The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is sold out for the second year in a row, the race organisers say.
Tickets for all three days of the race have sold out. The circuit has a capacity of 50,000 which is significantly smaller than other venues such as Silverstone, which has a capacity of 120,000.
Chief executive officer of Yas Marina Circuit Richard Cregan said:
We are delighted to have sold out all our tickets for the second year running. Our inaugural event last year also sold out, and we worked hard to create an attractive package which we believe will result in a fantastic experience for our fans.
It’s unprecedented to have four drivers in contention for the driver’s title in the final race. I think it is a very fitting end to what has been an amazing F1 season. We are very proud here in Abu Dhabi to be staging the race and to know that we will see the crowning of the 2010 World Champion.
Richard Cregan
Are you going to Abu Dhabi for this year’s race? Find other F1 fans who are here: 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix discussion
Find out what people who’ve been to Yas Marina think of the track: Yas Island, Abu Dhabi – spectators’ experiences
2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Image © BMW ag
itern
9th November 2010, 18:48
good for them
p.s. the site is taking too much time for me load please fix it
f1yankee
9th November 2010, 18:49
seems reasonably snappy to me.
Hamish
9th November 2010, 21:21
Working fine here. Please fix your computer
Sush Meerkat
10th November 2010, 12:26
Working fine for me too, maybe your series of tubes is blocked?.
Marc Connell
10th November 2010, 7:18
get new interwebs.
GeorgeTuk (@georgetuk)
10th November 2010, 11:31
Fine for me, check your computer.
f1yankee
9th November 2010, 18:48
and now, the champaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagn substituuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!!!
Red Andy (@red-andy)
9th November 2010, 19:12
I actually think champagne should be substituted for a local beverage at every Grand Prix. You know, like lager at Silverstone and espresso at Monza. Wait…
spawinte
9th November 2010, 19:36
Perfect opportunity for rival drivers to “accidently” burn the eyes out of eachothers skull.
Skett
9th November 2010, 19:58
To be honest all the trophies are shaped like sponsors logos now so its only a matter of time before they start replacing the champagne with sponsors products! How wrong would it be with the drivers chucking pepsi or castrol oil over each other!
Though having mclaren and ferrari drivers spray red bull over everything might be amusing
Pinball
9th November 2010, 21:15
It could be like NASCAR where they get Gatorade.
DaveW
9th November 2010, 22:26
Um, what about the vilest and most absurd such champagne replacement, and which is a full on tradition: Milk at Indianapolis. What is it that you want to drink after being pounded by 4 Gs for three hours in a 130 degree car inside a fire suit? Is it a tall glass of whole milk? Disgusting.
If we had Gitmo back then Fittipaldi would have been bundled off to Cuba in chains for having drank OJ after winning, such was the resulting outcry. Of course Fitipaldi was just promoting his own side business, and it was not the ideal drink, but it was a major upgrade.
GeorgeTuk (@georgetuk)
10th November 2010, 11:33
I can see what your saying but when it is really hot I love a nice ice cold milkshake, if they give it to said driver cold maybe its nice.
Still if sitting on the side of the podium for a few minutes….bleurgh.
Mike
10th November 2010, 20:00
Between Red Andy and F1yankee I’ve fallen off my chair in laughter. XD
MercedesBeanz
9th November 2010, 21:08
yeh yeh…Very subtle ‘f1yankee’
RobertG
9th November 2010, 18:49
50000 its actually nothing at all. Australia has 300 000 for example. Anyone knows how much is at Spa?
IDR
9th November 2010, 19:38
Australia= 250.000 x 40 USD = 10.000.000 USD
Abu Dhabi= 50.000 x 1000 USD = 50.000.000 USD
Pinball
9th November 2010, 21:19
Australia = 250,000 x 99 AUD (100 USD) = 25,000,000 USD.
That’s based on the cheapest general admission ticket.
