Attendance at the Singapore Grand Prix, "one of the most popular races on the calendar fell this year, hurt by a slowdown in the local and global economy," according to Aravindan & Ungku of REUTERS. The night race, won by Germany's Nico Rosberg, "saw an average of 73,000 spectators attend for each of the three days of the race weekend, promoter Singapore GP said." The '15 edition "attracted about 87,000 spectators daily," while the inaugural race in '08 welcomed more than 100,000 spectators. Singapore GP said, "The overall ticket take-up is 15 percent lower than the average attendance at the Circuit Park since the inaugural race." The outbreak of "the mosquito-borne Zika virus in the city-state had expected to have an effect on spectator numbers" though many interviewed on Friday "took it in their stride" (REUTERS, 9/19). In London, Dan Ripley reported the FIA confirmed that an incident "that resulted in a marshall being on the track at the restart of the Singapore Grand Prix came as a result of standard procedures not being followed." Following the restart of the race after a safety car, a marshall "was still on the racing line on the start/finish straight as he was forced to take evasive action" from race leader Nico Rosberg, who was traveling at speeds of up to 200mph. Under protocol, race control calls "track clear" three times before restarting the race, "having been assured by the clerk of the course that any debris or marshalls are clear." But the marshall was "instructed by a circuit official to head out onto the track after that final call was made" and the green flags were deployed to inform drivers to return to full racing speeds. An FIA spokesperson said that protocol was not "properly executed" by "the clerk of the course and their team" before adding, "We take this very seriously. We're not trying to put the blame on single people. Everything will be done to ensure this does not happen again" (DAILY MAIL, 9/19).
