Former British racing driver Derek Warwick has slammed the BBC for cutting down Formula 1 coverage after it was announced that Sky Sports would broadcast the live races next season.
Warwick believes that viewers will abandon the BBC, which will show half of the Grand Prix contests while Sky Sports carries every single race.
"We all know Sky will do a brilliant job, the question for me is, why is the BBC allowing all their sport to disappear off the channel?” Warwick told talkSPORT.
"At the minute, I'm going to pay £124 to watch some cookery programme, EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing or whatever it is. I'm not interested.
“I'm a sports person and I know I'm a little bit biased but I kind of look at the BBC and see it as my sports channel. If I want to watch cricket, golf, motor racing, I want to watch it on the BBC.”
The 56-year-old thinks that Formula 1 fans will eventually lose interest in the sport.
"Of course I've got Sky, because I can afford it, but there are millions of people out there who can't afford Sky and I can see that they will end up losing their desire to watch race after race because the BBC are only covering half the races."
The BBC became the official broadcasters of Formula 1 in 2009.
Danielle Joynson
