Jul.11 (GMM) Lewis Hamilton may be the British media's new favourite, but Fernando Alonso is still a bigger draw within Spain.



British broadcasters ITV and BBC were locked in a battle of the viewers last Sunday as the grand prix at Silverstone clashed with the men's tennis final from Wimbledon.



But, despite pole sitter Hamilton's media saturation throughout the weekend, it emerges that Roger Federer's five-set triumph over Spaniard Rafael Nadal actually attracted more Britons to their TV sets.



The BBC broadcast recorded a peak audience of 7.3 million, which is 2.2m more than for the grand prix, covered by ITV.



Incredibly, F1's peak audience of 5.1m only narrowly beat the mixed doubles final, at 4.9m.



In Spain, meanwhile, an average of 5.4 million tuned in to Telecinco to watch Alonso finish second to Kimi Raikkonen, while only 2.1m saw their countryman Nadal get beaten by Federer.