Malaysian GP to be financial bloodbath
As preparations step up for the race held at Sepang, which is near Malaysia's most populous city Kuala Lumpur, it emerged at a launch event that only 11,000 tickets have so far been sold for the three days of the 2007 event.
Official statistics, meanwhile, showed that in 2006, the occupancy rate for hotels rooms during grand prix week was just 70 to 74 per cent.
Defending the poor figures, circuit chairman Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir said: "Malaysians tend to have a habit of buying formula one tickets like they do movie tickets — they prefer to buy tickets on race day or close to it.
"In the past, we've got excited and worried when we saw ticket sales not what we wanted them to be at the stage we are at now, but then suddenly in the week before the race, we saw dramatic increases. I believe it will be the same this year."
[Editor's Note: Given another dismal year for the Malaysian GP look for this race to be replaced by Bernie Ecclestone with one in Singapore or India before long.]