The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is expecting its best Spanish Grand Prix this year, with circuit director general Joan Fontserè confirming an increase in ticket sales compared to the same time last year.
With new regulations aiming to lower laptimes by around five seconds and putting a focus on man and machine with high-degrading tyres, it's hoped the recent decline in television viewership and race attendance will be halted.
Fontserè confirmed ticket sales are up, but believes a number of factors have contributed to the rise.
"I expect that it’s going to be much better than last year," he told Motorsport Week. "We've got a lot more fans coming [this year]. The tickets sales are a little better than [this time] last year. Our team think that we have a good opportunity this year to have our best grand prix ever."
When asked is the new cars were the reason, he replied: "Sure, it helps, there are plenty of reasons why. First of all the Netherlands with drivers like Max [Verstappen], then new cars, our local heroes like Fernando who is performing…we’ll see. And Carlos [Sainz] who performed very well last year and now we are expecting that he is going to be in better places than last year and that helps a lot."
Another reason Fontserè believes will help now and in future is the recent relaxing of social media rules, with new owners Liberty Media giving teams and drivers the freedom to post short video clips from testing to Twitter, Facebook and Snapchat.
"Then promotion. A lot of digital promotion and social media – a lot of new opportunities to commend so I think that they're really the things that are helping us to sell more tickets."
