F1 historic footage set for "much wider audience" with new TV deal

Ian Parkes
Tuesday 18 January 2022 15:19

F1 footage from the first three decades of the championship faces being given a new lease of life.

British broadcaster ITV's F1 archive is to be activated over the next three years in a deal with motorsport research company Racing Past Media.

RPM, led by distinguished broadcaster and presenter Steve Rider, claims it “will help organise and activate a significant volume of material held by ITV from the first 30 years” of F1, predominantly from the 1960s and 1970s.

Rider is assisted by an experienced team of producers, film-makers and researchers, and for this project is joined by Robert Foster.

Foster, who spent 25 years in production, rights and archive management at the BBC before becoming vice-president at the European Broadcasting Union [EBU], will work as a consultant.

Part of ITV's archive includes the likes of James Hunt's title triumph at the 1976 Japanese Grand Prix and the broadcast of over 50 races via the EBU.

RPM says “the ambition of the project" is "to make this exciting content available to a much wider audience".

Rider added: “It is not just the race coverage but the documentary and feature material being unearthed that is so exciting.

“This is the first step in a project that, along with the co-operation of other archives and rights holders, will help provide a complete and accessible archive of the formative years of the Formula One World Championship.”