But even then, how much of a 'Sportsman' is the guy behind the wheel, all he's really doing is controlling a few computers while sitting in a car, it's hardly the "Higher, Faster, Stronger, Longer, etc.." philosophy behind the olympics?
Yes, if we look at the world population it is rather large incomparison to the 22 guys on the grid. But F1 is just one tiny part of a much, much bigger sport. Like I was saying (badly) earlier about Man Utd, There's no bigger sport in the world that Football, there's no bigger club than Man Utd, yet only a handful of guys ever compete for Man Utd, but you'd hardly call them a 'minority' in world sport.
Everybody from Wayne and Darren in Manchester, to you and me if we went out and played in Jager's back garden would be playing football which would make it a pretty major sport.
In my eyes, thats no different to Kimi and Jenson racing round Monte Carlo, to me going to fit a new Air Filter on my Capri and going racing down the Bouley, which would make motorsport a major sport in the UK.
But, that's motorsport not F1 I hear you scream.
Once again if we look at Football, i'd quite happily swap my Friday night 5-a-side team to go play for Man Utd. And in all motorsport it's the same, I'd quite happily trade-in my Capri to go race Ferraris around the world as would anyone involved in Motorsport, Valentino Rossi, despite having won the MotoGP every year since time began, has never hid his desire to move into F1, and it's the same if you look at any BTCC or Rally driver too.
So in summary:
Everyone likes football, but only a few get to compete at the very highest level.
Everyone likes motorsport, but only a few get to compete at the very highest level.
Egro, not a minority sport