British television audience of nearly nine million people watched Jenson Button win the Formula One world championship, with a fifth place finish at Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix. Coverage of what turned out to be the title-deciding race dominated late afternoon schedules, with an average of 6.6 million watching BBC One. That equated to a 34 per cent share of the overall viewing audience between 16.00, when the pre-race show began, to the end of the programme at 19.15pm.

The figures were the best the BBC has achieved during its first season of covering Formula One since 1996, having taken back the rights from ITV last year in a five-year deal. The Brazilian race usually produces the highest global television audience of any Grand Prix thanks to the time difference to Europe, which sees the race broadcast close to prime-time. Yesterday's audience peaked at around 8.9 million between 18.30pm and 18.45pm as Button crossed the line to be crowned Britain's tenth Formula One world champion.

Some 7.1 million watched the dramatic start to the race, which featured two accidents, an angry altercation between two drivers and a flash-fire in the pit-lane.

However the figures for 2009 were lower than the last two Brazilian races, which were shown on ITV and both featured fellow Briton Lewis Hamilton challenging for the world title. In 2007, ITV secured a peak audience of 10.4 million (50 per cent share) and an average viewership of 7.3 million (41 per cent) for a race that saw Hamilton lose the championship to Kimi Raikkonen.

Last year's dramatic finale, which saw Hamilton take the title at the final corner, gained a peak audience of 12.5 million (49 per cent) for ITV's last Grand Prix and an average of 8.8 million.

The BBC figures remain highly respectable, however, given that the Brazilian race is this year only the penultimate event of the season and that both Button and the ever-popular Hamilton both started well down the grid after a weather-hit qualifying session