RobertG
9th November 2010, 21:35
cmon who buys such cheap tickets? Its only sound there. real ones start from at least 200€ in germany
IDR
9th November 2010, 21:37
Ok no problem, then:
AUS= 250.000 x 100 = 25.000.000
ABU= 50.000 X 1000 = 50.000.000
Ben Curly
10th November 2010, 9:44
Actually that is very inaccurate… Yas Marina has four grandstands with overall seating capacity of almost 50000. Grandstand tickets were 600 bucks for the whole weekend. There are no general admission tickets.
Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit has seating capacity of 80000 (we are talking grandstands here), but we know that it is attended by more than 300,000 people. Grandstand tickets were 320-520 US dollars (average 420). General admission tickets for the whole weekend were 100 bucks, and there were over 220000 of those sold.
Yas Marina: 50,000 x 600 USD = 30,000,000 USD
Melbourne: 80,000 x 420 USD + 220000 x 100 USD = 33,600,000 USD + 22,000,000 USD = 55,600,000 USD
That’s the real numbers.
Daniel
10th November 2010, 12:46
In the last 9 months what was $US500 has become $US700 when converted to Aussie Dollars.
The Australian Dollar has gone through the roof in that time.
BasCB
9th November 2010, 18:53
With a total of 50.000 seats, it is not that hard to have it sell out. How big a share of that are corporate tickets?
f1yankee
9th November 2010, 19:06
i’m sure very few, if any, bought their tickets through conventional means. the owners aren’t interested in selling massive amounts of tickets, nor do they want vast sections of china-like emptiness.
Bedanarama
10th November 2010, 10:14
Yes, but unlike a lot of circuits, they can afford to give away that amount of tickets. Hey, whatever works, y’know?
f1yankee
9th November 2010, 18:56
roughly 250-300,000
f1yankee
9th November 2010, 18:57
doh! that was suposed to be a repsponse to RobertG
spawinte
9th November 2010, 19:38
I was at spa this year and a quarter of a million sounds a bit high 0_O
RobertG
9th November 2010, 21:37
I was too, but i cant believe there was just 52 500. there was lots more
DeadManWoking
9th November 2010, 21:26
More than a bit:
.
rfs
9th November 2010, 19:52
They say it was sold out last year, but looking at these pics it doesn’t seem like it.
https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/raik_ferr_abu_2009-1.jpg
https://www.racefans.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/kubi_bmw_abu_2009.jpg
bernie the clown
9th November 2010, 20:01
Maybe some people were stuck in traffic jam, just like this year in Korea? :-p I guess they gave away half of them for free…
Icthyes (@icthyes)
9th November 2010, 20:29
Yeh, I remember that, I’m not buying the line this year either.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
9th November 2010, 22:01
Good point rfs.
am705
9th November 2010, 22:15
It was sold out last year, but most decided to stay at home and watch it on TV leaving their seats empty :)
DaveW
9th November 2010, 22:35
They were all at the track Business Center closing deals for their sovereign wealth funds.
pawelf1
10th November 2010, 5:45
Maybe they didnt have scarecrows like in Korea to fill those places
sato113
9th November 2010, 23:05
maybe it’s the ‘cheapest seat sold out’… hmmm. good find tho.
Siv
9th November 2010, 23:52
I can imagine those Sheik guys buying a whole row just so they don’t have to sit next to anyone…
dangarcia
10th November 2010, 4:07
I was at the GP in Abu Dhabi last year (Brit working in Dubai) and it could quite easy to have been sold out but still with empty seats.
Where I was sitting (hairpin just before the long straight where the grandstand is almost a horseshoe) there was an area between the seating and the lowest priced boxes. Loads of people were using this area as a standing area and leaving their seats. So, it could have been sold out but people just weren’t sitting in their seats.
