One of the reasons for the appearance of Formula 1 race weekends in the Saturday sprint format was the desire of the stage organizers to attract fans to the circuit through qualifying on Friday and an additional race on Saturday.
In the case of the Austin circuit, however, the calculation did not work out – the promoter of the US Grand Prix, Bobby Epstein, said that not only did the sprint not contribute to the growth of ticket sales for Saturday – compared to last year it fell number of tickets sold for Saturday.
“We were surprised that the sprint didn’t help ticket sales,” Boby Epastein told the press in Austin. – It is necessary to understand why fans buy tickets. I think they come to us for the sport, but it is not known whether they approve of sprinting or not – the question is debatable. Some people like the new format, others think the previous format was better. This is another experiment.
I don’t think Max Verstappen’s dominance has affected ticket sales, because we sold as many tickets for Sunday as last year. If the Max Factor affected sales, why are so many tickets sold on Sundays? I think we passed the test: Sunday sales are very strong.
However, there is a second factor: we sold slightly fewer tickets for Saturday than last year, although we now have a sprint on Saturday. That is the only thing that has changed about Saturday’s program.”
Bobby Epstein added that he is not confident the 2024 Austin round will retain the sprint format: “We will continue to work with Formula 1 and let them decide what is best. But we will be happy if changes happen.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
