The point I'm making is that the UK has long had a huge F1 fanbase (well before Hamilton), we're the world home of racing after all.

The Spanish only jumped on the bandwagon with Alonso. They're bike crazy over there.

Wrong, although it depends on what you classify as huge. ITV were lucky Hamilton came in, because their ratings were going on a fast downward spiral (credit to EmilioLargo for this) :

2002 - 3.50m average per race
2003 - 3.44m
2004 - 3.00m
2005 - 2.83m
2006 - 2.51m
2007 - 3.47m *note 1m+ increase
2008 - 3.86m

http://twitter.com/Murray_Walker :\

Nuff said.

Of course I'm aware that might not be his real account. No need to be a prick about it though.

In which case, wtf haven't the Beeb got it closed down?

legaurd is really annoying to me :/ will try the commentry options next race if i can :x
allen was better imo

Idiots

If James Allen wants to come back send him over to cbeebies, as he talks to everyone like their four or five :\

Offer 7% growth to a saver these days and they'd be as pleased as punch

no other country gets the gridwalk though.

Wrong.

No, we don't get any of the build up, but if you know the right places to look you can always download it, the Gridwalk is a definite to find after each race, I enjoy it.

Weren't ratings going down in many countries though? Difficult to compare figures given the changes in races and race timings, plus disillusionment with things like tyregate. The interesting thing is that you can see in 2002 a decent enough fanbase with no realistic British world championship challenger.

But it's hard to say even that without knowing 00 and 01 figures.

And he's about 12

Thanks.

Looking at the ratings, some of the European races in '05 and '06 rated badly, some under 2m.

2002 had a decent fanbase but 2000 and 2001......



....in fact I'll go back to 1996 in fact (thanks to EmilioLargo for this - note; not 100% accurate as we do not have every single figure; but is a good estimation) :

1996: 5.28m
1997: 4.51m (down 15% on previous year)
1998: 4.81m (up 7% on previous year)
1999: 4.43m (down 8%)
2000: 3.93m (down 11%)
2001: 3.83m (down 3%)
2002: 3.50m (down 9%)
2003: 3.44m (down 2%)
2004: 3.00m (down 13%)
2005: 2.83m (down 6%)
2006: 2.51m (down 11%)
2007: 3.47m (up 38%)
2008: 3.86m (up 11%)
2009: 4.66m (up 21% so far; likely to go down if a few European races only get 3m)

So figures, from 1998 onwards went down and down. This isn't due to the length of ITV1's programme, its always been ~3 hours on race day since 1997. The only reason ratings went down is because fans were dissatisfied with the product and Schumacher's dominance in 2002 and 2004. Alonso winning also appeared to change nothing regarding ratings, it was only when Hamilton came in that ratings picked up.

Ta. Very interesting. It does suggest that maybe a third of the British audience is only interested in British drivers winning, or it could be that F1 has won back the support it lost at the turn of the millennium when there was only Coulthard having the odd win. Although it smears out the effect of having more races at "accessible" times, depending on what the ratings relate to; surely figures would be up by a good % just by not having to be up at 3am for Australia et al.

It would be interesting to pit that against viewing figures for other countries like Spain or Germany when they had a compatriot winning races.

Edit: I wonder if the ratings will rise in Germany now that Vettle has won his second race?

Which should come as no surpirse at all - people even started watching cricket in 2005!

Well, for live Australia Qualifying this year had 800,000 viewers compared to 380,000 last year, an increase of 110%. The live race itself this year had 2.1 million viewers compared to 810,000 last year, an increase of 159%.

For live Malaysia Qualifying, this year had 2.2 million viewers compared to 460,000 last year, an increase of a staggering 378%. The live race this year had 4.4 million viewers compared to 1.56 million last year an increase of 182%.

Qualifying is always going to be a meaningless statistic, and comparing races in different time zones might as well be comparing different races. You won't be able to do any proper analysis until the end of the European summer. Spain-Monza is the only consistent comparison you could do.

Interesting ITV effect...

What, that they suddenly got good in the final two years?

Oh, I agree. This weekend should give some sort of good comparison as Bahrain is in a similar position timezone wise and datewise to last year.



While they could have improved the product, one thing they can't do is change the action on the track. And no, viewers (before anyone brings this up) don't tune out because they "dislike person A" or "have a grudge against person B's skills".

Increasing nationalism effect.


(not agreeing with mika mika btw)

fixed !

I'm sure that Lee is an experienced commentator otherwise she wouldn't have been offered the job but to me she lacks enthusiasm. She comes over as being bored with her unfortunate monotone voice and lacks the ability to catch the drivers in good spirit when they return to the pits.

More importantly, why don't the BBC provide her with the correct microphone as most of what she says is drowned out by engines? It's not Rocket Science!

the drivers are unlikely to be in good spirits if they return to the pits having retired or having had a rubbish race.........

Accepted but at least the drivers seemed to have more time and patience with Louise Goodman. The short interviews that Lee has offered have all been curt and dismissive. Either she's not been asking the right questions or the drivers have no desire to talk to her..

Louise Goodman was a joke. Lee is a less interesting joke.

Lee did seem to be able to make Alonso smile, which is a welcome change. But Louise had more presence somehow. Could be something to do with having bigger sidepods of course.

But neither of them can hold a candle to Suzi Perry. Mmmmmmm.

Sidepods which were situated around her knees...

yep, well aware. They have been entertaining grid walks so far this year!

Live FP1 video: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/8015765.stm

Will DC be seen without sunglasses on the top of his head this weekend? I think this is the most important aspect of the BBC coverage we need to discuss (bar the removal of EJ)!

I thought that the commentary of this mornings practice was appalling.

Not the content, but the sound levels were completely wrong (most of the content was drowned out anyway).

Oakley is a Coulthard sponsor IIRC. I think they look after Hamilton and Montoya also.

It sounded alright to me on the website.

love the "ghost" car comparison used on FP1 this morning. That's a FOCA thing rather than the BBC.

Also on-track graphic used too.

On the bbc news channel they keep going on about quote 'lewis hamilton was back to his best, he was fastest in todays first qualifying' maybe they think that people watching can't remember so far back as last week, when he was also fastest in the first session, but went on to do zip

If your a hamilton fan why don't visit here looks like typical cheesy puke that you would expect from mclaren and hamilton, NOT EVERYONES A FAN

FFS what's that got to do with anything?

I could point to a myriad of morons who support drivers and teams across the rest of the grid. If your not a fan of Lewis don't visit a fan site? Why get angry about it?

I watched it on the red button and my appraisal still stands.

Still looking forward to the next session though.

Erm, they report news. It'd be exactly the same for anyone else.....

They should remember Friday practice times are notoriously unlike qualifying and race performance. They are ignoring that and reporting only one thing and extrapolating nonsense from it.

No, they definitely ramp up certain angles. When Vettel took pole and won it was amusing how much they underlined that Red Bull were based in Milton Keynes.

I guess the people that work there appreciate that though.

My favourite was Malaysia on BBC radio hourly updates "Jenson Button has won his second title after the Malaysian Grand Prix was stopped on lap 3 for an electrical storm"


...what?

You mean finish sixth? Perhaps you should use "zip" as an adverb.

Don't know what that means but if you mean talking out of their bum, then yes, that's what they were doing