Letter: Winning the ratings race

Sir: Your article ("Courting the uptown boys", 26 May) contained an error about ITV's ratings for Formula One. ITV achieved an audience of more than 1 million more this year than the BBC did for last year's coverage of the Brazilian Grand Prix (6.8m vs 5.7m), and an audience on a par with last year for the races from Australia (3.3m vs 3.2m) and Argentina (6.0m vs 6.0m).

Although our rating for the San Marino Grand Prix reflected the early effects of the "Damon factor", the audience was by no means down year- on-year to the extent you suggested. ITV gained a live audience of 4.1 million for the race, compared with the BBC's 5.0 million.

CAROL MILLWARD

Independent Television Association

London WC1