Formula 1 chiefs have revealed that over 4,000,000 spectators attended Grands Prix in 2018, with the British Grand Prix receiving the highest crowd.
According to figures released by the championship on Friday, a total of 4,093,305 people were present at the 21 Grands Prix, with an average attendance of 194,919 per weekend.
The most popular events were Britain (340,000), Mexico (334,946), Australia (295,000), USA (263,160), Singapore (263,000), Belgium (250,000) and Hungary (210,000).
The average attendance per race weekend was up 2.7 per cent compared to 2017.
Sunday figures stood at 1,702,959, with Britain (140,500) and Mexico (135,407) the most popular, in spite of both being down one per cent on 2017, giving an average race day attendance of 81,093.
The future of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone remains uncertain, with 2019 scheduled to be the final Formula 1 event hosted at the venue.
The returning French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard drew a crowd of 150,000 across the weekend, while Hockenheim’s return hosted 165,000 spectators.
A statement from Formula 1 confirmed that “according 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 per cent in absolute terms.”
Formula 1 commercial chief Sean Bratches welcomed the development.
“With nearly 200,000 spectators at each Grand Prix, and more than 80,000 packing the grandstands for Sunday’s races across the season, it demonstrates that these big numbers compare favourably with other major sporting events, thus confirming a trend for growth,” said Bratches.
“We strongly believe that Formula 1 has great potential which still hasn’t been fully exploited and we are fully committed to improving the fan experience in the future.”
Full figures for each Grand Prix were not disclosed.
