F1 drivers say they can tell the sport is taking off in China from the attention they get at their hotels, but are puzzled why more fans don’t turn up to the race.
Speaking in a press conference today Felipe Massa suggested the cost of ticket prices may put some fans off attending the race.
“We just need a little bit more people to watch the race,” he said, “because here – I don’t know if it’s too expensive or what – but people they are always in the hotel waiting for you, a lot of fans, but maybe they are not here on the track. We need to push on that.”
Jenson Button says he has seen an increase in interest in the race but suspects it needs to be promoted better to Chinese fans.
“I actually think the last couple of years we’ve had more people at the race, more supporters,” he said. “Obviously the first year there was quite a lot because it was new and exciting but I think the last couple of years have been pretty good.”
“It still looks like we need more advertising in the city because when you’re in the city you don’t know there’s a grand prix going on apart from the fans outside of the hotel.
“It’s great to see how passionate they are about the sport and it’s men and women as well, which is good. Hopefully it can just keep growing like obviously China’s economy has.”
Massa also praised the improvements made in the transport network around the circuit. “Since I came here for the first time, it was 2004, until now you see how much this place developed,” he said.
“I remember in the first year it was taking more than two hours in traffic to be from the city to the track and now it’s much better to see how much this country developed and see how much nicer it is to be here, the people. So it’s nice, I enjoy a lot to come here in China and it’s also a nice track.”
cheng jin (@mp4-23)
9th April 2015, 9:44
I am from China, although I have lived in overseas in the past 5 years. I am still very much in touch with them, so I think I know what is going on pretty well. The truth is, many people care more about the drivers, more than the sport the race it self. Yes, there are many actual F1 fans around China. I know many of them and we not only watch F1, we love motorsport so much that we would be watching as many racing series as we can. But many of them, only care about the driver and sometimes just about their appearance. Why there are hundreds of Kimi fans? Yes, partly because Kimi is always being Kimi; but really, many of them became Kimi fan because he is the best looking driver on the grid in their opinion. I am not saying everybody became a driver’s fan because of his(many in the future her) appearance, Hamilton fans love Lewis’ aggression, and Alonso fans love Fernando’s never-give-up. But for a part of them, once they are in Love with one driver, they only care about the driver, and soon forgetting about the sport itself.
Here is a story that actually happened. A fan went to a non-european overseas race because him/her was pretty close to the host city. Therefore he/she went to the city. However, all he/she did was trying to know which hotel the driver is staying and when his flight will be arriving. BUT, the person did not even want to buy a ticket to go to the race, not even a general admission ticket. Price is definitely not the problem here.
In china, the price has reduced a lot, compare to the 5,6 years ago. Also the grandstand at the final hairpin is really cheap but only available for full time students. The ticket selling situation is so bad that they had to cancel the grandstand at turn one! I have been there in 2010 and that was an awesome place to watch a race. Sadly, all the people who bought turn one ticket are given a main grandstand ticket.
Price may be a problem, but it is not the main problem. Personally, I always think the love towards the sport should be at least as high as the love you have towards the driver. But unfortunately, it is sometimes not the case in China.
But, if we are being optimistic, these great fans are at least building the base of Chinese “motorsport cultural/tradition” from nil. Because for a country generally have no idea about motorsport, what we are seeing, is somewhat a miracle.
Jan (@netm)
9th April 2015, 10:38
@mp4-23 where did you hear that the T1 grand stand will be closed? I have have tickets for that GS, and I haven’t heard anything, google/baidu search didn’t return anything either.
cheng jin (@mp4-23)
9th April 2015, 12:24
http://www.f1-shanghai.com/f1tickets/
The news was all over the place. This is the official website I found, next to grandstand B, it does say that it is closed. Um…but the website is in Chinese, ask someone to help you?
PorscheF1 (@xtwl)
9th April 2015, 11:43
I had a friend once who only watched F1 because of Alguesuari his eyes.
mantresx (@mantresx)
9th April 2015, 16:03
I think you’re spot on there, funny how people can become fans of just one driver or one team, like in Italy.
Obviously Jenson and Felipe think that because now there’s people in the hotel waiting there must be more fans overall but no, it’s only a small group of very passionate supporters.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
9th April 2015, 16:50
@mp4-23 Fascinating comment, thank you so much for that insight.
cheng jin (@mp4-23)
10th April 2015, 1:48
;)
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
9th April 2015, 20:23
@mp4-23
I started off like that but then became a ‘proper’ F1 place, so that’s not a really best place to start :)
David Not Coulthard (@davidnotcoulthard)
9th April 2015, 20:25
*proper F1 fan
Dim sim (@dimsim)
9th April 2015, 10:13
More fans at the Chinese Grand Prix? Hold the Chinese grand Prix in France.
BogRacer
9th April 2015, 18:32
+1. Hehehe….
Jan (@netm)
9th April 2015, 10:30
I live in Shanghai, and there is no buzz or excitement about the F1 race here. Only last year have I even begun to see some adverts for the race here and there. The average Chinese, or Shanghainese have no idea about F1 coming to town.
Cyberaxiom
9th April 2015, 11:09
I’m in Shanghai right now and went to the tourist office to find out about getting last-minute tickets. They hadn’t even heard of F1 or the Grand Prix! It’s a world away from places like Montreal where F1 takes the place over.
GT Racer (@gt-racer)
9th April 2015, 13:24
The attendance for the Chinese Gp actually tends to be pretty high with the average been well over 100,000 & the record been over 150,000. Those figures are on-par with most of the more traditional venues.
As I was saying the other day the reason it tends to look a bit emptier than it is is because when they built the circuit they built it with a grandstand capacity of over 200,000 which now that F1 doesn’t go to Indy makes it the largest spectator capacity circuit on the F1 calender.
They over-estimated the spectator capacity that was required even though they were told at the time that they wouldn’t get close to 200,000 given how even the highest attended traditional venues don’t get more than 150,000 & that even the Indy F1 circuit only managed to peak at 185,000 in 2001 (Despite been able to hold upto 250,000, Hence why sections of the grandstands there also often looked a bit empty).
The circuit attendance & TV figures in China show that there is interest from Chinese fans, It has also helped that the surrounding area has been developed which has brought more people closer to the circuit & improved the transportation & access to the circuit.
As others say however there could be more promotion & I believe ticket prices are some of the highest?
zoom (@zoomracing)
9th April 2015, 16:25
wow, a lot of support for Alonso in that pic. Is he, with Hamilton the most “loved” driver in china?.
Lance (@lancelot)
9th April 2015, 21:47
It’s a pic from 2014. Alonso was a Ferrari driver.
zoglog
10th April 2015, 1:19
Wow what a coincidence. I happen to be in shanghai visiting my bro during the time period of the race. Any idea how to get last minute tickets for the friday? Can you just buy them at the gate?
E
10th April 2015, 10:10
You can buy tickets at the gate – did this last year.
John
11th April 2015, 3:33
Are u sure about this? I live in Wuhan, have no tickets but would not like to go there for nothing. How much are the tickets?
Lupe
10th August 2015, 10:05
Nice post