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Only ‘four or five’ GPs promote F1 to the right standard – Bratches

Only "four of five" grand prix promoters are dedicated to the task of hosting races to the proper standard, according to Formula 1 commercial chief Sean Bratches.

Last weekend's Italian Grand Prix allegedly drew a record crowd of 185,000 across practice, qualifying and race day.

It followed a reported three-day figure of 265,000 spectators at the Belgian Grand Prix, a year-on-year increase of 11.8% that F1 claimed meant "an outright record for a championship race" at Spa-Francorchamps.

Monza benefits from Italy's national passion for Ferrari, but Bratches believes that the majority of race promoters could do more to push their events.

"I think there's some inherent wind behind our sails in Monza," said Bratches.

"But our intention is to create an overlay for our promoters, to help them activate.

"By definition a promoter should be promoting, and I think we have to encourage more of that.

"We have 20 promoters, but only four or five are truly promoters - the rest are car enthusiast groups or governments.

"We're trying to bring everybody up to a standard, and Monza is something that should be looked at in a favourable light."

DIETER RENCKEN: Is Bratches all noise, no action?

Bratches said Monza had been able to tap into something special with its partisan crowd and that created a memorable grand prix.

"I think the passion and emotion and energy and excitement amongst this fanbase was captivating," he said.

"It was very contagious, and I had a wonderful grand prix, not only on a business level, but on a personal level.

"Going into the fan zone and watching everyone excited was really from my perspective very gratifying."

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