Valencia Doubles Ticket Sales Thanks to Schumacher

Despite the FIA's decision to suspend the entire Renault F1 outfit for the race at Valencia due to their wrongdoings in the Hungarian Grand Prix – and, consequently, Fernando Alonso – there is a high chance we'll see some full grandstands alongside the Spanish city's harbour.

As confirmed by organizer Valmor Sports' operations director Carlos Moreno in an interview with German news agency DPA, more than 10,000 tickets for the European Grand Prix have been sold following Michael Schumacher's announcement that he will return to racing. The 40-year old confirmed he will replace Felipe Massa starting the Valencia race last Wednesday.

“The previous week the number was barely 6,500 (tickets). The news of his (Schumacher's) return has been known the same week of the possible absence of ... Fernando Alonso. Therefore the tickets sale has been slightly compensated,” revealed Moreno, according to the aforementioned source.

In addition, the Valmor Sports' official today confirmed more than half of the 75,000 tickets for the European Grand Prix have already been sold, regardless of the outcome of Renault's appeal on August 17th. The Enstone based team is to appear before the ICA judges less than a week before the official start of the Valencia event to reverse the suspension handed by the Hungarian stewards following the Fernando Alonso incident.

This is the second good news regarding Formula One ticketing in a row this week, after yesterday it was confirmed the tickets for the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps – scheduled after the European GP – are selling “by the minute”.