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FOM confirm race attendance rise in 2018

Published on 21 Dec 2018 17:17
11
By: Fergal Walsh

The number of people who attended Grands Prix across the 2018 season rose by 2.7% from 2017, Formula One Managment has confirmed. The number of people who flocked to the races tallied up to 4,093,305, which comes in at an average of 194,919 per race.

In 2017, 4,071,400 people were recorded across the 20-race season, which worked out at an average of 203,570 per race. That figure suggests that race attendance has fallen for 2018, however FOM noted that last years numbers were altered.

“According to for the adjustments made to certain 2017 attendance figures subsequent to the release of last year’s attendance results and the increase from 20 to 21 to the total number of events, the overall increase in attendance from 2017 to 2018 is 7.83% in absolute terms.”

Malaysia decided to drop itself from the schedule after 2017, while the European events of France and Germany returned to the calendar. Those two particular weekends saw attendances of 150,000 and 165,000 respectively.

The British Grand Prix attracted the most race-day fans, with an estimated 140,500 turning up to the Silverstone circuit on July 8th. The average race-day attendance was 81,093, with 1,702,959 the total of race-day goers.

At some of the events, FOM logged the experience from those who attended: “In 15 of the 16 events where the research took place, 70% of the spectators judged the experience ‘very enjoyable,’”.

F1 News

Replies (11)

calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Hardly surprising. This was probably one of the better F1 seasons in a while with a very compact grid in a way we rarely get to see. It did have some downs, but several of these races were really great. Bahrain, China, Ajerbaijan and Monaco, among others, come to mind.
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- Dec 21 2018 - 17:58
- Fergal Walsh
  
  Posts: 46
  Very intriguing though that Silverstone tops the list for attendance, but is the event in danger.
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  Dec 21 2018 - 18:05
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  I think that is exactly why it tops the list currently. People know or at the very least think this might be one of the last Silverstone GPs we'll see in a while, so they rush to it. Its been the same for the likes of Monza a few of the times it was threatened.
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  Dec 21 2018 - 18:34
- Fergal Walsh
  
  Posts: 46
  Yes, its contract runs out after next year. A shame the way Ecclestone negotiated that deal to make it too expensive for the venue to host races.
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  Dec 21 2018 - 18:56
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  That is unfortunately the moral of most modern businesses. It aint about making money anymore, its about grabbing every single penny they can now. Some money dont cut it anymore, if it aint all the money it might aswell go into the sea. The way Ecclestone milked tracks for all they were worth really reflect this very well.
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  Dec 21 2018 - 19:37
- xoya
  
  Posts: 583
  I agree with you on all but monaco. Monaco 2018 was the greatest crap to ever come out of F1 shithole.
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  Dec 22 2018 - 01:49
- RogerF1
  
  Posts: 501
  F1 milk Silverstone by it being treated as a captive audience as one of the founding circuits. They need a dose of reality but I think they will let it go and find some rich suckers elsewhere in the world even if attendance is woeful because their cut will be in the bank. Can’t believe Liberty’s income can that much different than the eye watering figures we used see of the CVC income, even after paying the teams, gravy train is a gross understatement. So why should the owners of Silverstone have to bankroll Liberty and it’s not the ticket prices. £159 cheapest to sit on the grass (not much of it the left - between all the grandstands and hospitality that have gobbled up all the good viewing areas. That’s probably £20M or more just on race day. Pretty pricey if you take the family! Let it go or cut an affordable deal.
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  Dec 22 2018 - 09:55
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  @Xoya I really liked it due to the tension. F1 on ice featuring MGU-K-less Ricciardo really had me on the end of my chair in a different way to all the other races. It could've been boring, but knowing that one slight mistake could turn it all into chaos really sold me on that race. But I can see why that might be an impopular opinion.
  
  @RogerF1 Yes, Im all for cheaper tickets to F1. I get that Ecclestone wanted F1 to be something glamorous and exclusive, but that dont really gel with a sport that you want as many generations as possible to enjoy, and with entertainment more accessible than ever and with many sports to compete with, F1 really need to step it up if they are to remain relevant.
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  Dec 22 2018 - 16:48
mcbhargav

Posts: 1,332
Very promising start for the Loberty era. Hope the social media penetration, and newer venues would bring in some of the alienated young crowd back into the lure.
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- Dec 21 2018 - 19:53
cricho

Posts: 80
2018 was a great season for F1.
2019 is shaping up to be even beter...
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- Dec 22 2018 - 15:28
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  It all really depends on whether the grid can remain compact or not.
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  Dec 22 2018 - 16:48