Mark
10th November 2010, 9:48
Yay… you can probably see me in the first photo :) I think I was in the third from the right front block. I’m heading back there this year too and looking forward to it :)
The capacity is limited by the fact that it is an all-seater venue with all the seats under cover (to protect from the sun). The circuits that have general admission to the grass banks are the ones that have the highest capacities.
Yes there are a lot of empty seats in the upper VIP/hospitality seats. But judging by the lighting ub those photos they were taken during the middle of the race (or during qualifying ?) and to be honest the middle part of last year’s race was pretty dull. A lot of people took a break to get a drink and a toilet break :)
There were empty seats in the upper tiers but for most of the race they were full. What suprised me most were how few people came for the support races and qualifying. The grandstands were at most half-full right up until 5 minutes before the race. Then suddenly people took their seats as the race started – it was like people taking their seats at the theatre when the 5 minute bell went off.
There were a lot of ex-pats and petrolheads there but the knowledge of the locals was pretty shocking judging by conversations I overheard. During qualifying the person next to me seemed to surprised that it wasn’t the race and they would be racing the day after !
Robert McKay
10th November 2010, 16:35
Yeah, it wasn’t even remotely close to sold out last year in terms of bums on seats.
Perhaps the circuit, having spent 8.7 trillion dollars on the circuit, bought them all, just for the press release…
/cynic
King Six
9th November 2010, 20:41
Good luck trying to get anything positive about races from certain regions of the world from the usual suspect (as seen everywhere in the comments)
Good for them if they’re selling out the circuit!
MercedesBeanz
9th November 2010, 21:21
Well said King Six, some people just can’t miss a single opportunity to hate-monger!
Yas Marina is an impressive venue for F1, by any standard, and last year the organizers put on a great sho. I really think those of you who are spreading this negative stuff are missing the point, which is the F1 is an international sport.
DaveW
9th November 2010, 22:32
The F1 finale should be at a track where people are beating drums and blowing horns, jumping on the bleachers until they bounce, and are primed to rush the track carrying flags should their hometown hero win the title. That is the real display of passiion and moment in the sport, not a magical multicolored giant hair-net.
DeadManWoking (@deadmanwoking)
9th November 2010, 22:41
It will be next year unless Abu Dhabi coughs up another wad of cash to make them switch OR the teams insurance companies won’t let them go to Brazil :)
Alexi
9th November 2010, 23:20
Agree. South Africa for the last race of the year!
glue
10th November 2010, 9:33
vuvuzelas?no thanks
Mike
10th November 2010, 20:21
I agree with gle. O.o
MercedesBeanz
9th November 2010, 23:38
“beating drums and blowing horns, jumping on the bleachers until they bounce and are primed to rush the track carrying flags should their hometown hero win the title”
Wow are you quoting from OC, Glee or High School Musical or did you just escape out of a childish plot for a 1950s schmaltzy movie…all the above me thinks. Whatever it is you’re describing, it isn’t F1…. :|
Calum
9th November 2010, 20:43
It is better for the Abu Dhabi GP to have only 50,000 than it is able to sell out rather than try to be the biggest like Shanghai GP which has 300,000 standing and seating combined, but fails to get capacity crowds.
COJones
10th November 2010, 3:39
The reason Abu Dhabi has only 50K capacity is because that’s the maximum number of citizens in the entire country that can afford the event beyond the Sheikhs.
Pinball
9th November 2010, 21:23
You imagine that the FIA / FOM would mandate a minimum number of tickets for sale, especially in areas where motorsport is an emerging sport. If I was the FIA / FOM I’d be telling the promoters to let every person in the country in, make it the biggest event they have ever seen, get them pumped for motorsport, and then in future years people are practically knocking the doors down to get a ticket, and the sport is widely supported.
f1yankee
9th November 2010, 21:45
the fia has no concern over ticket sales. fom has no concern over ticket sales because bernie gets his money up front. it’s up to the local promoter to fill the seats and make money back for the venue.
