascinating to see a season unfold.

Definitely think doing some extended highlights packages of races that were previously shortlisted but not chosen is a great idea, there were quite a few of my votes which didn't make it originally (such as Silverstone '81, Brazil '84 in the season-opener, Spain '91 etc) which I'd have been sad if these didn't get considered again.

Other than that, I think doing a season is a good idea (say, 15, 20, 25 or 30 years ago) but maybe running some in tandem with key races in each one so that we get, say 3 or 4 seasons shown with 5 or 6 races of each one.....

Number 3 is THE BEST idea. As I'm quite young, I haven't seen too many classic seasons thanks to Ferrari and Schumacher. BUT I do remember 1999 - there were plenty of great races, like Nurburgring, Monza and France, and the it seemed nobody wanted to win the Championship with Schumi breaking his leg and Hakkinen snapping at Monza. It's such a shame that this season was shown on ITV but SURELY there are other ways of getting extended highlights... Maybe if you ask nicely?

Thank goodness that the classic Grand Prix feature will be sticking around, it's such a great feature thank you for keeping it on. I don't think whole seasons are needed, after all not all of every season is worth watching. I would think a brief bit of narration from an expert could build some sense of where the race fits into the history of F1 - like this blog usually does. If I'm boring a friend with an old race I'll always try to illuminate the wider picture for them or it's just a good race, not a vital piece of F1 history.

If attracting viewers to watch the upcoming race is a priority then do a history of that country's involvement in F1 - notable drivers, teams and of course races. There are enough commentators and pundits between TV and radio who could voice it. It would double as a great preview show, you could cherry-pick bits for the main race-day broadcast.

The rest could carry on as usual. In my experience turning people onto F1 doesn't mean they need to see the exact same circuit that is coming up to be wooed into watching the next race - just give them great examples of what a Grand Prix can be rather than be tied to the limited history (very limited in the case of India!) of one place.

Here's another idea - you could put up a poll at the start of the season for everybody to nominate the race that turned them onto F1. You pick choice quotes from fans and pitlane personalities to colour it a little - both written and audio.

Or you could go with races that help illustrate and illuminate current talking points. Making the races topical would be better for sucking new fans in to show that these fascinating events reoccur throughout the sport. Much like you did with the classic title showdowns. In Canada you could look at the changing of the guard of tyres and have 1991 for the final Pirelli victory, USA 1990 or Hungary 1997 to show what a tyre war can do for F1 followed by Europe 05 to show the real meaning of tyre troubles. Maybe the Canadian race where all the champions ended up in the 'Wall of Champions' (98 or 99 I think?) so we could see why a simple piece of concrete has such a reputation. Or you could have gone with the inter-team tussles and team-orders debate after Turkey by showing Prost and Senna battling or even the darker tale of Villeneuve and Pironi at Imola 82.

I think the biggest things the fans on this blog would like to see is some more action on the TV stations themselves as well as the red button and the web. It would be a sure-fire way to get casual fans into F1 if they were to stumble across a France 79 or a Suzuka 05 while channel-hopping one night. They won't stumble across this page by accident so it will help the classics get the newbies involved if they are given a proper shop window. I'm sure you've already been knocking on doors since these re-runs started, but perhaps the powers-that-be need an online petition or something to get some classic races on the box properly? They change the rules if a handful of people complain to Ofcom so a nice friendly request from a few thousand fans may help them give you a little airtime?

Every season has a story and I think this is what you should start focussing on. Include every race from a particular season and show them in order throughout the year.

Despite past world championships being shorter in length it reduces the current problem of repeats. And It would be great to see how past drivers won the world championship from race 1 to the final round.

I also think you should include classic qualifying sessions, I'm sure many people would like to see how brilliant Senna was at getting those 65 pole positions, and some past qualifying sessions were more exciting than the actual races.

Yes number 3 is a great idea! It should keep us occupied for a further 2 or 3 more seasons! Furthermore, there's nothing wrong with showing highlights for a race again if the last time you showed them a couple of years ago...

That's a great idea do the Classic races as years! We could do two years at once 70's and 90's or some thing similar. I will miss having the option to vote for my favourite European race this year, I understand the reasons fair enough. I so hope that the BBC keep up the service for next year and behond it's a great way to keep the interests of the fans up for the upcoming races. I'm a big fan, shame ITV don't allow you to show full highlights it's such a shame as there were some excellent races from 1997-2208. The BBC getting the rights for F1 is the icing on the cake for me, excellent coverage from P1 to F1 forum. Hopefully the European GP in Valencia won't be too boring, it was OK last year! and may F1 contiune on the BBC for a very long time...

