In the middle of the debate about the future of Monaco in the Formula 1 calendar, the boss of Alpine, szafnauercast a topic to AS: “Would you have imagined a ‘no tickets’ Spanish GP four years ago? If the races are full, they are profitable and remain”. And it is so, few would have predicted that the home race in Montmeló, with three decades behind it, would re-emerge as one of the tests with more atmosphere and best entry into modern times of the big circus.
For comparison, in Miami Gardens there were no more than 80,000 people on Sunday. And in the spectacular Dutch GP last year, with the grandstand bursting at the seams, 70,000 were not reached because free access tickets without a grandstand were not sold. Attendance at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is exciting because it is the best for a decade, when fighting for victory, and because the Spanish GP recently signed its renewal until 2026.
The lowest price of the weekend subscription was marked by the Grada Sainz, 119 euros with seat and television screen in front. The crowd was technical, although there were some tickets for reduced visibility and few places in the removable stands that were set up at the last minute, and that came from the Conde de Godó. The crowds cause unforeseen events, there is no doubt, and the organization of the traffic aroused some criticism from the international press or the fans themselves.
The atmosphere lived up to a great race. “Carlos, I’ll trade you my father for a hat!”, came to listen to the pilot from Madrid between laughs when he got on the stage of the fan zone, and also gave away the cap without asking for anything in return. Sainz and Alonso were the most chanted. Verstappen’s fans invaded an entire stand, around 10,000. And the VIPs invaded the paddock and the grid: Maverick Viñales, Fabio Quartararo, Aleix Espargaró, Pedri, Thibaut Courtois, Ibai Llanos…