Heikki Kovalainen

Reemz27

Quote:

The boss of Germany’s Hockenheim circuit has warned that the venue is in “acute danger” of falling off future Formula 1 calendars unless it receives financial help from the state government.

The track currently alternates hosting the German Grand Prix with the Nurburgring; with the country having reverted to hosting just one F1 race annually from 2007 so that both venues could share the increasingly high costs of staging a grand prix.

Hockenheim is next scheduled to stage the event in 2010, the final year of its contract with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, but circuit boss Karl-Josef Schmidt has already raised major doubts over whether the track has a longer term future in F1.

Following news that the economy ministry of Baden-Wuerttemberg has said that it does not want to take on the 5.3 million euros losses racked up by this year’s race, Schmidt says Hockenheim would be unable to continue on the calendar without such support.

“If that’s true, Formula 1 in Hockenheim is in acute danger,” he told Der Tagesspiegel newspaper.

“It [future beyond 2010] depends on the conditions.

“Without subsidies from the state, there will be no more Formula 1 in Hockenheim.”

Despite the presence of national carmakers BMW and Mercedes plus five home drivers currently on the grid, German interest in F1 has waned in recent years, with TV viewer figures down since Michael Schumacher’s retirement in 2006.

Hockenheim was already experiencing a dip in ticket sales even before the seven-time world champion’s F1 exit.

But while the Nurburgring does benefit from some form of state funding, Schmidt says even there “the limit of resilience has been achieved”.

Indeed he warns that unless Ecclestone lowers his race hosting fee demands, there is a real risk that a German round will fall off future schedules altogether.

"Formula 1 will just disappear from Hockenheim, but from Germany generally,” Schmidt said.

“Then it will only run in Arab countries.”

The doubts over Hockenheim future come just weeks after two other regular fixtures on the calendar, France and Canada, announced they would be unable to hold races in 2009.

While France’s motorsport federation cancelled its country’s race due to the economic downturn, Montreal government officials attempted to save its event but claimed Ecclestone’s “unreasonable demands” meant the city was unable to come up with a rescue deal.
http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?id=44690

_________________