Yes, of course up until 1996 when they lost the coverage to ITV, BBC's pre and post race coverage wasn't fantastic. In fact you'd never usually see any presenters on camera, they would normally just go straight to the world feed and Murray Walker saying "Welcome to a sunny Silverstone".

ITV stepped it up but they did introduce adverts during the race, and the awful awful studio at the track with Jim Rosenthal. It was certainly an attempt to try and have football style punditry in F1 where it just doesn't fit. It was much better when Rosenthal was given the boot and Steve Rider was brought in and they started presenting from the paddock, although PC Blundell left a lot to be desired.

Essentially the format the BBC and Sky are using at the moment is the one ITV finally established during the last few years of their coverage, but BBC and Sky put a lot more effort into it. But lets not forget all the times ITV showed the race, had an advert, 10 minutes of wrap up - with no official interviews and then went off to show a repeat of 60 Minute Makeover or something.