Hockenheim: Are Vettel’s Criticisms of F1 Partly Responsible for Low Attendance?
After a Grand Prix during which the stands were not full, several figures in the world of Formula 1 questioned the reasons for this lack of attendance, notably pointing to the role of criticisms from Sebastian Vettel, among other factors.
With an attendance of around 50,000 spectators at the time of the German Grand Prix, the Hockenheim circuit was far from full. This situation is attributed to several factors, including the attitude of the sport’s standard-bearer in Germany, Sebastian Vettel, and his criticisms of the current version of Formula 1.
Thus, when Toto Wolff, the executive director of Mercedes, is asked if the statements of the Red Bull driver had an impact, he replies: « It doesn’t help, no. We spoke poorly of our sport at the beginning of the year, and many of us are to blame. » From the start of the weekend, the Austrian had questioned the reasons for the lack of attendance from the German public.
One of the advisors of the Hockenheim circuit, Katja Heim, is on the same page: « It certainly didn’t help that Sebastian, frustrated by the new F1 and his car, gives interviews saying how bad Formula 1 is now and that it’s not worth going. As a four-time world champion from Germany, people believe him more than they believe the [ticket] sellers, » she explains to Reuters.
Despite everything, she admits that there are other factors, foremost among them the World Cup won by the German team. On this subject, Heim jokes: “For F1, it might have been better if Germany did like England and went out in the first round. I really believe it.” Christian Horner, too, had joked about it: “Maybe they’re all hungover after the World Cup.”
On his side, Georg Seiler, the head of Hockenheim, highlighted for Die Welt that a multitude of reasons could explain this lack of attendance: « When you are missing 10,000 fans, the reasons are not all related to Formula 1. » For example, Friday and Saturday were marked by extremely high temperatures.
Carsten Schumacher, head of Capricorn, the company that owns the Nurburgring, is more nuanced, even though he admits that improvements can be made: Last year, we gathered a total of 110,500 fans. So, I wouldn’t talk about a German problem. I think there’s nothing wrong with the interest of motorsport fans in Germany and in other European countries. But perhaps we need to think about making the race weekend program more interesting.
The Nurburgring has nevertheless not been spared from the decline in attendance over the past several years. Thus, *Autosport* explains that the Green Hell attracted in 2013 a number of spectators almost equivalent to that of Hockenheim this season.
The British publication goes further regarding the low turnout for the German Grand Prix /f1/actualite/18123-wolff-mecontent-du-faible-nombre-de-spectateurs-a-hockenheim.html, besides the factors already mentioned: « Internally, the blame is placed on […] an extremely amateur promotional campaign which, for example, offered a discount of €11 for each goal scored by Germany [in the World Cup semi-final, ed.]. The 7-0 win over Brazil caused the phones to ring, with a €77 discount per ticket sold. Nonetheless, given that the premium tickets were around €600, the discount was a small consolation. » A promotional budget increasingly cut by the fees paid to the FOM for hosting the flagship discipline.
