F1 fans miss crucial moment of Aussie Webber’s race weekend

Tim Burrowes

April 26, 2009 5:24

Ten Network’s new sport channel One has infuriated motor racing fans by failing to show live qualification for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix – during which Australian driver Mark Webber suffered an incident that effectively ended his hopes of winning the race.

In what was the crucial moment of Webber’s weekend, he was blocked in his flying lap, relegating him to the tenth row of the grid.

But – despite One’s show Sports Tonight having told viewers the qualification would be shown live – One continued with its coverage of the Indian Premier League cricket.

Fans flocked to Ten’s forums to air their disgruntlement.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.

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3 COMMENTS

kcmg 27 Apr 09

Stop complaining – just use formula1.com

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William Felt 27 Apr 09

Qualifying may be a big part of F1. But it is still NOT the event that decides who wins and who doesn’t. The IPL game was a win/lose situation so I understand ONE’s decision. Would the shoe be on the other foot, if they broke into the GP itself to show practice for the IPL game?

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Jon 3 May 09

Bad analogy.

Qualifying and the race are linked the same way as IPL fixtures, and IPL finals. Qualifying is not a practice, cricket practice is not shown at all.

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