South African GP in doubt; Spanish numbers slump.

Perhaps Bernie should have stuck to his word when he said no country should have more than one GP.

a valencia/barcelona gp alternation maybe. although ive had enough of the always uneventful Barcelona, typically the dullest race on the calendar each year (atmosphere not included) ;) .

I do not know for Barcelona, but as for Valencia circuit can give you some facts:
- It will have a total of 26 stands for a total seating capacity of 112,771
- Tickets were on sale in Spain since 1st April (last week)only
- Out of 112,771 seats, 60% were on sale for the spanish market (and 40% on sale abroad, not available for spanish fans)
- Today,in Spain,there are as few as about 5000 seats available (have no data regarding 40% offered abroad).
This is hard competition for Barcelona and in my opinion this is the real problem for Barcelona slump and not a 'negative Alonso-effect'.
In fact, Barcelona was not happy at all, when the Valencia circuit was announced.

So let me get this straight! In the next few years there is talk of Russia, South Africa, India, Quatar, USA and I'm sure there's a couple more I can't remember right now all wan't F1 GP's. There are 18 races now plus the extra's so approx 24 races potenially without culling the current races as it would be ashame to loose any of them. Here's an idea?? each team has 3 drivers and cars with only 2 cars entered per race and one driver can only drive max 18 races per year sought of a leap frog system. This means more drivers get a go at F1, More races on TV wich means more money for BE, More venues around the world, More jobs in F1 teams. The fans are loosing interest as it is at present.

Also...
It means that more potenial drivers from the actual countries hosting the races can draw the crowds back to the grandstands. As it is now we have only a few countries represented in the drivers line up yet the races are expanding to new unproven tracks and nations. This is a receipe for failure. If Bernie is serious about expanding the sport and filling the stands we need a greater variation in driver nationalities as there is nothing like having a fellow country man to follow in ths sport. Chopping current races and going just for the bucks will kill off F1.

Update for Valencia GP:

Valencia sold out today April 11th,
All 112,771 tickets sold in only 10 days