-->
rider

F1 popularity rises in the UK


The success of Lewis Hamilton has helped lift the popularity of Formula One in Britain above the Champions League as one of the nation's favourite sporting categories.

That is the result of the latest survey carried out by market research agency BMRB Sport's TGI Sport+, which put F1 behind the FA Cup, Wimbledon tennis, the FA Premiership and Six Nations Rugby as the country's most popular sport.

BMRB Sport director James Smythe noted that F1 had benefited at the time that most other sports' popularities had remained unchanged.

"The overall popularity of most sporting properties didn't change dramatically in 2007, with the national team football surviving the failures to qualify for Euro 2008 [latest fieldwork coincided with the autumn qualifying period] and the FA Cup remaining at the head of the list despite an apparent drop from 52 per cent to 48 per cent," said Smythe.

"Meanwhile, Wimbledon's popularity rating was dented, perhaps as anticipation of a strong British performance was affected by the withdrawal of Andy Murray and the retirement of Tim Henman."

The results of the survey were:

TGI Sport+ 2008 Q2 (January-March 2007 vs October-December 2007):

FA Cup: 52% vs 48%
Wimbledon: 45% vs 42%
FA Premiership: 42% vs 40%
Six Nations Rugby: 40% vs 39%
Formula One: 31% vs 38%
Champions League: 38% vs 37%
London Marathon: 37% vs 36%
International athletics: 37% vs 33%
National team football: 34% vs 32%
Grand National: 31% vs 30%



autosport.com

rider
rider
Load comments