Pinball
9th November 2010, 23:39
I’m not saying that the FIA / FOM should be concerned about how much money the promoter makes, but they should be concerned about how many people are interested in motor sport; particularly the FIA.
The best way to get people interested in motorsport is to let them see it in the flesh. At certain Grand Prix the ticket price is well beyond what the average citizen can afford, and it therefore excludes them, and who wants to follow a sport where you feel like you’re excluded / where you aren’t good enough. The FIA needs to address this issue, and if that means initially giving away a bunch of free tickets in an emerging market, or increasing the capacity of the venues (i.e. Turkey, China, Abi Dhabi, etc) to generate an interest in motorsport then the FIA should be making sure it happens.
One flow on effect of getting people interested in motorsport is that it generates demand for domestic racing series, which means people in the emerging markets start racing, which ultimately means we might see F1 drivers from outside Europe, Japan, North America, South America, and Australia. Maybe it might also ultimately mean that we see teams from outside England, Italy, and a couple of other European countries. This would turn Formula 1 into a truly global sport.
Another flow on effect is bigger demand for the sport on TV, which means the FOM can sell the TV rights to TV stations for more. This means the FOM make more money, and there is a bigger pool of potential advertises / sponsors who are willing to spend more to get involved in Formula 1, as the return from their investiment is greater, because audience numbers are higher. So with more money from sponsors / advertisers it means there is more money for the teams, which means stronger teams, and therefore more competitive racing, which results in a better sport for the fans.
That’s why the FIA / FOM should be concerned about the number of people that do / can attend a Grand Prix.
macahan
10th November 2010, 2:21
Well then we should be glad for places like Bahrain, China and Korea where they bring in local people for free to fill up the seats =) Ohh wait they done it for years and years now and yet they are not flocking to watch the race :(
Pinball
10th November 2010, 3:18
If the promotors are giving away free tickets in those markets, and are still unable to get the venue bursting at the seams, then it says more about the ability of the promoter than anything else. Free tickets to one of the most glamorous sports in the world should be an easy sell. Maybe they need to also be looking at the whole of day entertainment; what else is on besides the F1.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
9th November 2010, 22:40
A lot of people whinge about how Abu Dhabi only has a small capacity crowd. But you know, I think they’ve done something right here. RAther than have seating for a hundred thousand and risk being less than full, they’ve recognised that Formula 1 is only a niche in this corner of the world and built the seating accordingly.
bosyber
10th November 2010, 11:00
I think I agree. If, in 10-20 years, F1 has become so popular there that they need more capacity, well, the track will be due for an upgrade by then, and they can plan those extra seats during that development.
wasiF1
10th November 2010, 0:57
I am surprised that they didn’t increased the number of seats this year after a sell out last year. They could have increased it by 5000 but it’s good to hear that this race is attracting crowd better then Turkey.
GeeMac (@geemac)
10th November 2010, 8:13
Being a “local” of Dubai, I have to throw my two cents in here.
Part of the reason the crowds are smaller at theAD GP than other races is partly because of the timing of the race. It is Eid next week, and that means that people in the UAE get 3 days of public holidays. So what most people do is head off on holidays for the best part of 10 days. That’s the reason I’m not going to be at the race, despite having bought a ticket…I did sell it on though, so my seat should have someone in it!
So by paying top dollar to have the “privilege of hosting the final race” the organisers have actually shot themselves in the foot becasue most of the people who want to and can afford to go to the race (i.e. Western expats) won’t be in the country!
BasCB
10th November 2010, 10:50
That sounds like solid government thinking to me!
Thanks for the insight GeeMac
perveze7
10th November 2010, 9:23
A two day ticket for any grand-stand costs a massive 490 US$ which by far is very expensive when compared to other circuits.
But still the demand was good this year . I had to book my tickets in July and got them only in Octiber.
Mr. Zing Zang
10th November 2010, 23:35
F1 is an elitist sport. Get over it people.