(Motorsport-Total.com) – How many spectators watch the Formula 1 races directly at the track? Which race track records the largest on-site audience? And at which locations are visitor numbers developing positively, while they are declining elsewhere?
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The following article provides answers to these and other questions about the audience at the race tracks of the 2026 Formula 1 season.
An important peculiarity of the statistics must be taken into account: The official total number of spectators for a race weekend results from the sum of the individual event days. Fans who are on site for several days are counted multiple times accordingly. As a result, the stated total attendance of a Grand Prix can exceed the actual daily capacity of a track.
Audience numbers at the 2026 Formula 1 races
#10: Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium)
According to organizer information, the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix in Spa-Francorchamps was sold out. With 400,000 weekend visitors, there was a record for the track: the previous best from the previous year was exceeded by 11,000 spectators. This makes Spa the current number three in Formula 1 after Silverstone and Melbourne.
#9: Silverstone (Great Britain)
With 564,000 spectators, this year’s Formula 1 race weekend at Silverstone was not only sold out but better attended than ever before. Never before have so many fans been on site at a Formula 1 event! The improvement over the previous year is also remarkable: in 2026, 64,000 more spectators came to the track than in 2025 – and that was a Formula 1 record so far (see below).
#8: Spielberg (Austria)
“320,000 – this number goes down in history.” This was announced by the Red Bull Ring on Sunday evening after the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix. In fact, the event described as “sold out” marks a record for Spielberg: 16,000 more visitors came than in 2023, the previous record year. However, due to the great heat at this year’s race, not all fans constantly occupied their grandstand seats.
#7: Barcelona (Spain)
The spectator interest in Barcelona was greater than ever at the last annually held Grand Prix: the organizers report a total of 301,273 spectators over the entire weekend, about 1,000 more than the previous year. However, this places the traditional circuit in 2026 only second to last in the unofficial audience ranking – only ahead of Shanghai.
#6: Monaco
As previously in Miami, the organizers in Monaco only stated that the race weekend was “sold out” but did not provide concrete numbers. Monaco had already made no statements the previous year. The track in the principality last announced figures in 2024: 200,000 spectators. However, this was the standard figure in Monaco for years.
#5: Montreal (Canada)
After no official numbers were reported in Miami before, according to Formula 1 data, 360,000 fans were at the track during the Canada weekend. This means the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve matched its attendance record from 2017 and 2018. The previous year, 352,000 fans had come to the track.
#4: Miami (USA)
The organizers of the Miami Grand Prix did not provide official spectator numbers in 2026 but only stated that the race weekend was “sold out.” Presumably, the visitor numbers were at the level of previous years, when 275,000 spectators were on site each time. So far, Miami had always provided concrete numbers.
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#3: Suzuka (Japan)
Suzuka reported a sold-out event with 315,000 Formula 1 fans over the entire weekend. This was also 49,000 more spectators than the previous year, even though there was no Japanese driver in the starting lineup in 2026. In the previous season, Yuki Tsunoda had made his debut for Red Bull at his home race.
#2: Shanghai (China)
At the third Grand Prix since the Corona pandemic, Shanghai can report audience growth for the second consecutive time: according to official information, 230,000 visitors were on site over the weekend – 10,000 more than the previous year. However, the Formula 1 record for the Shanghai International Circuit dates back to the 2005 season, when 270,000 spectators sat in the stands at the second Chinese Grand Prix.
#1: Melbourne (Australia)
For the fifth consecutive time, the Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne set an attendance record: after around 465,500 fans the previous year, this time almost 484,000 visitors came to the race track. Only Silverstone in England had a larger on-site audience at Formula 1 races with 500,000. Melbourne is thus the new number two and displaces Mexico City from the top 10 (see below).
Largest on-site audience of Formula 1 2026
This overview sorts the audience numbers of the 2026 Formula 1 season in descending order: well-attended races are at the top, poorly attended races at the bottom. The ranking is constantly updated and supplemented with new information throughout the season.
Note: Some organizers do not provide concrete spectator numbers. Therefore, Miami and Monaco do not appear in this overview in 2026. Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are also missing, but these races were not held at all.
How the audience numbers develop
This overview shows the development of audience numbers since 2022 at the individual Formula 1 venues. It is partially incomplete: sometimes there are no values because certain Grands Prix were not always held or the organizers did not communicate numbers. These fields remain empty.
The best-attended Formula 1 events
Which Grands Prix of the recent Formula 1 past had the largest on-site audience? Here is the ranking of venues with the most visitors per race weekend!
New in 2026:
– Melbourne displaces Mexico City (404,958) from the top 10 with 483,934 spectators
– Silverstone takes the lead with 564,000 spectators and displaces Melbourne (419,114) from the top 10
More on the topic:
Audience numbers for the 2025 Formula 1 season
Audience numbers for the 2024 Formula 1 season
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