I think that heavily depends on regions. In Germany it peaked with Michael Schumacher. Later drivers like Vettel were successful, but didn't attract the same ma

I think that heavily depends on regions. In Germany it peaked with Michael Schumacher. Later drivers like Vettel were successful, but didn't attract the same mainstream attention. But in global terms F1 tried to grow it's reach to China and US. (Which then turned to "night time races" for their traditional European audience.