Formula 1’s weekend attendance figures during the 2022 season surpassed 5 million. Of the 22 races held, the United States Grand Prix weekend was the best-attended event, with 440,000 spectators, while multiple races had record-breaking figures.
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Confirmed Formula 1 attendance figures in 2022 have exceeded 5 million. From the 18 races at which attendance figures have been confirmed, Formula 1 had a total of 5,305,807 spectators across all days of each race weekend. The United States Grand Prix had the biggest attendance figure of the season, with 440,000, while races in Australia and Britain also attracted weekend attendances of over 400,000. Read on below for a breakdown of the attendance figures at each race.
The final official attendance figure for 2022 – likely to be released by Formula 1 before the end of the year – will be higher than this, as this number does not include the Saudi Arabian, Emilia Romagna, Monaco or Azerbaijan Grands Prix. Attendance figures for those four races have not yet been publicly announced. The final figure should comfortably exceed 5.5 million but will likely fall a little short of the 6 million mark.
2022 Formula 1 weekend attendance figures
The graph above shows the full weekend attendance figures during the 2022 season, as published by either Formula 1 or the circuit. Ten races this season saw weekend attendances of over 300,000.
Formula 1’s total attendance has more than doubled from last year. The 2022 figure benefits from being the first year since the coronavirus pandemic in which circuits were fully open to spectators. In F1’s second coronavirus-affected season in 2021, a total of 2.69 million fans attended across the 21 races.
The 2022 attendance figure compares very favourably to the 2019 figure, the last season in which all races were open to full capacity crowds. 4.1 million attended the 21 races held that year. The 2022 figure is up by over a million on that number.
It should be noted that calculating the weekend attendance figure is not an exact science and will vary from circuit to circuit. Some circuits include operational staff in their counts, while some events – like the Australian Grand Prix – also include competitors and holders of free tickets.
Attendance grows at almost every race
| Event | Last full capacity race | Previous race attendance | 2022 attendance | Growth since last race | % Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 2019 | 160,428 | 277,836 | 117,408 | 73% |
| Italy | 2019 | 200,000 | 337,000 | 137,000 | 69% |
| Netherlands | 2021* | 195,000 | 305,000 | 110,000 | 56% |
| Austria | 2019 | 203,000 | 303,000 | 100,000 | 49% |
| France | 2019 | 135,000 | 200,000 | 65,000 | 48% |
| Belgium | 2019 | 251,864 | 360,000 | 108,136 | 43% |
| Sao Paulo | 2021 | 181,000 | 236,000 | 55,000 | 30% |
| Australia | 2019 | 324,000 | 419,114 | 95,114 | 29% |
| Hungary | 2019 | 230,000 | 290,000 | 60,000 | 26% |
| Japan | 2018** | 165,000 | 200,000 | 35,000 | 21% |
| Britain | 2021 | 346,000 | 401,000 | 55,000 | 16% |
| Singapore | 2019 | 268,000 | 302,000 | 34,000 | 13% |
| Canada | 2019 | 307,000 | 338,000 | 31,000 | 10% |
| United States | 2021 | 400,000 | 440,000 | 40,000 | 10% |
| Mexico City | 2021 | 371,000 | 395,902 | 24,902 | 7% |
| Abu Dhabi | 2021 | 153,000 | 160,000 | 7,000 | 5% |
| Bahrain | 2019 | 97,000 | 98,000 | 1,000 | 1% |
*The only previous race at Zandvoort, in its current form, was in 2021 when attendance was capped at two thirds of full capacity. **At the Japanese Grand Prix, the attendance is compared to the 2018 figure, as the Saturday of the 2019 Suzuka race weekend was cancelled due to weather conditions.
The table above shows the gain in weekend attendance at each Grand Prix since the last full capacity F1 event at each circuit. Of the 17 races for which official figures have been reported, and at which previous races have been held, attendance figures grew at every event compared to the last race at each track which was run at full capacity.
The largest growth was at the Italian and Spanish Grands Prix, both of which encountered organisational issues in 2022 with existing infrastructure struggling to cope as a result of the increased number of spectators. The Dutch, Belgian and Austrian Grands Prix – all races which attract large numbers of fans from the Netherlands – also saw spectator growth of over 100,000.
