Event Notes: Formula 1 Draws Record Crowds To Bahrain Grand Prix

Nearly 100,000 spectators attended the Bahrain Int'l Circuit for the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix, won by Sebastian Vettel. Over the weekend, there were 138 million impressions across F1's social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, which drove 11 million video views. A video of Kimi Räikkönen walking through the Bahrain desert after suffering engine failure was the most popular video on Facebook and Twitter, reaching more than 2 million fans on Facebook and generating 780,000 impressions on Twitter (F1).

Serie A will play on Dec. 23, Dec. 30 and Jan. 6 for the first time next season, the league "decided in a long-awaited move to fill the holiday calendar to resemble the fixture list in other leagues." Until now, Italian football players "enjoyed Christmas and New Year holidays almost as long as the majority of their fans" (ANSA, 4/14).