SEPTEMBER 17, 2002

The answer to F1's problems

The German television station RTL has been suffering from Michael Schumacher having too much success in Formula 1. For Monza in 2001 there were 10.6m households in Germany tuned in to the Italian GP coverage.

The German television station RTL has been suffering from Michael Schumacher having too much success in Formula 1. For Monza in 2001 there were 10.6m households in Germany tuned in to the Italian GP coverage. This year, however, that number has slipped back to 8.0m, a hit of around 20%. This figure is being widely quoted as being the loss of viewers in the course of the season.

One of the items discussed by the Formula 1 team principals in their meeting at Monza was how to improve the show although most know the answer. The thing that the sport needs more than anything is for someone to beat Ferrari. Or for Ferrari to have a second driver who is allowed to battle head-to-head with Michael without everyone thinking that the event is being orchestrated...

There were rumors at Monza that Ferrari will soon come under pressure to put Jacques Villeneuve in the second car in 2004.