An easy ride in to the track

The attendance at this year's Spanish Grand Prix is noticeably down on recent years. This morning we drove in at 8am and didn't stop once.

It's the first time I've been able to do that since Alonso came to prominence. His lack of competitiveness with Renault is a lot to do with the drop off in interest, I'm told by my Spanish colleagues. But also the state of the economy and the high ticket prices are having an effect.

Nevertheless they are expecting 100,000 people here today, so more than Silverstone's capacity. But they expanded the grandstand capacity here and it can hold over 130,000.

The top price grandstand seat here is €500, with €300 a common price.

Flavio Briatore apparently has worked out that it is cheaper for a family of four from Spain to go to New York for a week's holiday than it is to come to the Grand Prix.

Although the skies are blue in the photo above, it rained overnight at the circuit and it is raining now in downtown Barcelona. It's 9-30am as I write this and it's now overcast and only 18 degrees.

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