Organizers said that 60,000 tickets have been sold for this year's Hockenheim race.GETTY IMAGES
German Grand Prix organizers said that they "cannot afford to host" the Formula 1 race at Hockenheim on current terms after this year and "any new contract has to be free of financial risk," according to Alan Baldwin of REUTERS. The circuit, near Mannheim in the Upper Rhine valley, ends in July a 10-year deal agreed with former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone. Liberty said that it wants to protect traditional venues and Hockenheim, as well as Britain's Silverstone, "could be a test" of whether the F1 owner is prepared to put its money where its mouth is. Hockenheim-Ring Marketing Dir Jorn Teske said, "We would like to have it (the race) in the future but the key point is we cannot prolong under current conditions. We would like to have a contract which will take the risk from us. This is the basic point. ... We cannot continue in the same way." He added, "It's a financial decision they have to take. Do they take the big money, let's say? Then we are out. Or do they believe in the importance of the traditional racetracks and an important automotive country, Germany?" (REUTERS, 5/11).
