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You mean 2014.

Of course

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Lol funny shot of the photographer nodding his head as he gets the money shot of Bottas spinning right in front of him.

All the grandstands from the apex of turn 1 onwards are closed off and covered with a Rolex sign

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Vettel blamed the high ticket prices and the sound of the cars for the low amount of spectators, and I think he's right.

It's a shame, I always loved the full packed 'stadium' at Hockenheim.

Rosberg's probably jumping up and down at the back of the garage because he doesn't have to race Hamilton at Spa

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Attendance was spiraling hell bound well before the new engines were introduced, one of the the German tracks said it was his fault, being so dominant when he was at Red Bull.

Of course it's probably never occured to them the 'product' is just crap overall, there's not one thing that can be blamed.

One is simply not getting value for money these days

I've been to Albert Park twice and my reasons for not returning are mainly around value for money.

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I agree, the prices are astronomic for what you're getting. There are more racing venues which probably provide more spectacle as well.



I remember that, now that you mention it. Though I do think it's never been as bad as today.

The return of the Austrian GP has probably also influenced it.

If I was living in Europe, I'd go to WEC any day over F1, just for the ticket price alone.

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I've seen it said before that the decline started after Schumacher retired the 1st time as he was the reason many German's started following F1 to begin with.

Is it really that bad though?

I can think of other years that i've felt were worse & enjoyed less. 2002/2004 for example where you had a dominant team with a clear #1 & therefore no title fight between there 2 drivers..... That on top of driver aids, refueling & well under half the number of overtakes that we see today. While Mercedes are clearly the best team/car right now & are most likely to win every weekend at least we have a battle between there 2 drivers who will likely take the title fight down to the final few races.

I suggest that we leave the European continent where spectators clearly don't care anymore about F1, and move to more overseas venues in developing markets. Am I doing this right? Or do bland tracks and empty grandstands only matter in certain countries?

If CVC didn't steal all the trackside ads from the tracks they wouldn't have to solely rely on ticketsales to make back some of the insane money they have to pay CVC to host a race.

If CVC stopped doing that and as a side-effect stop stealing sponsors away from teams both tracks and teams would do a whole lot better and ticketprices would drop and teams would find funding again.
I'm sure Ron Dennis and his team are probably thinking they still can get top dollar but at the same time its crazy that a team like McLaren can't get a proper title sponsor and I'm sure CVC has hand in that by offering better deals for trackside ads.

According to Christian Horner the teams voted yesterday to stop handing out penalties for track limits & allow drivers to use all of the track available to them because drivers running over kerbs & pushing beyond the limits is in the strategy group teams view more spectacular.

Charlie apparently rejected that proposal & track limits will be as they were last weekend, If you ping the pressure sensor they have in the kerb at turn 1 during qualifying your time will automatically be removed.

FP1:
1. Mercedes
2. Ferrari
3. Red Bull
4. McLaren



I agree and I definitely wouldn't blame the track organizers for it.

Like cars push the limits during a race. That's difficult when you need to save tyres and fuel

Of the 9 races in WEC, only 4 are in Europe.

But indeed, I go to WEC in Spa every year, and to F1 once every 5 years.

Sound's like the way I drive in Forza! Would be taste if they do half the stuff that I do haha.

But seriously, I took the kids to the park today and on the playground they had that soft spongey rubber stuff so kids don't hurt themselves. Would that work better than astro turf? I reckon it would as it is super tough and durable, it has give in it so that it would I imagine in theory slow the cars down as its a softer surface, and they are quite grippy, so they aren't an oil slick if wet. Not only that but they can come in any colour you desire.

Of course a 2 meter strip of light gravel would work better, but that rubber stuff might be a good idea.

So instead of double waved yellows in quali, they'll just red flag it

Hockenheim was also forced to make expensive and major track changes in order to keep the GP. That and the fact they pay so much for the privilege of running a GP really pushed up the ticket prices and now less people are willing to pay it. As people pointed out, once Schummy retired the first time, the interest just wasn't there any more.

Now grandstands have become huge Rolex billboards.