To preview this week’s more than 50 hours of motorsports content across the NBC Sports Group platforms, five members of the NBC broadcast family outlined some of the key storylines from Monaco, Indianapolis and Charlotte on a conference call.
Lead Formula One announcer Leigh Diffey and analyst David Hobbs joined from Monaco, where the broadcast team is on site to call this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix (Sunday, 7:30 a.m. ET, NBC). Both stressed the importance of qualifying on the narrow, twisty street circuit that at just over 2 miles, is the shortest on the F1 calendar.
“The thing about Monaco, like the Indy 500 – this is the race they all want to win,” Hobbs said. “One of the big problems here is qualifying. It’s so narrow. If you put a wheel over the edge, well the edge is the guardrail. You have to be extremely precise all weekend, as it’s extremely difficult to overtake.”
“It puts a premium on our Saturday qualifying show, because qualifying here generally transitions to a good result,” added Diffey.
Meanwhile from Indy, IndyCar analyst Townsend Bell described some of the challenges he’ll face while racing in this year’s Indianapolis 500. He’ll start 25th Sunday in the No. 6 Robert Graham-Royal Purple-Beneteau USA Chevrolet for KV Racing Technology.
“It’s gonna be fast and furious as everyone tries to refine,” Bell said of the Carb Day practice, which will be live at 11 a.m. ET on Friday on NBCSN. “This one hour is really important to show how you do in traffic. With the freight train of 20-plus cars, there’s a vicious turbulent air. It’s a critical session with pit stop practice and plugging in. I’m looking forward to doing the practice then head to the booth to cover the pit stop competition.”
Bell offered additional insights on being both an analyst and driver this month, in this separate piece.
In Charlotte, Jeff Burton is semi-retired as he balances his analyst hat for NBC’s NASCAR coverage with sporadic starts in the No. 66 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. Burton described the level of all three events and how from a NASCAR standpoint, you’re watching upwards of six hours of open-wheel action during the day before settling into the longest NASCAR race of the year at 600 miles.
“I’m struck by this weekend, because it’s not just three events, but the magnitude is so large,” he said. “It’s funny – with the Indianapolis 500, the end of that happens right as the driver’s meeting for the 600 starts. We’re always wondering, ‘Can we show the end of the 500 during the meeting?’ But then we wouldn’t pay attention!”
NBC Sports Group executive producer Sam Flood also joined the call. A breakdown of all times, channels and streaming for this weekend’s action can be found in this post.