Also there could be a voting system where you click on an option, I bet it gets a tad tricky going through all the responses! Only an idea that's what we're here for isn't it?

I like #3's suggestion.

If anyone reads this, is there a reason Jake's blog hasn't appeared following the Canada GP?

I think it would be great to be able to pick classic races by a certain driver or team, as suggested in some people's previous comments. Not sure on the idea of doing a full season though - I'm a huge fan of F1, and have been all my life, but I can't see myself having time to watch two GP's every time it's a race weekend

Classic driver biographies.

Rather than picking from 5 different races how about 5 different drivers with a montage of their best moments as the reward. Some of us have never seen the likes of Fangio, Stewart or Villeneuve but have heard the legend and would love to see whats behind it.

Classic year is a superb idea, as a Button fan i thought last year was a classic, i guess it's a bit early for that though

You could concentrate the weekends clips around a driver or a team from that particular country or area for example for germany Schumi or Rosberg for Australia Webber / brabham etc etc ........

Andrew

Classic Grand Prix is BRILLIANT. The one single thing I enjoy best about F1 on the BBC. And the only 'blog' I ever take an interest in.

The idea of a 'classic grand prix season' idea is a good one. This could almost run ALONGSIDE the 'Classic Grand Prix' series (call it 'Grand Prix Gold' or similar). Pick one great season and every couple of weeks pop up a little account of the next race in question together with the BBC highlights programme or indeed the whole race.

I know lots have mentioned 1982, I would also welcome the chance to see 1994 unravel from start to finish also. A season where F1 nearly imploded in the midst of tragedy and controversy, at every event something took place behind the scenes that shaped the season as a whole.

I feel the way to give the Classic GP series some longevity is to open up those races that have only had 'short' highlights before to voting again, so that we have the chance to see longer versions of these. So for example the 1991 Canada race, which didn't win the Canada 2010 'vote', could be an option in 2011 again if it is deemed necessary.

To make it clear for everyone, you could open the blogs along the lines of...

CLASSIC AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2011.

In 2009 we showed the XXXX race [link to old blog]
In 2010 we showed the XXXX race [link to old blog]
The 2009 race highlights are here [link]
The 2010 race highlights are here [link]
Here are the options for this year's classic race...
AAAA
BBBB
CCCC
DDDD
EEEE

This would mean that people would have access to previously-shown full highlight packages instead of asking why they're not on the list, and those who are keen to vote for very recent stuff can find it also.

I'd also say, whilst you may have best intentions for the series to 'bring people in' to F1, I don't think this series is (or will ever) primarily appeal to the bit-part or new F1 viewer. This has become and should continue to be, a place for those officianados of F1 to watch, discuss and debate the F1 of yesteryear. I enjoy reading the reasoned opinions on this blog without having to wade through millions of "Lewis is gr8!" and "Wot a cheat Schumi is" type-posts (though there are a few ;-) ). And so I'd encourage you to not worry about using unfamiliar circuits or slightly more dated races. The majority of your audience will appreciate it.

Keep up the good work!

Sorry if someone's already posted this (there are a lot of posts here!, but how about a) classic overtakes and/or b) classic chases (Mansell chasing Senna @ Monaco or Ferraris chasing Moss, also @ Monaco? Or, as a one-off, Graham Hill interviewing Jackie Stewart on BBC 'Sports Personality of the Year' (a real heart cockle-warmer and a meeting of two heroes/friends)?

I love the following a season through idea. Just do it. It'd be a real treat for the F1 fans.

Granted that might not be the best for enticing the more general sports fan to the joys of F1. FOr that I'd suggest an alternative feature, more a history of X Grand Prix told through the race hilights available. i.e. something with a narative and edited together highlights. The editing wouldn't be too hard with everything on disk these days and for a narative, it wouldn't have to be that different from the classic GP blog - only needs a voice over adding.

If that idea was to be followed up it could form part of the pre race "guff" that goes on before each Gtrand Prix anyway, short form on TV and longer form on the web/red button. A bit more ambitious than the current classic GP blog but if it's shared with the race day broardcast becomes a bit more viable.

