By the end of the 2006 F1 season, renowned English broadcaster ITV made it clear that they wanted to dissociate themselves from F1, as per Bernie: The Biography of Bernie Ecclestone. Unfortunately, the call for their switch unluckily coincided with Lewis Hamilton breaking out the following season and winning the world title in 2008. As ITV lost out their ground to the BBC, who took up the rights, they regretted their decision to move away from F1 instantly and paid big money to find their way back to the sport.
ITV withdrew from F1 entirely after the end of the 2008 season. Their apparent unwillingness to renew their deal with Bernie Ecclestone and Co. played to the BBC’s advantage. While ITV wanted to focus on the European Champions League soccer action, BBC became a household name in F1.
BBC would go on to pay F1 a sum of $323 million for a period of five years, starting in 2009. This continued until it was decided that Channel 4 Sport and Sky Sports would take over from the BBC. Thus, they went on to become the home for F1.
BBC got F1 onboard at the perfect time, because of the British drivers going through a golden patch. Hamilton became immensely popular in 2007 after his title charge in his rookie year. Just a year later, he became an icon by winning the world championship. The very next year, another British driver, Jenson Button, managed to increase viewership in the UK even more by winning the title.
How Lewis Hamilton made ITV regret their decision of leaving F1
In the 2007 F1 season, Lewis Hamilton made a grand entry into the world of Formula 1. He partnered up with two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, and put up an incredible title challenge. In the end, he finished level on points with Alonso, missing out on the championship win to Kimi Raikkonen by a solitary point.
Hamilton’s battle internally with Alonso and his fight against Ferrari lit up the sport, and viewership in the Stevenage-born driver’s home country soared. Ultimately, the following year, he picked up his first-ever world championship win. To make things worse for ITV, Jenson Button, another British driver picked up the F1 world title in 2009.
ITV started regretting their decision and started planning a return as early as 2007. Sadly for them, the BBC had their deal set until 2013, so there was no chance of them breaking in. Hence, as per Ecclestone’s book, the ITV officials decided to pay $3,900,000 to Ecclestone, the sport’s boss, back then in order to have the online rights of F1 for the 2008 F1 season.
Ironically, F1 lost its competitiveness soon after, with the era of Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel’s domination kickstarting. With no British teams or drivers on top, the sport began losing its aura and charm, especially in the UK.
F1 lost its glory days, but found the charm eventually
Following back-to-back commercially underwhelming seasons, F1 sold itself to Liberty Media Corporation after the American giants bought Delta Topco. Delta Topco previously owned F1 and it was sold for an amount of $4.6 billion according to Forbes.
After the takeover, Liberty Media completely overhauled the system inside out. They focused on the growing social media sites for marketing and used the opportunity provided by Netflix and Drive to Survive to boost its popularity worldwide.
Now, Formula 1 is valued five times more than its purchase price and is one of the most followed sports all around the world. And for Lewis Hamilton, he is now a seven-time world champion and one of the most influential athletes of all time.
