Look at Japan with Sato and then Kobayashi. Heroic fellowship they had, with a hero status.phil1993 wrote:I think it's natural with every country. Countries such as Britain will always have people going to F1 races, because it's a massively motorsport driven country. But Lewis + Jenson boosted the attendances significantly.
It's the same with Spain + Alonso. Germany's numbers are dwindling post-Schumacher, even with Vettel's presence. It's because the numbers shot up with Schumacher and are currently being just about sustained. Italy saw a drop when Ferrari had a bad year in 2009 I believe.
There's some countries where I think there'll always be a lot of F1 fans going to races. Every country with a driver will see an increase, some more than others. While other nations are dependant on a driver.
Thats the thing, having a home country driver with talent and competativeness, certainly rakes the crowd in. If there was just Chilton on the grid, interest would be very low, and calls for investment into motorsport would be on every forum after the heritage of F1.
I do wonder about France. Prost was the last big Frenchman who bowed out in 93 didnt he? The only time from then where France were truly interested was with Renault.
