Channel 4 has released its viewing figures for the Bahrain Grand Prix – the broadcaster's first live race – after it took over UK coverage of the sport from the BBC at the beginning of the season.
It's the first time the free-to-air channel has broadcast Formula 1 live as part of a shared deal with Sky television. As per the previous BBC deal, Channel 4 will show ten races live and 11 as a delayed highlights package.
Its first live race in Bahrain at the weekend drew a peak audience of 3.2 million viewers, whilst averaging 2.3m. Channel 4 added that it was the most watched channel in its time slot.
Those numbers compare well to Sky, which averaged around 605,000 viewers, but are still short of what the BBC managed during 2015 with an average of 3m across the season.
The broadcast itself, which was presented by Steve Jones, David Coulthard, Mark Webber and Susie Wolff, received positive reviews.
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