I was introduced to F1 by my grandfather, when James Hunt was fighting to be the world #1 back in the 70′s. We always watched on the TV. In those days that meant the BBC with Murray Walker’s insanely eager commentary and every episode introduced by the ominous bass of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain”. We watched the British drivers come and go; Brundle, Blundell, Coultard, Herbert, Hill and Nigel Mansell in his Red 5 Williams. We watched Senna and Prost collide as team mates; Senna and Mansell go wheel to wheel; the track invasion after Mansell’s home win in 92, and the shock of Senna’s death in ’94. My grandfather incidentally was such an F1 nut that he had a scale model of the McLaren on his television, so as a four year old, Formula1 was something that was just a part of life: and a very exciting part of life too.

In contast, the last few seasons have been poor. Those of us with F1 in our veins have found this difficult to admit, but the dominance of Ferrari has made the spectacle less interesting for all but the most ardent follower. To become an F1 fan you must first be ensnared by the action, and drama, before learning of the technical complexity, the strategy, and the psychological deulling that are as important and absorbing as the on-track action.

I am therefore delighted to be able to say that the 2005 F1 season has, so far, been fantastic. A combination of changes to the rules has meant that the starting grid has been interestingly shaken up, and that has resulted in some scintillating racing. To paraphrase something Nigell Mansell once said, F1 is a Racing Drivers Championship, but what we want to watch is Racers, not Drivers.

Today’s race at San Marino gave us a race; and what a fantastic race it was. Schumacher had qualified badly and was in the middle of the field, whereas Alonso, the championship leader was in pole position. As the laps ticked away, and the cars peeled off for their pitstops, Schumacher, somehow, stayed out. He was carrying way more fuel than his peers, so as they re-joined the race, heavy with fuel, he had a light car and leapt forward from 12th to 3rd.

What followed was a 30 lap chase where Schumacher ate into Alonso’s lead by 1.5 seconds every lap. We commented that the last time we could remember a race with this potential for a granstand finish was “that time Nige’ was 18 seconds down and pulled back a second a lap on Piquet”. Several laps later, the ITV commentator James Allen recalled the same race. They knew what was in store too.

This is what great F1 is about. Knowing that every corner matters; every entry has to be good, every apex hit, every exit clean. Schumacher had it all to do, and he delivered lap after perfect lap.

The tension build for 20 laps and with around 12 laps to go Schumacher caught up with Alonso. What followed was a car chase that puts anything Hollywood can create to shame.

This was electric.
This as real.
This was live.
This was the championship leader against the 7 time world champion, in a race to the flag.

As the 10 laps ticked off, Schumacher’s Ferrari edged closer through the corners and the Alonso’s Renault clawed back breathing space on straights.

This, is the stuff that hooks people on F1. This is what makes it a global phenomenon.

This, with 3 laps to go, and the tension thicker than gravy; this, according to ITV, would be a perfect time to interrupt the coverage for a few quiet advertisements.

We sat there numb with shock. ITV returned in time to catch most of the last lap. The tension, the excitement, the anticipation, the enjoyment… had been destroyed.

Immediatly after the race had finished, only minutes later, the commentators handed back to the studio who cheerily suggested that we viewers should rejoin them after another ad break to see the last 3 laps of the race.

Somehow, somebody in ITV has failed to understand that watching the three climactic laps that we just missed, after the race has been won, and we know the result, is entirely pointless.

We switched off the TV so that ITV could not advertise to us, and turned it back on after two minutes later in order that we might see the driver interviews.

This got us to thinking….

The BBC used to provide us with uninterrupted coverage of F1. The only reason that ITV can afford to outbid the BBC is because they can sell advertising. ITV therefore need to come up with an alternative means of advertising that does not ruin the race, or they need to step back and leave it to someone who can.

Now, market forces are such that ITV are not going to stop their coverage, or change their way of working unless there is commercial pressure to do so – so we’re going to start that commercial pressure ourselves, by turning our television off for 30 seconds during every advert break for the rest of this F1 season.

Yes, as of today we’re going to boycott the adverts that ITV show during F1 and we invite others to do likewise.

Stick that in your post race analysis ITV.