Apologies if that's been posted before, i only skimmed through the comments.

BUt PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do the season through thing - the F1 fans who so love the classic GP blog will thank you for it.

Firstly I agree with the first idea that you could show full highlights for some of the ones that narrowly missed out.

I too think that following a season through would be a cracking idea, even if it was only short highlights it would be good to follow the season.

I know you said that older footage is not so easy to come by but older races that are not so widely available (i would say the majority of late 80s/90s/00s races have some sort of avalibilty on youtube or on downloadable season reviews, so seeing ones from before that would be great.

I would like to see a combination of:
Say a 60/70's race (long as possible, I don't think any of the on film races are full length), and if the present track never had one, show one of the 60's races at a track that was replaced over time by the present race (to see any of them now, it's get out the Grand Prix movie dvd).

One or more of the BBC's old F1 documentys over the BBC's years of coverage, along with an interview with a couple of former racing drivers on the now and then aspect of the week-ends race track.

PLUS I would like one race (if not covered by my first wish) from a track no longer used by F1, or one that has long gone from the world of motor sport. For me personaly, For me one of my all time great tracks is Brands Hatch's F1 track, and I would love to see footage of it again with the F1 cars charging around. When you show the GB race, I don't see why one of the races shown can't be one from Brands past.

More of Martins mini documenrtys, also send Jake out for more flimed items for the red button. While I can sit happy at home withthe pc on broadband, not everyone can,(I'm thinking of the great Jake, Moss/Hill interveiws on the website last year, put them on the RED Button IN FULL please!

Also I don't think you have to follow the same format each race, have a couple of formats and choose the one that best suits that week-end.

I don't think that races that have been shown previously as "short" highlights should be excluded from future voting if the series were to continue as is - meaning that about 150 of the 180 "classic" race highlights could yet be shown in their full "highlights" at some stage in the future. The newer and new events with short or no histories will continue to provide an opportunity to showcase classic races from circuits that no longer appear on the calendar. I don't think that just because a race no longer exists or none of the drivers in the race are currently competing means it should be any less relevant or interesting to a newcomer.
If resources are an issue, don't spend time and money cutting "short highlights". Put the choices to a proper clickable vote and then show the winner. If it's a tie, show both.

I think the classics have been great, carry on with the same format, some of this years could already be put on your list.

Just for this year, why not bring highlights for tracks that used to be on the calendar. For example, Austria, Portugal.

Good idea by post 3.

You could run a classic year. Some of the races wouldn't be classics in their own right, but in the context of the Championship would still be interesting. I can think of 1997,98,99 and 2000 off the top of my head that all went down to the last race of the season and there's plenty more like that. Eg, we've all seen Mansell's tyre blowing up down the back straight in Australia to lose him the Championship, but how did it come to that? What were the previous races that put him into that position? What was the BBC coverage like as the Season progressed and we thought we had a British World Champion?..etc

Another idea would be to feature a Driver every 2 weeks and show important or exciting races from their career. Eg, first race, Championship winning race, last race..etc.

You could also have weekends where you just do a 'race type'. Eg, Wet Races only, Street Circuits only, unusual circuits, circuits that have only ever held 1 or 2 GP's..etc

I also think you could reduce the choices, maybe make it 3 or 4 instead of 5, as you show them all anyway, so why do 5 when your long term goal is to try and make this feature last. You'll get round to all races eventually.

I'd also like to see the BBC team (which i know have limited resources) try to find earlier footage, pre 1980's. It doesn't matter how long the footage is, it would still be interseting. Eg, Last year you showed some old Nurburgring footage with Sterling Moss (i think). The footage was only about 3 minutes long, and was wedged in amongst the 10 minute highlight packages when shown on Freeview, but was still great to see. So don't feel you have to give us 10 minutes on everything. 2 minutes of footage from the 60's would be as welcome as 10 minutes from the 80's.

Finally FREEVIEW. This footage has as much right and relevance to be on there as anything else. I've no problem with the BBC not showing it to make way for live events, Wimbledon, Glastonbury..etc, but when there is something on a loop for days at a time and we can't even get a 2 hour slot between 3am and 5am to record it, then there is something wrong. Remember, putting this stuff on Freeview can only enhance the BBC's coverage. And why does it have to be on 2 days before a race? Why not on the moring of a race or after the race, or in the evening or night after a race if a slot can't be found elsewhere? Surely getting this stuff on the red button would bring it to a wider, more casual F1 fan?

