Other Sports

First of all, congratulations to Channel 7 on getting the deal done to return another decent product that they’ve treated so well since 1963-1996, 2007-2014.

This comes after a 2-3 months ago that Network 10 chose not to renew the contract following a six-year stint in their 2nd term having previously aired in 1997-2006 that will expire after this year’s Bathurst 1000 in three weeks.

I hoped that Seven would get a better deal than Ten to show just beyond the six marquee events with every other Sunday round LIVE in this new free to air portion.

Having seen Seven pay just $4 million a year, it seems that the limited free access to watch Supercars will go on for another five seasons.

And unfortunately, the return of Seven will follow what Network 10 exactly did in 2015-2020. 

The only upside about this announcement today is that Seven will have streaming access via 7Plus for the big event live races plus the other rounds shove to encore/highlight within the same race day.  

It’s something Ten didn’t have that advantage as they instead throw in marathon re-runs of some random show on 10 Play while the big event went on air.

So if you’re a traditionalist wanting to watch every race live on Free TV as it used to be, then I’m sorry to say it upset you once again.

But it’s how sports tv coverage is like these days in the modern 21st century, and the only way to do that is subscribed to Kayo Sports steaming product for $25 per month/$300 a year.

Overall, it’s another low-cost deal for Seven to return its national motorsport series on their turf.

I’d say it’s great to have the Free TV product improve its steaming viewing for those sports fanatics wanting to watch on the go.

But we’ll just have to wait & see what the next TV deal would look like in 2026-2030 as the limited-access package is not going anywhere, anytime soon.

With Ten losing Supercars, they only have the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix LIVE plus highlights overseas, and every LIVE MotoGP race, which is something Seven or Nine Network would want their hands-on when it expires in 2021-2022.

Regarding the makeup of the on-aid team, we know Mark Beretta is excited, so he will definitely in there as the anchor.

So would the likes of some other analysts that also appear on Seven’s additional Motorsport coverage.

Who will be commentating on the races on Seven?

I’m hoping it will be Richard Craill alongside Jack Perkins calling upstairs with Mark Beretta in pit lane during the big races.

That way, like cricket, Seven can have their commentary that is different from Fox Sports.

Otherwise, since Supercars Media is still producing the races and Seven paying a cheaper deal, it’ll just be a straight grab from Neil Crompton & Mark Skaife.

Image Reference: Wikipedia, CC BY 2.0

It’s just not the day Fernando Alonso wanted during yesterday’s Indy 500.

He started from 26th and made some improvements on track position as high as P15 thanks to a series of full course yellows.

The machine behind his No.66 Chevy for Arrow McLaren SP worked against Alonso, unfortunately, thanks to a clutch issue that saw him end up in P21.

But participation-wise, it’s great to see Alonso reunite with McLaren once more, having denied a Honda affiliate outfit ride earlier this year based on his comments about their turbulent F1 engine at the time a few years ago.

If he wants to compete again at the greatest spectacle of racing in Indianapolis, then he’ll have to wait until at least 2023 by the time at age 41/42.

For now, his next project will be guiding the Renault F1 Team back to its former glory with young gun Esteban Ocon.

He will bring Championship-winning pedigree to that organization where he won two straight World titles in 2005 & 2006 as well as Ocon learning from the great man’s instinct.

Renault’s return as a fully-fledged Formula One since 2016 isn’t exactly a big success just yet.

At times, they have shown some glimpses of success in the midfield with regular Top 10 plus occasional Top 5 finishes.

But they’ve yet to taste a podium finish yet apart from their best finish of 4th thanks to Aussie Daniel Riccardo in Italy last year and Britain earlier this month.

I may personally not followed a lot of Formula 1 these days.

But Ricciardo’s chance to jump at a rejuvenated McLaren side suits him better in line with their return of the Mercedes power next year.

It hurts Renault, right?

But salary demands and opportunities that have a better chance to crack regular podiums are challenging for Riccardo to say no.

With the Renault F1 Team only running themselves as the exclusive engine supplier in 2021, it looked to be a perfect place for Alonso to help bridge this team towards the regular front row targets.

And if Alonso can be the man to finally gift Renault a podium place since the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix in P3 from Nick Heidfeld, then we may begin to see a la Denny Hamlin or Kevin Harvick racer in Formula 1 who can still dominate the field in his prime that consists some experienced rivals and prospective youngsters.

I would like to see Alonso competing another Indy 500 next year and do something special.

But the Renault chiefs wouldn’t let him distract their current project.

For now, I wish Alonso the success he craves on his return to Formula One and hopefully comes back to the Indy 500 soon with one last hurrah!

And if any other free agent Formula 1 racer who has a championship pedigree like Alonso before, then I hope Sebastian Vettel would be the next man to crack the Triple Crown & try to win the Indy 500 as long as a competitive organization like Andretti, Penske, Ganassi & Rahal gives him that opportunity.