The retirement of Michael Schumacher appears to have cost Germany nearly a million TV viewers.
According to the latest official TV ratings, 1.41 million Germans tuned into Sunday’s coverage of the Australian grand prix live.
That compares with free to air broadcaster RTL’s 2.23 million viewers of the Melbourne race a year ago, when Ferrari driver Schumacher crashed in the Albert Park circuit’s last corner.
2 million viewers, always forced to wake up early in the morning to catch the season opener, watched in 2005.
The German viewers watching Schumacher’s Ferrari successor Kimi Raikkonen stroll to victory in 2007, however, represented a strong 50% market share.
