F1 News
'A Grand Prix at Hockenheim is unrealistic'
- GPblog.com
In today's world, everything is uncertain and with many postponed and cancelled races, it remains to be seen how the provisional calendar will be put together. Several circuits - which normally don't organize races or don't organize races anymore - have already offered themselves as alternative options, including Hockenheim in Germany. But whether it is realistic...
No Hockenheim
The German Grand Prix was not on the calendar this year because the circuit is struggling to make it financially. A loss, but every circuit has to pay a large amount of money to organize a Formula 1 race. This can be recouped by the sale of tickets, but that is not always possible.
The fact that Hockenheim is now put back as an option is ambitious, but Auto, Motor und Sport writes that it is not really realistic. This is because it is even more difficult financially than before. The fact that it has been discussed is more in that it is possible to organize a race. This is not complicated, because Hockenheim has a lot of experience with it.
The German site writes that no financial matters have been discussed and there is no specific time frame yet. So it is very early days and when the financial aspects are looked at, a gloomy picture emerges.
How to set up
The circuit can set up a race in a week, as they have all the capacities for it. The fact that there won't be an audience in coronation times makes it even easier to realize. In fact, the circuit is used to 'back-to-back' organisations, so that shouldn't be a problem.
The finances, that's what it keeps coming back to. AMuS: "A Grand Prix stands or falls with the finances and with the requirements of the state or government. In the past, Hockenheim paid between fifteen and twenty million euros. This was too much to keep the race for the long term, that's why Formula 1 was absent for a long time".
"This 'entry fee' will have to be dropped, because without the income of visitors, Hockenheim will face a serious shortage. Nobody will want to voluntarily put money in these coronation times. On the contrary. In that case, Formula 1 would have to subsidize a Grand Prix."
Formula 1 will not do that and there are still many restrictions in place in Germany. A race on the circuit involves about 1,000 people and that is not allowed under the current measures. So the rules would have to be relaxed if it is to be allowed at all.
The conclusion of AMuS, which is a bit closer to the subject matter, is clear: "At the moment the hope for a German Grand Prix should be kept low".