Start, Spa-Francorchamps, 2019

Belgian Grand Prix promoter halts ticket sales for race

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In the round-up: The Belgian Grand Prix promoter has stopped selling tickets for the race which was due to take place on August 30th after the government announced an extension to restrictions on public events taking place.

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Comment of the day

@Fer-no65 has Spanish Grand Prix tickets but hasn’t been told much about what’s happening with the race:

I have tickets for the Spanish Grand Prix, and while I live 30 minutes from the track and don’t have to worry (at the moment at least) if they reschedule it for later this year, some people maybe have gotten their tickets knowing they’d be in Barcelona in those dates, and maybe they cannot come in another date. But no one emailed us saying anything about those tickets.

Heck, they didn’t emailed us saying the race was postponed…
@Fer-no65

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30 comments on “Belgian Grand Prix promoter halts ticket sales for race”

  1. Call me purist, but I believe it’s called the Grand Prix for a reason. Double headers are a lame idea if you ask me. I don’t mind seeing a crowned champion after 8 rounds, but what do I know? Cars doesn’t even pursue the basic of motorsport racing anymore: getting lighter. Oh well…

    1. I believe it’s called the Grand Prix for a reason.

      I’m sure there is a reason, probably something that the race is so important that it counts towards the major championship. But AFAIK there is no reference to either time or geography, @niefer.

      I agree though and don’t want to see to almost identical races on subsequent days/weekends.
      Unless they can change the weather, it should be either a different layout or different tyre compounds.

      1. @coldfly @niefer It’s called Grand Prix because there’s a big prize on offer. That’s all it originally meant. As long as there is still a significant purse on offer, there can be 100 races at the same venue and it’s still correct to call them Grands Prix.

        1. @alianora-la-canta – what I meant was that a Grand Prix is The Big race. When you have 100 races all the same packaged together, then it’s not big anymore. Just ordinary.

          1. @niefer I can sympathise with that – one of the complaints about the expanded calendar of recent years is that it was already feeling like that. However, this year, some changes, including compression, might be necessary to give F1 2021 financial scope to be what it’s supposed to be. Annoying as that is.

    2. I agree, an 8 round season is fine in my book too @niefer. I want the racing to start when the world is back to some semblance of normality and it is safe to do so, not before. I also don’t want F1 to go all NASCAR on us by trying to cram 19 races into 24 weeks – Grand Prix are special and after missing out on them for so long they will be even more so. There is no need to try hold a 75/80% of a season in half a year from a fans perspective.

      What is driving the desire to cram more races into the season is the desire to limit the financial hit the teams are going to take as a result of the reduced revenue which FOM will generate as a result of a short season. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.

      1. I.e., the desire to limit the number of people that lose their livelihoods, and to limit the amount of teams that go bankrupt. Also, the desire to save the sport of F1.

      2. I’d be happy (maybe even happier) to see a few races but no title awarded this year. Call it the Stirling Moss cup or something, but not a full championship. My worry is that we’ll get to a situation where fewer than 8 races is possible and the teams will just give on the idea of having any.

      3. What is driving the desire to cram more races into the season is the desire to limit the financial hit the teams are going to take as a result of the reduced revenue which FOM will generate as a result of a short season. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.

        You are spot on, @geemac!

        @krommenaas – that can be achieved without counting double headers for the championship, though. A Stirling Moss Cup as @frood19 suggested would be a nice hommage and good opportunity to raise up money.

  2. I’d love to see an 8 race championship to be honest. These last years with so many races have been tedious. Double headers just seems stupid and unappealing. Might actually throw a little chance into it that F1 seems so keen on adding recently, but not in such a contrived way. I’m really not missing F1 and if they slam a bunch of races into a short period of time I may just finally lose all interest.

  3. Why just a double header?

    Why not 6 races per week with a day off in the middle if the week to make some car tweaks. No need for qualifying or anything like that. Start position is dictated by previous race finishing position.
    They could all be held at the one venue – let’s say Abu Dhabi ( because it’s such a special track) where no one will notice that there’s no spectators.

