I would question the fact that it has become a minority sport when 130,000+ turn up at Silverstone and some of the other venues. I'm sure there are a few countries where the spectator numbers are low, such as Sochi and Baku, though. Maybe the Germans have lost interest because Herr Vettel is doing so badly. If Schumacher Junior can make his mark, there may be renewed interest of course.OFSO wrote: ↑Sat Mar 27, 2021 6:01 amFor as long as I can remember, I've watched Formula One qualifying and the race for free live on RTL TV. Went looking for program times yesterday and discovered RTL have not renewed their contract, reason being there's no longer much interest in Germany. It's become very much a minority 'sport' with only pay-to-view channels transmitting it.
However, I have a wider theory about this, OFSO. I have noticed that the start times are becoming later and later. Bahrain was run at 1600 on Sunday. Now it's not that hot in Bahrain at this time of the year, so they weren't holding back for that reason, I'm sure. Several of the next races are at 1500, including Silverstone. I've worked at Silverstone for the past six years and I've never known it to start at 1500. I suspect what is at play here is the US influence, in every sense of the word. The TV rights are now owned by Liberty Media, and there have been numerous attempts to interest the cousins in F1, to little avail so far.
The only interest therefore, will be in the money, and if the cousins continue to show little interest in F1, no doubt it will be sold on again before too long.