Following today's meeting of the World Motor Sport Council, Germany has been officially dropped from the 2015 calendar.

Confirming all the other 19 rounds, the World Motor Sport Council noted "the German Grand Prix has been withdrawn as the CRH and promoter did not reach agreement".

While the CRH (Commercial Rights Holder) Bernie Ecclestone said last weekend that the event looked unlikely, it was subsequent comments from both the Nurburgring and Hockenheim that finally signalled the death knell for the event.

Last year's event at Hockenheim was poorly attended, the TV cameras unable to hide vast swathes of empty seats in the arena, seats (right) that were filled to capacity during the golden era when Michael Schumacher ruled. A golden era that saw Germany hosting two rounds of the championship for several years.

Now, despite a German team winning the titles and three German drivers, the demand isn't there.

In recent years, faced with falling spectator numbers and the ever increasing race fees, the race has alternated between Hockenheim and the Nurburgring with the former hosting the 2014 event and scheduled to host it again next year.

With the Nurburgring under new ownership - Ecclestone having failed in his bid to buy the legendary facility - the circuit was unable to host this year's event and faced with last year's loss, and a repeat in 2016, Hockenheim was unable to step in.

On Tuesday, Georg Seiler, managing director of Hockenheim, told Bild. "We have no hope any more of having a Formula One race here this year. We did everything in the last few years to keep the fans happy.

"We had declared ourselves willing to step in for Nurburgring, something we were contractually not obliged to do," he added. "There were talks with third parties over taking over the risk but they were not successful."

While on Thursday, a spokesman for the Nurburgring said the circuit could not host the race this year "for time, financial and organisational reasons".

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by TokyoAussie, 24/03/2015 3:30

"No race is sacred, with the exception of Monaco. There are a couple of countries left that haven't been fleeced by F1, so until we scrape the bottom of that barrel expect to see more races disappear. Bernie's approach is patently unsustainable, but he doesn't care. Or, at least, he doesn't show any indication that he cares. The silence from the FIA indicates that they probably don't care either. Who does? Only us poor sods, the fans."

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2. Posted by Editor, 23/03/2015 7:32 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 23/03/2015 23:00)

"The 'pop up' ads – which in fact have been running for over a year and a present on a vast range of other sites - disappear after a short while and are strictly capped so that readers only receive 1 or 2 a day.

We hate the ads as much as anyone else, but exactly how are we meant to cover our costs? In fact the ads we run don't even cover our basic costs.

If every one of our readers contributed 50p (that's fifty pence) a year we wouldn't know what to do with all the money, but that is never going to happen.

Funny thing is, you follow a sport driven by advertising.

By the way, if the comment "are u taking a page out of Bernie's book" is in reference to the fact one now has to pay to access what was previously free, there is abslutely no comparison. We are trying to cover out costs not screw fellow fans out of every penny we can."

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3. Posted by Tweek, 23/03/2015 3:17

"Hey pitpass, can u please lose the annoying popups u added recently........ Or are u taking a page out of Bernie's book?"

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4. Posted by Steve W, 22/03/2015 8:00 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 22/03/2015 8:27)

"This comment was removed by an administrator as it was judged to have broken the site's posting rules and etiquette."

Rating: Neutral (0)

5. Posted by Paul C, 22/03/2015 2:14

"Why not replace Germany with Brands Hatch or some other British track? Doesn't the WDC's home country get 2 GP's the next season?"

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6. Posted by Ro, 22/03/2015 0:01 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 23/03/2015 23:00)

"This comment was removed by an administrator as it was judged to have broken the site's posting rules and etiquette."

Rating: Neutral (0)

7. Posted by Simon in Adelaide, 21/03/2015 23:17

"Perhaps the Greeks would like to run a GP around Athens, I'm sure Germany would pay."

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8. Posted by Ro, 21/03/2015 22:37 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 23/03/2015 23:00)

"This comment was removed by an administrator as it was judged to have broken the site's posting rules and etiquette."

Rating: Positive (1)

9. Posted by kiwi2wheels, 21/03/2015 21:53

"Perhaps the guys who own the old historic F1 cars should step up and run a few races with pro drivers in their expensive toys at the real circuits to gauge the interest.

Have sub classes relative to years ( non -ground effects, 1977-82, 1982 on ) with naturally aspirated engines to keep costs manageable ...............

Would have to be an improvement on today's crap!"

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10. Posted by TheBucketOfTruth, 21/03/2015 9:03

"@Joop deBruin

Bernie doesn't care about the circuits making money. He cares about FOM making money. He's not one for nostalgia. He's fine seeing a grand prix like this fall by the way side because it can't break even because it means another odd country paying 30 or 40 million out of pocket just for the privilege of hosting a race. I personally am not all that bothered by this as I don't find Hockenheim or the GP circuit of the Nurburgring terribly interesting for these races. That said, if we ever lost Spa I may just stop watching altogether."

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11. Posted by Joop deBruin, 20/03/2015 22:19 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 23/03/2015 23:00)

"The problem with The Hobbit and his new Masters is that they don't know how to make money in the modern economy. The more eyeballs watching the sport, the more sponsors/advertisers will pay. Fill the stands in all of the countries, regardless of what the appropriate ticket price is in each country, broadcast on free TV, internet and let advertisers pay for the eyeballs! Sell more "crap" at the events, via the internet etc by appropriately pricing the merchandise.

But CVC wants the Quick Dollar and don't care if they leaving a smoking crater. The Hobbit is just plain in the wrong century."

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12. Posted by Nortim, 20/03/2015 19:58

"Well that's why we have Baku European GP (Azerbaijan) next year - it's still European - hardly geographically, but at least in name.

Who is next, Monza? Spa? Barcelona? - no worries, we will have no more then 10 cars on grid, so we will not need those circuits for F1. And luckily there is only one problem - money.... :D"

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13. Posted by Bonobo, 20/03/2015 19:55

"The insanity continues. Yeah the demand for F1 just isn't there in Germany, in contrast to say, Bahrain. No French GP, no German GP; at what point does F1 really disappear up CVCs ass. "

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Germany officially dropped from 2015 calendar

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