Analysis: Summer Sunshine Stronger than Schumacher

More and more Formula One fans are turning off the television and spending their Sunday afternoons outdoors since Michael Schumacher wrapped up his fifth World Championship.

Figures from Germany and Italy, where Schumacher and his Ferrari team have huge support, showed lower audiences for last weekend's German Grand Prix than in 2001.

But the World Champion's domination, with a record-equalling nine wins in 12 outings and 17 successive points scoring finishes, may not be entirely to blame for the armchair spectators' increased interest in gardening.

While some 117,000 bought tickets to watch the German collect his first victory for Ferrari at Hockenheim, 9.04 million people viewed the country's RTL free-to-air channel for a market share of 58.3 percent.

That compared with 11.26 million and a 63.0 percent share for the same race last year, when Schumacher had yet to secure the Championship. In Italy, 10.11 million watched on RAI compared to 10.74 million in 2001. Britain's ITV registered an unchanged but comparatively paltry 3.1 million.

"We reason that the absolute numbers are down because the weather was so good and also the Championship was already decided," said an RTL spokesman. "But there was obviously interest to see if Michael Schumacher could get a first German Grand Prix victory (in a Ferrari)."

Over 12 races, the viewing figures in Germany are also down however - most worryingly among the key 14-49-year-old advertising bracket. An average of 10.07 million people have watched so far, a 54.2 percent market share, compared to 10.44 million (55.4 percent share) over the whole of last season.

French Slump

In France, with only one local driver - British American Racing's Olivier Panis - remaining in Formula One despite the return of Renault, the slump in free-to-air audiences has been more marked.

Laurent Petit, spokesman for sports on the TF1 channel, said the figures for the French Grand Prix on July 21 were down 15-20 percent with 4.2 million viewers watching last year and 2.8 million in 2002.

He said the main reasons were that "Schumacher killed all suspense", that the local Prost team had folded and French hero Jean Alesi had retired.

The French GP, in which Schumacher clinched the title with six races to spare, was also up against the Tour de France, with national favourite Richard Virenque leading the race up the Mont Ventoux.

"The Schumacher factor will probably be a strain on this season's last races but one never knows," Petit said.

The fact that many fans treat each race as an event in itself, divorced from the Championship battle, ensures the ratings stay comparatively healthy. ITV spokesman Paul Tyrrell said Formula One was bucking the trend, with audiences holding firm while other sectors such as soaps and soccer declined.

"Formula One is very robust," he said. "The health of Formula One is ruddy compared to other sports. The F1 audience is remarkably loyal."

This year's British Grand Prix showed a drop from 3.7 to 3.4 million viewers on ITV but it went head-to-head with the Wimbledon men's tennis final. Otherwise, Tyrrell said the figures were down year-on-year for four races, but up in three and level for the other five against a backdrop of generally lower ratings due to an explosion in available channels.

The 'decliners' were Australia, San Marino, Canada and Britain, the 'risers' Spain, Monaco and the European round in Germany. Brazil, with 6.1 million viewers, was the best to date.

Monaco in particular benefited from the controversy surrounding the previous Austrian race, with many viewers tuning in to see what Ferrari did next after openly manipulating the grand prix at Speilberg.

Remarkably, the ITV coverage of the Austrian Grand Prix showed a sudden rush of around 300,000 viewers in the final five minutes as the drama unfolded. Sunday's German Grand Prix, up against the Commonwealth Games and cricket on British terrestrial television, was still "by far and away the most watched sport," Tyrrell said.