Infact, is this stuff so 'niche' that it could be justified putting it onto BBC4? There's been some great Motorsport stuff on there over the past 12 months so why not ask the powers that be if you could get a slot there?

I love this feature and getting this stuff onto the TV (as opposed to only the website) has been something i've been hoping the BBC would do for years. Now its finally happened, i'm eager to see it given some sort of regular slot instead of being pushed to the bottom of the pile, even though i fully acknowledge the viewing figures would be low in the wider context. Imagine though, how many petrol heads you'd get tuning in if this was actually advertised and shown on BBC4?

Great feature, thanks for your time and effort.

I like Paul's idea (3). I understand that there are issues regarding what the BBC has the rights to show.

1) If a GP has already seen "full highlights". Maybe only bring it back after 3 or more years and if there has been "short highlights", bring it back after 2/3 years. Giving a chance to see "full highlights" of races that haven't as yet

2) An adapted idea could be (particularly with the long standing races - sorry if this has already been mentioned) a 5/10/15/20 yr look back.


3) Maybe put 3 options per race (even though I really appreciate the current format!!! It may be an option)

There are other good ideas around too. I thought about putting a few ideas out there.

I also want to say that Classic GP is great. Something I really enjoy and hope that we can all continue to do so as much as possible.

I also would like to ask, as someone who likes older races, is it possible to have more older (pre 80's) races? However, as I said, I really appreciate this format and hope that it'll continue to be great in the future too!

I would love to see Number 3 go ahead, as I wasn't even born back when all that stuff happened! So I would love to see the whole season unfolding and all that stuff, I do also agree that a lot of classic races have already been used, and some of the extended highlights races tend to be slightly processional. I would also like to see as many 50's/60's/70's races as possible, especially those on the legendary Nordschleife and full Nurburgring, and would love to get a feel for how the Formula 1 Championship has evolved year by year, decade by decade, and I'd love to get to see Murray do a mock preview for each race as well ;)

It's shame there's no highlights for this week :(

I think 3# idea is good but I would to see another video package to go along with that.

- Classic crashes
- Classic overtakes
- Classic celebrations
- Classic extreme weather conditions

- Current drivers giving their top 5 classic races and their reasons why they chose them. Or top 5 F1 races that they have competed in.
- Former drivers giving their F1 classic moments.

Few ideas for ya.

The more I think about the more I would to see retrospectives about the great drivers. You only have to look at the howls of disgust at comparisons between Jenson and Prost to realise that many fans probably never saw Prost competing so find it hard to equate 'boring' Button with the legendary Prost.

For myself I only really started to follow f! in the early 80s so I have limited idea about the likes of Clark, Stewart, Fangio, Moss and many other great drivers, not because I don't care about the sport but because they where simply before my time. It would be great to see a series of great races by a driver that highlight their particular strengths and skills (it would also be a great excuse to get Murray to do a little bit of voice over work talking about these great drivers from his personal memories and experiences).

Dear BBC,
How about this for originality...

Make a cookery and property programme featuring ex and present Formula 1 drivers...and for the red button see if they can find anything in their attics to flog for cash.

There are some cracking ideas there (I'd like to add my voice to Paul's comment #3 for the record).

For my two-pence worth, what about showing classic races on a theme. For instance:
- wins from the back (John Watson in US GPs and Rubens in 2000 at Hockenheim
- close finishes (that Monza one, USA 2002ish)
- cock-ups (many will include Williams' 90s pitstops)
- famous firsts and lasts (last Lotus win, first ground-effect cars)

I love having the long and short highlights, but you guys could use your archives to show highlights of F1 itself.

I also like the idea of a classic season... 91 would be my personal choice, though 94 was also good (though what you'd do for Imola not sure as there were no highlights iirc that night)

Also a vote for some classic driver moments... the amount of "youngsters" I come in contact with who have never heard of people like Jim Clark amazes me, and some of their attitudes of, "I can't be bothered with F1 history" annoys me so much.... call themselves fans, there is more than Seb Vettel. Educating those that have no idea would be good

@98 - A special about the odd ball and revolutionary cars would be fantastic, seeing the old 6 wheelers, the ground effect cars and other odd balls.