Hockenheim seeking risk-free F1 deal beyond 2018

Hockenheim is willing to continue hosting the German Grand Prix beyond the end of its existing contract in 2018, but only if it can strike a risk-free deal with Formula 1 officials.

After a period as the race's sole host, Hockenheim entered an agreement to alternate hosting the German Grand Prix with the Nürburgring from 2008, staging the race on the even-numbed years ever since.

However, the grand prix did not go ahead in 2015 or 2017 as a result of the Nürburgring’s financial struggles, with Hockenheim unable to make hosting the year annually cost-effective due to the terms of the contract.

While this year’s German Grand Prix will go ahead at Hockenheim, it is the last under the existing deal, and circuit officials are looking for improved terms if they are to enter a new contract to host F1.

“We cannot prolong under the current conditions, so we would like to have a contract which will take the risk from us,” Hockenheim marketing director Jorn Teske said.

“We are a circuit which does not receive any financial support from anybody, not from the state nor the region, nor from economic companies. So we have to make and manage everything for ourselves.

“We had some losses in the past. We had a 10-year contract and we fulfilled this contract. Even when we had some better and some worse years, we fulfilled the contract.

“But now there’s the time that we cannot continue with it in the same way. We would be very, very happy to have Formula 1 in Germany, not only for us, but especially for the fans. That’s the key point. We have to change the basics.”

Teske confirmed Hockenheim has put forward a proposal to F1 bosses to revise the structure of its contract in order to remove the risk involved.

“We think we should restructure the business model,” Teske said. “This could be track rental, this is the easiest thing, but it could also be sharing of ticket income and sharing of costs.

“This is now a question of the negotiations, how it could end up. There are many models which could work without risk.

“We presented our ideas, we presented the figures, very transparent, very clear in the details. Now they have to think about it.”

Teske added that while Hockenheim is open the idea of sharing the German Grand Prix with the Nürburgring under the new deal, it would also be happy to be the sole host of the race so long as the risks are managed.

“An ideal solution was if we and also the Nürburgring had this alternating system. It worked very well,” Teske said.

“We believe in the fact that we have two big and famous race tracks in Germany, the Hockenheimring and the Nurburgring. So it would work to have a race here and there.

“This is not a pre-condition. If it’s said it can only be one race track, year by year, we would agree if the thing with the risk is clarified.

“We could do it. We proved we could manage the race year by year in the past, so this is not a big deal.”