RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Unthreatened by rain and disputed under bright sunshine, the Brazilian Formula One Grand Prix recorded its best attendance since 2001.
The Interlagos racetrack in São Paulo hosted 158,213 people in the three days of the event that culminated with the victory of Dutch Max Verstappen, from Red Bull, on Sunday.
This is the best GP audience since 2001. That year, the São Paulo racetrack hosted 174,000 motor racing fans. Last year there were 150,307, the best mark since 2010 when 155,203 people were recorded at the racetrack.
Since then, the audience has fluctuated, with its lowest number in 2016, recording 128,100 people. In 2017, at Brazilian Felipe Massa’s farewell drive, 141,128 fans were recorded at the racetrack.
As in 2018, the audience is surprisingly large, because once again Brazil has no local drivers on the grid, and both the drivers and owners championships had already beem defined.
England’s Lewis Hamilton secured his sixth championship at the United States Grand Prix in the previous round. And Mercedes had won the Constructors’ Trophy at Suzuka, Japan.
On Sunday, Ferrari won the vice-championship among the teams and Verstappen climbed to third place in the Drivers’ World Championship, spurring the fight with Monegasque Charles Leclerc, of the Italian team.
The Brazilian GP may have been staged in São Paulo for the penultimate time. The city has a contract with Formula 1 for only one more year and is still in negotiations. Concurrently, there is bidding from Rio de Janeiro, which intends to reassume the Braziian race as of 2021.
The situation is expected to be defined by Formula 1 by August next year.