JUNE 2, 2005

French push onward

The French Grand Prix continues on its path to attract a crowd of at least 75,000 people to this year's event. The race attracted 70,000 last year and the Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile took the decision last winter to bring down prices to attract more people. This interesting experiment is being watched by other races across Europe as if it works it may lead to changes in pricing at other events as well. Things are being helped by the fact that Ferrari domination has now ended but at the same time French interest is at a low because the French do not see Renault as being a French team and there are no French drivers racing this year in F1. With a month to go, the French have just hit the 50,000 tickets sold mark and it will be interesting to see what happens to the numbers.