Lewis Hamilton’s spectacular success in this year’s Formula One Championship will deliver a major financial boost to UK Motor Sport.  The rookie driver’s bid to win the F1 Championship in his first ever season has resulted in sell-out crowds at Silverstone this weekend and has led to a massive increase in UK television viewers.  Hamilton’s success has helped push anticipated total attendance at the British Grand Prix to its capacity of 255,000 over the three days, an increase of 65,000 on 2006.  It has also added another 2 million UK TV viewers to recent F1 races compared with last season.

The importance of “local heroes” in motor sport, such as Hamilton, is illustrated by the contrasting movements in Spanish and German Formula One viewing figures since 2002.  The average Spanish television audience increased six fold between 2002 and 2005 from 0.7 million to 4.3 million as Fernando Alonso entered Formula One and ultimately wrested the title away from Michael Schumacher. Over the same period, German viewing figures dropped by around a quarter from 9.3 million to 6.9 million.   UK F1 audiences had experienced a marked fall from an average of 4.4 million viewers in 2000 to 2.6 million in 2006 with the lack of British success a key factor.  But this trend has been bucked in 2007 with peak viewing figures for this year’s Indianapolis Grand Prix, Hamilton’s second victory, up to 7.7 million compared to 5.4 million in 2006. 

Alan Switzer, Director in the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, commented “Local heroes can have a huge impact on the financial health of a sport.  Lewis Hamilton’s success has helped lift the British Grand Prix to become the third highest attended event in the UK’s sporting calendar (after Wimbledon and Royal Ascot).”

Switzer added: “Should Hamilton consolidate his success and even win the F1 Championship, Motor Racing can expect to see a significant revenue boost, particularly once existing broadcasting and sponsorship contracts expire.  Broadcasters and corporates will compete to be associated with such a potentially attractive global sporting icon. ITV’s current F1 television rights contract is reportedly worth around $50 million a year, but the success of Hamilton means that could increase substantially when it expires at the end of the 2010 season.”

“At a more local level, the increased ticketing revenue and secondary spend will form an important part of the funding mix for the redevelopment of Silverstone.  This is almost certainly necessary for Silverstone to retain its Grand Prix in 2010 and beyond. Indeed, if extra capacity could be added to Silverstone, Hamilton’s success suggests it would be matched by demand. Alonso’s success has been the main factor for the Spanish Grand Prix now attracting more than 340,000 spectators over the extended weekend, the highest of the F1 races.”

Ends

Note to editors

About the Sports Business Group at Deloitte
Over the last 15 years Deloitte has developed a unique focus on the business of sport. Our specialist Sports Business Group offers a multi-disciplined expert service with dedicated people and skills capable of adding significant value to the business of sport. Whether it is benchmarking or strategic business reviews, operational turnarounds, revenue enhancement strategies or stadium/venue development plans, business planning, market and demand analysis, acquisitions, due diligence, expert witness, audits or tax planning; we have worked with more clubs, leagues, governing bodies, stadia developers, event organisers, commercial partners, financiers and investors than any other adviser.

For further information on our services you can access our website at www.deloitte.co.uk/sportsbusinessgroup

About Deloitte
In this press release references to Deloitte are references to Deloitte & Touche LLP, which is among the country's leading professional services firms.  Deloitte & Touche is the United Kingdom member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu ("DTT"), a Swiss Verein whose member firms are separate and independent legal entities.  Neither DTT nor any of its member firms has any liability for each other's acts or omissions.  Services are provided by member firms or their subsidiaries and not by DTT.  Deloitte & Touche LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. 

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