It seems as if Ferrari’s lack of form in the 2005 championship is hitting in some unexpected places with organizers of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix revealing that the fact there is very little chance of the Scuderia repeating their one-two victory of 2004 has hit in ticket sales with numbers down by 15 percent on 2004’s 117,000 spectators, even though they have reduced the price.

"Ticket sales are down on previous years and this is troubling us," Ludovico Grandi President of Milan Automobile Club president said. "On the one hand costs are going up and on the other the returns are going down while the competition is growing from emerging countries, as Turkey, China and Bahrain have demonstrated."

It was thought that the tifosi would be there in force this weekend, cheering their local heroes on, especially as it is a well known fact that crowd support can help morale enormously. Hopefully ticket sales will improve before the start of the weekend.