Formula 1 Grand Prix Economics (2010–2026): What Drives Hosting Fees and Fan Attendance?

By abhishek.verma75000 · July 12, 2026

This analysis explores the economic landscape of Formula 1 Grand Prix events from 2010–2026 by examining hosting fees, weekend attendance, circuit…

The analysis compared average hosting fees per Grand Prix across different regions, and the results are shown in the generated bar chart and data table. The chart ranks each region by its average hosting fee (in millions of USD), allowing you to quickly see which regions command premium prices to host a Grand Prix.

Weekend attendance and hosting fees actually show a moderate negative relationship (correlation of -0.32) across circuits, meaning circuits that pay higher hosting fees don't necessarily draw bigger crowds. For example, Miami International pays the highest average hosting fee ($45.3M) but only draws about 238k attendees, while Albert Park attracts the highest average attendance (451.5k) with a much lower fee of $30M. This suggests hosting fees are likely driven more by factors like race prestige, venue deals, or market strategy rather than pure attendance numbers.

The analysis identified the circuits and countries that consistently draw the largest weekend crowds. Two bar charts were created: one ranking the top 10 circuits by average weekend attendance (in thousands), and another ranking the top 10 countries by the same metric. Supporting data tables back up these rankings, letting you see exactly which venues and nations lead in fan turnout.

The analysis compares hosting fees and race weekend attendance between newly introduced post-2020 circuits and long-established ones. Three charts were generated: a bar chart comparing average hosting fees, a bar chart comparing average attendance, and a box plot showing the full distribution of hosting fees across both circuit types. These visualizations let you see at a glance whether new circuits are charging more or less than established ones, and whether they draw larger or smaller crowds.

Average F1 hosting fees have declined slightly from 2010 to 2026, dropping from about $29.07M to $27.04M — a decrease of roughly $2.03M, or 7%. The line chart shows this downward trend over the years, with 2010 marking the highest average fee in the dataset.

The results are mixed. Street circuits do NOT generate higher attendance — they actually average 200.5k attendees compared to 275.6k for permanent circuits. However, street circuits do command higher hosting fees, averaging $29.5M versus $25.2M for permanent circuits. So street circuits win on fees but lose on attendance.

The data was grouped by region to compare average weekend attendance, average hosting fees, and the number of unique circuits per region. A bar chart and breakdown table were generated showing regions sorted from highest to lowest average attendance, with the color of each bar reflecting the average hosting fee for that region. This lets you quickly spot which regions draw the biggest crowds and how that relates to what they pay to host races.

The correlation matrix compares five circuit economics metrics: hosting fee, weekend attendance, debut year, and whether a circuit is a street circuit or a new post-2020 addition. The strongest positive correlation was between hosting fee and debut year (0.758), meaning newer circuits tend to pay higher hosting fees. The strongest negative correlation was between weekend attendance and debut year (-0.324), suggesting older circuits tend to draw larger crowds. A heatmap visualization was generated to show all these relationships at a glance, with color intensity representing correlation strength.

Each circuit's longevity was calculated as the number of years from its debut year through 2026, the latest season in the dataset. Circuits were then ranked from longest-running to newest, and their average hosting fees were compared to see whether experience on the calendar relates to higher costs. The results are shown in a horizontal bar chart ranking the top 15 longest-running circuits by years on the calendar (colored by average fee), plus a scatter plot with a trend line showing the relationship between longevity and hosting fee across all circuits.

Using the IQR method (1.5×IQR rule), no outlier races were detected in hosting fee usd m est across the entire dataset. The typical fee range spans from -1.65 to 54.75 USD million (based on Q1 = 19.50M and Q3 = 33.60M, with an IQR of 14.10M), and every race in the dataset falls within this range. This means hosting fees are fairly consistent across all grand prix events, with no races standing out as unusually high or low.