The race is the home for both the Caterham team and Mercedes, who are
sponsored by Petronas, the state oil company. The latter have already said
they will carry tributes on their car.
The owner of one F1 outlet told AFP: “In the past one week we sold only about
50 tickets. Last year around the same period we sold about 1,000 tickets.”
More than 30 relatives of those affected have already been displaced from
their hotels by F1’s travelling circus; an unfortunate but unavoidable
occurrence, given how far in advance hotels for teams and the media are
booked.
Flight MH370 disappeared with 239 passengers and crew on board on March 8.
None of the plane has yet been recovered after three weeks of searching and
three days ago the Malaysian government said they believe it has crashed
into the southern Indian Ocean.