No quick return to Germany for F1

The managers of the two German circuits that could host a Formula 1 have dismissed the chances of a return of their Grand Prix to the calendar, citing the tremendous increase in the promoters’ fee and in the operation costs of running it.

With Audi joining Mercedes on the grid from the start of next year, it could be expected that the country that has given so much to Formula 1 would be in a position to get its Grand Prix back.

However, the managers for the Nurburgring and Hockenheim have made it clear they’re nowhere near having the backing required to even start negotiations with Formula 1.

The last Grand Prix held in Germany was in 2020 at the Nurburgring, but that was amid a COVID enforced reshuffling of the calendar, whilst the last contracted race was at Hockenheim in 2019.

Speaking to the local daily newspaper Kolner Express, the director of the Nürburgring, Ingo Boeder, said that a possible return of the championship to Germany is “an almost impossible mission,” adding that the last discussions with Formula 1 officials took place more than “a good year ago.”

The German manager made it clear that “with the current model, as the circuit operator, we would have to pay for Formula 1 and assume its financing through ticket sales.”

Furthermore, Boeder revealed that “in addition, the infrastructure would have to be requisitioned for almost two weeks for assembly and disassembly,” before concluding that, therefore, “this project is not interesting for us.”

A few hundred kilometres south of the Nürburgring, the situation is the same at Hockenheim.

nder new ownership since last August, when the Emodrom Group acquired a 75% stake in the Hockenheimring, even the company’s CEO is not expecting to host a Formula 1 race any time soon.

However, unlike its counterpart from the north, Tim Brauer made no secret of his ambitions, saying that “we are trying to find models to bring Formula 1 back to Germany.”

His track director, Jorn Teske, added that “we have to make sure we don’t run a deficit,” but it’s well known that no European Grand Prix can survive without government funding and that’s something extremely difficult to get in Germany.

The municipality of Hockenhein and the local government of Baden-Württemberg could never put together a big enough budget that would guarantee a German Grand Prix in their area wouldn’t run at a massive loss – so ,without the central government’s support, the project is a non-starter.

And, according to Mercedes’ Team Principal Toto Wolff, that’s not about to change, the Austrian explaining that “the mood in Germany is not conducive to Formula 1 at the moment.

“People are perhaps still too attached to the old ways,” referring to a time, not so long ago, when ticket sales alone would make you break even, if you were able to sell out the event.

Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images

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