Of the four races for which attendance figures have not yet been announced, it’s expected that the attendance figure will have grown or remained the same at all of them, except the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Race by race attendance figures
2022 Bahrain Grand Prix
Formula 1’s 2022 season began with a record-breaking attendance figure, as the Bahrain Grand Prix attracted its biggest-ever race day crowd. 35,000 fans attended on race day, up by 2,000 on the 2019 figure. The total weekend attendance was 98,000, with Bahrain International Circuit reporting their biggest ever Friday attendance. 35% of tickets were sold to international visitors.
2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
The official attendance figure for the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has not been released. The inaugural race at Jeddah Corniche Circuit in 2021 attracted a weekend crowd of 143,000. It is expected that the 2022 attendance figure will be lower than that. The usual trend is for races to experience a slight decline in spectator numbers for their second race on the Formula 1 calendar.
2022 Australian Grand Prix
The 2022 Australian Grand Prix attracted the biggest weekend attendance for a sporting event in Melbourne’s history. The event’s total attendance across the weekend came in at just under 420,000, while the race day figure alone was 128,000. Five new grandstands were added to the re-configured Albert Park track in 2022 to cater for demand. This was the best-attended Australian Grand Prix since F1 last raced in Adelaide, in 1995.
2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
There’s no official weekend attendance figure for the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix yet. This was the first F1 race at Imola to welcome spectators since the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix, with the previous two Emilia Romagna Grands Prix having taken place behind closed doors. What we do know is that more than 100,000 tickets for the race had sold around a week before the event and 64,000 fans were in attendance on race day. Stefano Domenicali was expecting a sell-out event following Ferrari’s success in the early stages of the 2022 season.
2022 Miami Grand Prix
The highly-anticipated inaugural Miami Grand Prix had a solid debut on the F1 calendar. 242,955 fans were in attendance over the race weekend including over 85,000 on race day. The race had the largest crowd on record at Hard Rock Stadium, breaking the former record – for a National Championship game in January 2013 – by 5,000. Miami Grand Prix organisers have already promised 3,000 extra grandstand seats at the 2023 event.
2022 Spanish Grand Prix
277,836 were in attendance over the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix. With 121,667 fans at the track on race day, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya had its best Sunday attendance since 2008. The race day figure increased by almost 30,000 from the 2019 event.
Sadly, race organisers were unprepared for the high spectator numbers and many fans endured a lack of food and water at the circuit, long queues for amenities and even longer queues for public transport away from the track. Formula 1 said that the situation was “not acceptable”, warning the circuit that the issues “must be fixed for next season”.
2022 Monaco Grand Prix
There’s no news on the Monaco Grand Prix’s 2022 attendance figure. The official figure was last released in 2017, when a reported 200,000 fans attended over the Monaco Grand Prix weekend for a third season in succession. It has been reported that the number of people arriving in the principality over the Grand Prix weekend was up on the 2019 figure. For example, 106,683 visitors arrived by train, compared to 96,721 in 2019.
2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix is usually one of the least attended races on the Formula 1 calendar and is likely to have had a relatively modest spectatorship once again in 2022. We don’t yet have an official figure for the 2022 race. Nevertheless, Arif Rahimov, Executive Director of Baku City Circuit, said that race organisers were “very pleased” with 2022 ticket sales.
Rahimov noted that more than 10,000 international tourists visited Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, with an increase in visitors from the United Kingdom, the United States, Turkey and Scandinavian countries.
2022 Canadian Grand Prix
Returning to Canada for the first time since 2019, Formula 1 enjoyed an increased number of spectators at the Canadian Grand Prix. With two Canadians on the grid, 338,000 fans attended Circuit Gilles Villeneuve over the race weekend. That’s an increase of 31,000 from the last race at the track.
2022 British Grand Prix
The 2022 Silverstone race was the best-attended British Grand Prix on record with tickets selling out for all three days of the weekend for the first time. The total attendance was 401,000 – 55,000 more than in 2021. Silverstone also saw one of the largest race day attendances of the year, with 142,000 spectators passing through the circuit gates on Sunday. Having been the best-attended race weekend in the last season before the pandemic, Britain slips to third in the list in 2019.
2022 Austrian Grand Prix
303,000 fans attended the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix weekend, a 100,000 increase on the last pre-pandemic race at the Red Bull Ring in 2019. In 2021, the Austrian Grand Prix was the first race to be run at full capacity since the pandemic began. 132,000 fans attended that race, though the circuit hosted two events last season.
