F1 races generated a combined revenue of $644.6M from ticket sales during the '15 season, new research shows. The figure represents a more than 6% increase over '14 ($606.4M). The data, which was compiled by Formula Money, also shows that the series' total ticket revenue increased by 35% over the past decade from $478.1M in '06. F1 races have earned a combined $6.2B in ticket revenue from '06-15. F1 race promoters rely heavily on ticket sales as it is one of the few income streams they fully control in order to offset the high costs of hosting a grand prix. Analysis of the highest and lowest ticket prices for each race over the past 10 seasons also showed that total receipts have risen by an average of 4.2% annually. Total race attendance hit a low point in '09, when 2.7 million attended the year's 17 races. It was the first season following the '08 global financial crisis, which resulted in Honda's withdrawal from the series at the end of the season. Toyota and BMW followed suit a year later.
NEW RACES: However, boosted by the return of the Mexican Grand Prix, which made its comeback after a 23-year hiatus, the '15 season saw total attendance increase by 8.5% to 3.5 million. The race at Mexico City's Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez was the year's most popular race with a three-day attendance of 335,850. The current season is expected to continue this trend as its schedule features a record 21 races, including last month's debut of the European Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan. The research disputes that F1 is dealing with a continuous decline in track attendance. The figures, rather, point out that falling attendance is contained to individual events such as the German Grand Prix -- only 52,000 spectators attended the '14 race at the Hockenheimring -- but is not impacting the series as a whole. Over the past decade, the series' calendar included between 17 and 19 annual races. The only exception was the '12 season, when Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel claimed his third consecutive world championship title after a then record 20 races.
PACKED STANDS: The British and Australian Grand Prix events have had the highest combined race-day attendances over the past decade. Silverstone welcomed a total of 1.12 million spectators, while Melbourne's Albert Park saw 1.06 million fans pass through its gates. The Formula Money Grand Prix Attendance Report is the first analysis of
its kind and has been five years in the making, Formula Money co-author Christian Sylt told SBD
Global. "F1 itself doesn't retain this information as it is gathered by
the circuits which are independently owned," he said. "My team has
gathered data -- largely directly from the promoters -- about the ticket
prices and attendance every day at every grand prix over the past
decade."
