Schumacher Title Won't Hurt Hungarian GP Attendance

Even if Ferrari's Michael Schumacher bags his fifth Formula One title before the Hungarian Grand Prix next month, race organisers believe the attendance will not be affected beyond the slump already anticipated.

Schumacher, who won his fourth World Championship last year at the Hungaroring, stands a good chance of establishing an unbeatable lead at Sunday's French Grand Prix, with an unprecedented six races of the season to spare.

The second of those remaining races will be the Hungarian round of the World Championship on August 18.

"I'm afraid that a Schumacher win won't make too much difference to a trend of falling attendance so far this season," Laszlo Palik, president of Hungaroring Sport told Reuters on Thursday.

"Last year his (Schumacher's) victory in Hungary did not have any special impact on the following races," he said.

Total attendance over the race weekend in Hungary last year was just under 200,000, and although the organisers do not publish detailed figures, the break even point is thought to be around 150,000.

Palik declined to forecast this year's attendance.

Starting in 1986, then Communist Hungary became the only country behind the Iron Curtain to play host to the Formula One circus, and the event has been a major tourist attraction for the central European country ever since.