© Rex Features
Reports emerged in June that Channel 4 had held preliminary talks with Formula One bosses about snapping up broadcast rights to the motorsport when the BBC's deal expired.
However, a deal was announced last month involving the corporation sharing the broadcast rights with Sky from next season, meaning half of the live races will only be available on pay-TV.
Sky Sports' managing director Barney Francis has vowed to give Formula One the 'full treatment', but the deal has been criticised by fans upset at the reduction in free-to-air coverage.
Design consultancy Graphical House has now published details of the last-ditch bid by Channel 4 to keep Formula One exclusive to terrestrial television.
A ten-point plan published on the firm's website revealed that Channel 4 pledged to devote "extensive coverage" to the world's most high-profile motorsport.
Channel 4, which successfully showed cricket earlier in this century before losing the rights to Sky, promised "more hours of live racing" with "no red-button hideaways" in its coverage.
The proposal also pledged to commission a raft of supporting programmes on the history and educational reach of Formula One.
News of Channel 4's failed proposal to keep Formula One exclusively available on free-to-air television is likely to add more fuel to the controversy over the Sky-BBC deal.
A protest petition against the rights agreement has gained more than 30,000 signatures online, and some Formula One team bosses have also questioned the move.
