Channel 4 says it will take time to review its options to continue broadcast F1 after 2018, as Sky Sports announced that it has secured the exclusive rights to show grands prix live in the UK and Ireland from 2019-2024.
C4 stepped in to replace the BBC at the end of last year, effectively taking over the free-to-air rights in the UK for the next three seasons.
Its 2016 coverage mixes 10 races screened live – including the British Grand Prix – with 11 highlights show for the other events.
As part of Sky’s new agreement, the Silverstone race will continue to be broadcast live on a ‘free-to-air’ basis as well as highlights of all other races and qualifying sessions.
With live F1 set to be taken off terrestrial television in 2019, C4’s head of F1 Stephen Lyle says the channel has yet to decide whether it would be willing to extend its current contract.
“It's a bit early for that because we've only just picked up the news,” Lyle told Autosport.
“As far as I'm concerned the news that broke yesterday doesn't affect our contract we have at the moment, so nothing has really changed on that score in terms of how we are approaching it.
“We'll obviously look at it and then look at what to do from 2019 onwards.
“At the moment all I'm doing is concentrating on what we have. We've Bahrain coming up, and what we'll be doing for that programme and the coming season.”
Technical analysis - Melbourne
Scene at the Australian Grand Prix
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