06/03/2015
NEWS STORY
The future of the German Grand Prix looks bleak as Bernie Ecclestone says promoters are unwilling to pay the fees.
At the height of the Schumacher era, Germany couldn't get enough F1. As the German took numerous titles with Ferrari the country hosted two rounds of the world championship, often at a time when the calendar was smaller than it is today.
However, despite the fact that a German team, albeit based in Brackley, England, is the world champion constructor, that the title-winning driver was at the wheel of that car, that his teammate and greatest rival is German, that Sebastian Vettel has now emulated Schumacher by joining Ferrari... and not forgetting Nico Hulkenberg, the sport is seriously on the wane.
In 2014, as Nico Rosberg, at that stage leading the championship, took victory at Hockenheim, who can forget the swathes of empty seats in the famous arena, seats that had been filled to bursting during the Schumacher era.
In recent years, a second race now a distant memory, the German Grand Prix has been hosted on an alternating basis at Hockenheim and the Nurburgring. While this year's race was due to take place at the Nurburgring, which is now under new ownership (Bernie Ecclestone having failed in his bid to buy it) it was not to be and despite appearing to have come to a deal with Hockenheim that too looks to have foundered.
"I am happy to keep a round of Formula One at Nürburgring," wrote Ecclestone in an email to German news agency dpa on Friday. "The promoter is aware of this and we have met to discuss this. The problem is that they are not prepared to pay the fee."
A day earlier, Ecclestone had said the fate of this year's race would be known by the weekend.
"I'm not sure it's going to happen," he told dpa.
Last month, Ecclestone admitted the future of F1 in German looked bleak because "the visitor numbers were so poor in recent years that it is not economically viable."