Rosenthal left in 2005 and was succeeded by Steve Rider who presented the coverage until ITV ceased to broadcast Formula One after 2008.

ITV chose to bid for the rights due to constantly being beaten at weekends while the Grand Prix coverage was on.

[1] ITV's first broadcast was at the 1997 Australian Grand Prix and was hosted by Jim Rosenthal along with Simon Taylor and Tony Jardine as expert analysts and Murray Walker and Martin Brundle as the commentators.

ITV had set about focusing their efforts into more in-depth pre- and post-race analysis, better camera angles and conducting more interviews.

[3] In the same year, Simon Taylor was left unable to broadcast live after feeling seasick during the Monaco Grand Prix when the team were presenting on a yacht that kept moving around.

In the early years, ITV also showed Murray & Martin's F1 Special, which usually aired on Saturday teatimes at each Grand Prix weekend.

When Brundle was absent, different people would stand in the commentary booth, including Derek Warwick, Jody Scheckter, Anthony Davidson and 1996 champion Damon Hill.

[7] The 2001 United States Grand Prix was Murray Walker's last in the ITV commentary booth, having missed four other races that season.

In October 2002, the BBC had prepared pay £175 million to gain the rights off ITV when their contract was to expire at the end of 2004.

[11] ITV was the UK's live television broadcaster at the time of one of F1's most controversial races in the form of the farcical 2005 United States Grand Prix at which 7 of the 10 planned team entrants on Michelin tyres withdrew on the formation lap due to tyre safety concerns leaving just 3 teams using Bridgestone tyres (Minardi, Jordan and Ferrari (6 cars) to compete in the race, the broadcasting team received widespread praise for how they handled the unique and farcical situation as it unfolded.

In September 2005, it was reported that ITV had secured Steve Rider's services and would replace Rosenthal from 2006 onwards to present coverage of Formula One.

[12] Jardine also left the ITV coverage at the end of the 2005 season, leaving Blundell as the sole expert analyst.

ITV extended their contract with North One Television for a further five years in an agreement that started at the first round of the 2006 season and would produce over 100 hours of content which also included qualifying and the highlight shows.

At the 2008 Japanese Grand Prix, Martin Brundle stood in as the lead presenter as Steve Rider was unavailable due to his commitments hosting England international football on the same weekend.

Neil Duncanson, who worked for Chrysalis Sport and was ITV-F1's producer, was a friend of frontman Jay Kay, who is a fan of Formula One.

Throughout 2004, ITV incorporated the song "Catch Me If You Can" which was written specifically for the programme by Woolfson and performed by singer-songwriter Louise Griffiths, who at the time was engaged to BAR driver Jenson Button.

[20] The site was revamped in July 1999 with the addition of a superstore selling Formula One merchandise along with a multimedia content area and a loyalty club.

The sponsorship credits were based upon the speed and excitement of a Formula One team refuelling one of their racing cars with a circular theme involving the Texaco logo.

The screening of their sponsorship included Formula One drivers who were frustrated whilst speaking over the team radio to chickens in the pit lane.

[35] Originally, qualifying sessions for races held in North America were not shown live and were instead screened as delayed coverage, usually beginning at 11:00pm.

When qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix that year was postponed to Sunday owing to a typhoon alert, neither session was shown live.

Chrysalis became North One Television in 2004, which continued to co-produce the coverage with Granada until the end of 2005, before becoming the sole production company from 2006.