Drag reduced to nothing

At time of writing, 60 of the 134 comments appended to the blog post by BBC Sport boss Barbara Slater about the early end to tv Formula One coverage are "awaiting moderation". This is usually a clue that the computer has recognised BAD WORDS.

The BBC is thought to have been paying £12m a year for the current tv deal, struck in 2011, in which it shared live coverage with Sky through to 2018. There's no word on how much Channel 4 are paying to pick up the contract.

It won't be all money back in the bank - the BBC filled hours of air-time with practice, qualifying and the race proper for 10 live races (sometimes repeated in more sociable hours), and generous highlights of the races carried live on Sky. There may well be costs in scaling down the F1 production team - and the tv controllers will have to run something in the gaps. The blog comments suggest they might as well continue on their current course and turn the tv set into a 42-inch recipe book.