Sky v Channel 4: Is F1 TV any good?

Being in the fortunate position of running around the Formula 1 paddock during most grand prix weekends means I am somewhat insulated from the blanket TV coverage each race receives.

I am more likely to find myself caught accidentally in the background of a TV broadcast while chasing someone into their team's motorhome than have the chance to sit back and watch the modern equivalents of the shows that helped fire my enthusiasm for Formula 1 as a kid.

We see the same live TV feed as everyone else within the various circuit media centres situated around the globe, but (with the exception of this year's US Grand Prix, where the circuit commentary feed was also looped in) these pictures are generally shorn of audio accompaniment.

For the past two races of this season I have tag-teamed out of the paddock with my Grand Prix Editor predecessor Edd Straw, helping to cover the Mexican and Brazilian Grands Prix remotely for Autosport.com.

This means tuning in for the live coverage of each session from the UK, which in turn means watching F1 on either Channel 4 or Sky Sports.

Mexico was one of the 10 races C4 gets to show live this season, and as a boy brought up on BBC and ITV F1 coverage, the hollowed husk that is terrestrial TV is where I'm instinctively drawn.

Although C4 has stepped in to fill the BBC void, catering for the 'casual' F1 viewer, the coverage is pleasingly expert in tone.

During free practice C4 does a good job of focusing on what's actually happening in the sessions - discussing what's transpiring within the context of track characteristics, engine settings and tyre behaviour.

This is vital during sessions where the evolving competitive picture is more complex than simply who is topping the timesheet, though there is too much excitement at Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel lapping within a tenth of Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes in practice one, without immediately acknowledging the difference in tyre compound between the two.

This is where analyst Karun Chandhok comes into his own. The ex-F1 driver is well plugged in to grand prix racing's inner workings, and explains with authority why certain teams and drivers are performing well and others aren't. One segment from the end of the Mexico pitlane explaining how F1 starts work is particularly well crafted.

Discussion of off-track matters is of course essential during what are essentially televised test sessions, but C4 tends to keep this chat focused on race-relevant topics, and doesn't veer off on too many tangents.

Qualifying and racing kind of takes care of itself - let it flow and say what you see without getting overexcited and talking too much. Lead commentator Ben Edwards is a real underrated star in my opinion, with a calm and authoritative style. Not too colloquial, but not too stuffy either.

Co-commentator David Coulthard is a bit hit-and-miss - good on driver mindset and incidents, but with a tendency to use too many jargon phrases and forced humour. Where DC does some of his finest work is counteracting some of Eddie Jordan's more lurid moments during the pre- and post-session analyses.

The ad breaks are annoying, and C4 loses points for declaring on its website that practice will be shown live on its main channel, when in fact it is on More4, but generally speaking it's hard to find fault.

Sky Sports is now the permanent home of F1 coverage in the UK, with a subscription model designed to cater for the hardcore fan.

Unfortunately you can no longer subscribe solely to the F1 channel, you have to buy a full Sky Sports package. That means a £15 outlay for a basic Skybox, then £47.50 per month to watch F1.

The cheapest method is to purchase a 'week pass' through NOW TV, which allows you to watch Sky Sports for seven days for £10.99. Watching all 11 'Sky-only' races this way adds up to £120.89, which is a significant saving on the minimum £585 I calculate you would need to watch F1 with a full subscription.

If you choose to ignore practice and qualifying, tuning in only for the race-day action, you can purchase a 'day pass' for £6.99, taking your total outlay to just £76.89. Mixing and matching between Sky and C4 (until 2019 at least) is the most cost-effective way to go as far as I can tell.

I purchased one of the 'week passes' (which can be used on up to four devices) to tune in to Sky's coverage of the Brazilian GP. Sky's style is far more colloquial, with more of a 'mates down the pub' feel than C4.

I can understand as well as anyone how free practice is not made for TV, but there is a frustrating lack of focus on the on-track action.

Practice coverage is dominated by talk of what's going on in the paddock - the driver market, Ferrari's appeal for a review of Vettel's Mexico penalty, Renault's driver merry-go-round. And every discussion is laboured to death.

It feels more like a Graham Norton sofa chat show than sports programming, with David Croft, Paul di Resta and Ted Kravitz speculating on all and sundry, only occasionally pausing to discuss what's going on when something catches their eye in the coverage.

Consequently, they don't appear as informed or expert as they should, and plenty of mistakes creep in. Sergey Sirotkin is declared a Sauber driver, and we are told in no uncertain terms that Lewis Hamilton is running development parts, only to be told much later this isn't actually the case...

Such speculative discussions should be left to Sky's paddock pundits, who have ample time to address these matters post-session, and in fact that is what happens anyway, so it feels like we just end up going over the same ground twice.

Di Resta has some interesting insights as an ex-driver, but isn't afforded enough opportunity to take us into this world, caught up instead in the general topics that every man and has dog has an opinion on - many of which we are frequently 'treated' to thanks to Croft's fervent desire to communicate the opinions of fans via Twitter.

Kravtiz and Croft even end up singing at one point, after Daniil Kvyat suffers a puncture on his Toro Rosso, which takes us into the world of the faintly absurd.

Quite honestly, I had very little idea what was actually happening in the session - why it was so close between Mercedes and Red Bull, why Ferrari was only ninth and 10th in the times, what was going on with any driver except those occasionally shown on replays locking up, spinning, running wide, or talking on team radio.

Everyone has their own taste of course, but this was not the sort of premium 'expert' coverage I was expecting.

Things improved greatly in second practice, where Croft and di Resta focused more on the track action, and wider discussions were generally restricted to things that might affect the outcome of Sunday's race, such as set-up changes, tyre behaviour, and the safety concerns around the nasty bump at the Mercedes pit entry.

This was all interspersed with useful trackside insight from Martin Brundle. For me, he is Sky F1's biggest asset - an immensely knowledgeable pundit, with a calm and smooth presentational style, which really comes into its own once we get into the business end of the weekend.

With Brundle and Croft in the commentary box, the qualifying and race coverage is strong - much of a muchness compared to Channel 4's offering.

Brundle is very good at piercing through to the heart of any on-track incident, and describing the wider context of strategy and driver mindset. His authoritative 'driver's-eye-view' blends quite nicely with Croft's 'fan-in-the-commentary-box' shtick, helping to counterbalance Croft's excitable delivery.

C4 and Sky clearly have very different styles, and on balance I'd say Sky's coverage is a slow starter that recovers from a few early off-track excursions to get right on the pace when it really counts; C4 is more consistent, delivering lap after lap throughout the weekend in the Fernando Alonso style.

Is F1 TV any good? It all depends on what you are watching and when. But with the right people and focus in place, it most definitely can be.