Abu Dhabi Grand Prix attracts record crowd of 60,000

This year's Formula One race attracted 5,000 more visitors than last year, and the highest number of journalists in the event's six-year history.

Spectators walk on the starting grid and pit lane ahead of the Formula One Etihad Airways Grand Prix at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Christopher Pike / The National

This year’s Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was the most successful to date, with the highest number of overseas visitors and ticket sales, Yas Marina Circuit officials said.

The Grand Prix drew a crowd of 60,000 – 5,000 more than last year.

Forty-six per cent of racegoers came from outside the UAE, officials said.

The Grand Prix weekend also had the highest number of journalists in attendance – 440 – in the event’s six-year history.

A customer satisfaction survey conducted through 1,200 10-minute face-to-face interviews showed that 88 per cent said the weekend was the best they had attended.

Ninety-eight per cent said they would recommend the event to others, while 100 per cent said they would return in 2015.

The #AbuDhabiGP hashtag was the top worldwide trend on Twitter on the day of the race, with 302,805 Twitter mentions and more than 1.8 million Twitter impressions – the term used to describe the number of unique accounts to which a certain post is delivered.

The YasHUB F1 app for racegoers had more than 40,000 downloads and was the most downloaded sports app in UAE Apple and Google Android stores that weekend.

“This year was a fantastic success across all fronts,” said Al Tareq Al Ameri, chief executive of Yas Marina Circuit.

“Reviewing our performance post-race, we have been delighted to discover that we have hosted the biggest and most well-attended race weekend in the circuit’s Formula 1 history.”