By Select Car Leasing, 07-07-2020

https://www.selectcarleasing.co.uk/news/article/6-ways-social-distancing-will-change-f1/

Attendances Will Drastically Fall Even When Fans Return

Despite the first race of the F1 season taking place behind closed doors, Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey is optimistic spectators will be able to attend races later in 2020. Even when spectators do return to F1’s famous grandstands, it will look eerily different to the packed pre-pandemic scenes we are used to seeing on TV such as the sea of orange when Dutchman Max Verstappen raced in Austria last year for Red Bull.

Social distancing will be in place throughout the circuit, meaning that at least the seats immediately surrounding a single fan will be vacated. This means for every 9 seats available, only 1 fan will occupy them. Select Car Leasing calculated how the weekend attendance figures for each circuit will be reduced should this system be put in place once fans return.

Each racetrack’s attendance figures will be reduced by up to 89%, meaning that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at Baku would receive under 10,000 fans. Great Britain’s grand prix, Silverstone, would be reduced from 351,000 spectators over a typical 3-day weekend to only 39,000.

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