This year’s race at the Red Bull Ring came under the spotlight after multiple reports of fan abuse and harassment. Formula 1 released a statement following the allegations, saying that they had “raised this with the promoter and security and will be speaking to those who have reported these incidents and are taking this very seriously”.
2022 French Grand Prix
200,000 fans were in attendance over the 2022 French Grand Prix – the first full capacity event at Circuit Paul Ricard since 2019. This would turn out to be the final running of the French Grand Prix for the time being, with the race unable to secure a spot on the 2022 calendar. Ironically, this was the largest attendance seen at the event since it returned to the schedule in 2018. The 2022 figure was up by 65,000 on its 2019 counterpart.
2022 Hungarian Grand Prix
The Hungarian Grand Prix was attended by 290,000 fans over the three days of the race weekend. The attendance figure grew by 160,000 from the previous race at the Hungaroring in 2021 and by 60,000 from the last pre-pandemic race at the track in 2019.
2022 Belgian Grand Prix
The Belgian Grand Prix was another race to attract a record crowd in 2022. The official weekend attendance figure was 360,000. That number is up by 147,000 compared to 2021, though attendance last year was capped at a maximum of 75,000 per day due to pandemic-related restrictions. The 2022 weekend figure is up by over 100,000 on the last full capacity Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in 2019.
2022 Dutch Grand Prix
While most races experience a lower attendance figure in their second year on the F1 calendar (or comeback stint, as the case is here), attendance grew at the 2022 Dutch Grand Prix compared to 2021. Part of that can be explained by the fact that attendance numbers were capped last year – but a major factor is that home support continues to grow for Max Verstappen, who headed back to Zandvoort as a World Champion. 305,000 fans were present over the weekend, with 105,000 in the grandstands on race day alone.
2022 Italian Grand Prix
A record crowd of 337,000 were in attendance over the 2022 Italian Grand Prix weekend. It was the largest Monza crowd on record and saw an increase of 137,000 fans compared to the 2019 race; the last event at the track which ran at full capacity. An estimated 125,000 were at the circuit on race day alone.
Like the Spanish Grand Prix, the Italian Grand Prix also encountered organisational issues in 2022. Fans experienced long queues in and out of the circuit and on public transport, excessive waiting times for food and drink due to a flawed token system, plus very few free water points.
2022 Singapore Grand Prix
The Singapore Grand Prix attracted its largest-ever weekend attendance in 2022. 302,000 fans attended in total over the three days of the race weekend, 2,000 up on the previous record figure from the inaugural Marina Bay night race in 2008. 34,000 more fans attended the race weekend in 2022 than in the last race at the track in 2019.
2022 Japanese Grand Prix
Despite not being open to international visitors, the Japanese Grand Prix enjoyed its biggest attendance in a decade in 2022. The three day attendance figure was 200,000, marking the first time since 2012 that Suzuka’s weekend attendance had reached 200,000. Race day itself was attended by 90,000 fans.
2022 United States Grand Prix
The 2022 United States Grand Prix was the best-attended race of the Formula 1 season. With a weekend attendance of 440,000, Circuit of The Americas’ tenth race since joining the calendar in 2012 was one of the best-attended in Formula 1 history. It surpassed attendance at the 2021 United States Grand Prix by 40,000.
2022 Mexico City Grand Prix
The 2022 Mexico City Grand Prix was the best-attended Mexican race in Formula 1 history. Close to 400,000 fans attended over the race weekend – an increase of almost 25,000 on the 2021 figure. Always ranking among the best races to attend on the calendar, it’s no surprise that the event signed a new contract ahead of the 2022 race.
2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix
236,000 attended the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, a new record for the Interlagos event. That’s up by 55,000 from the 2021 figure. Attendance figures were boosted by a new hospitality area in the infield section of the track, near the final turns. All tickets for the Heineken Village sold out, which had a total capacity of 5,500.
2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
The 2022 season came to an end with the sell-out Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which had a weekend attendance of 160,000. That figure is up by 7,000 on its 2021 counterpart. An additional grandstand was constructed at Yas Marina Circuit for the 2022 race, between Turns 5 and 6. Tickets for the race sold out in record time.
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