Read More on the issue: Changes to BBC/Sky deal on the horizon?

BBC executives will face questions over the controversial deal with Sky to share coverage of Formula 1 from next season following an angry backlash from fans of the sport.

Questions will be raise at the Commons’ Culture, Media and Sport select committee next month about the deal, which from next season will see Sky show live coverage of every race with the BBC showing half the races live and offering highlights for the remaining events.

Senior BBC figures will be quizzed over the Formula 1 deal, while the corporation’s director general Mark Thompson has been called upon to face the music over the background to the agreement, and how the decision impacts upon Formula 1 fans in the United Kingdom by Don Foster MP, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for Culture, Media and Sport.

There was some confusion in the aftermath of the announcement of the deal, with F1 ring leader Bernie Ecclestone previously insisting that Formula 1 coverage would remain on the free-to-air channel, while there was also some doubts over the apparent intentions of the deal given the interest of Rupert Murdoch, owner of Sky, in buying the commercial rights to Formula 1, with some suggesting Ecclestone had favoured a move to Sky instead of another free-to-air channel having publicly insisted otherwise.

In a letter written by Foster to Thompson which was subsequently seen by Autosport, the MP questions the motives of the deal, an queries whether the move is in the best interests of F1 fans.

 ”The least fans deserve is a clear explanation of what happened. I urge you to give it.” – MP Don Foster in a letter to BBC Director General Mark Thompson

“I do not believe this result promotes the best interest of license fee payers and motor racing fans,” he wrote.

“I believe the best result would have been for the rights to remain with a free to air broadcaster, even if this was not the BBC.”

“In particular I am concerned about the apparently divergent views of FI and the BBC about the sequence of events and the desired outcome.

“Bernie Ecclestone made clear that, ‘We want Formula One to stay free to viewers [...] That is 100%’ (quoted in The Times, 20 June).

“He added, ‘If they [Channel 4] had said they wanted to sign a contract today to start broadcasting for £45m a year, then we would have probably done it.’ (quoted in The Mirror, 19 August).

“In fact, Bernie Ecclestone seems to claim that it was the BBC who forced Sky’s involvement. The BBC apparently ‘held all the cards’ as there was still time left on the existing contract. He says that Sky were brought to the table by the BBC in the first place.

He says the BBC ‘got to grips with Sky themselves. I spoke with ITV too, and came up with the same problem as Channel 4 had. We had a contract with the BBC which didn’t run out until 2014.’ He has gone as far as saying, ‘My hands were tied’.

By his account, the rights ended up with Sky and the BBC because ‘The BBC brought Sky to us with the idea of a joint contract [...] It was not us who made that decision.’

“This is in marked contrast to the argument put forward by the BBC and Neil Land who said, ‘Ultimately, it is the responsibility of FOM [Formula One Management] to decide which broadcasters cover the sport.

He went on: This gulf between the two versions has led to disappointment and anger among fans and now they have to sift through completely contradictory accounts of who decided what. The least fans deserve is a clear explanation of what happened. I urge you to give it.”

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You can also check out our complete race coverage from the Belgian Grand Prix, and while we wait for the Italian Grand Prix why not play our game- Guess the F1 personality!

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