    What a show it would be………

    24 races in 4 weeks – Liberty’s shareholders would be so happy and proud.

  4. What’s wrong with an outsider winning, though? I don’t really agree with his argument that the number of races should be at least 16 because of the amount of luck potentially coming along with fewer races.

    Concerning the Belgian GP-info: No refund on tickets even if the event were to go ahead without attendees? Both weird and unfair if that indeed is or would be the case.

    1. Don frika del prima
      17th April 2020, 8:44

      They’re saying either you get a refund or they will count for next year.

      Source: https://m.gva.be/cnt/dmf20200415_04923755/organisator-van-belgische-gp-formule-1-in-spa-francorchamps-ik-sluit-geen-enkel-scenario-uit

      Dutch, so you might want to use Google translate

    2. I agree. If they can get 16 races in then fine but I don’t see any problem with an ‘outsider’ winning. I guess the only issue is for them, or their team, their win is likely to be devalued because of the special circumstances.

      1. Tommy Scragend
        17th April 2020, 9:27

        An outsider won in 2009 (obviously for different reasons) and everyone thought it was great.

    3. @jerejj Refund policy for cancelled races depends on the provider, and is based on whatever was signed up to in the first place. Mostly it’s handled by the ticket companies, not the event promoters. The good news is that refunds are supposed to be getting honoured, though Ticketmaster (F1’s provider) has a spectacular backlog (30 days is currently a guideline instead of the usual maximum timeframe, and they’re only doing it once they have confirmation of cancellation).

      1. As A Dutch reader i can tell you that they offer a refund or the abillity to keep your ticket for next year.

  5. I have a ticket for Spa and they are saying no refund if they reschedule, perhaps to a date I cannot make. Well I’m never going again in all my life if that’s the case. Disgraceful.

    1. With which money should Circuit Spa-Francorchamps refund you?
      Coz what ever you have paid is long, long gone.

      1. Tommy Scragend
        17th April 2020, 9:28

        That shouldn’t be his problem, though.

      2. Coz what ever you have paid is long, long gone.

        You’re hired to do all communication with my banks/creditors :p

        1. It’s a simple case of Force Majeure.
          They aren’t obligated to refund, because of unforeseeable circumstances.

          1. It’s a simple case of Force Majeure.
            They aren’t obligated to refund, because of unforeseeable circumstances.

            You seem to be doubling down on a not-so-smart statement, SadF1fan.
            Whereas ‘force majeure’ is oftentimes part of a contract, it’s never (as far as I know) used to keep the ticket proceeds when not organising the event at all.
            I bet you my car (the nice one) if that is part of the general conditions, rather than a refund, or exchange of the ticket, when the event is cancelled (note that this has not officially happened yet).

        2. @coldfly LOL.

          @Sadman I don’t think they’re obliged to refund us, but taking all that money (and there are those that have paid much much more than me!) for nothing in return? Can’t say I’m too happy about that stance. Maybe some middle ground?

    2. @john-h That’s because F1 does not allow ticket resale for any of its races (which is the mechanism the “hub” ticket seller – Ticketmaster – uses to manage the situation for people who cannot make rescheduled dates). Since the event organiser wouldn’t be able to get its money back if it refunded someone who wasn’t rescheduling, they may not be able to give spectators that option either.

      Liberty would be a better target of your justified anger… …because some other event organisers have relaxed their “no resale” rule in view of the current situation, and it’s just about possible that Liberty could be persuaded to do likewise. Then the event organisers would be in a position to refund those who cannot reschedule.

    3. refund is no problem as you can read in the article.

      1. I’ve read the Spa website. It’s not clear whether the race is cancelled, postponed, or whether fans will be refused entry. I don’t see refund being an option there.

        1. Have you tried contacting them? @john-h A lot of companies give refunds when asked but don’t ‘advertise’ it to avoid too many people requesting their refund at once.

    4. You can still sell your tickets for the 2021 race to someone else

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