German Grand Prix Problems Highlight Importance of Traditional F1 Markets

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: January 21, 2015

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Since 2008, the venue of the German Grand Prix has alternated between Hockenheim and the Nurburgring. Both tracks are a shadow of their former selves, yet they never had trouble drawing fans during the Michael Schumacher years.

In fact, in 1995, 1996 and from 1999 to 2006, there were two German races each season. Hockenheim hosted the German Grand Prix, while the Nurburgring held the European Grand Prix.



Now, the European Grand Prix is long gone—on its way to Azerbaijan—and the lone remaining German race is in trouble. With the recent focus on expanding Formula One into new markets, some of its traditional ones are being forgotten and ignored.

This year, it is the Nurburgring's turn to host the German race, but F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone recently told Reuters' Alan Baldwin that it would return to Hockenheim instead because he could not reach a deal with organisers at the Nurburgring. 

As race hosting fees continue to increase, circuits that cannot make enough money from ticket sales and are not the beneficiaries of huge government subsidies will not be able to afford their races.

Last year, just 52,000 fans showed up at Hockenheim to watch Mercedes win their home race. Capacity, according to the circuit's website (in German), is 120,000. That attendance figure represented a 38 percent drop from Hockenheim's last race, in 2012, per Reuters' Baldwin, but it was still better than the 45,000 that showed up at the Nurburgring in 2013 to watch Sebastian Vettel's home victory.



"It’s not satisfying," Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff said at last year's race, per NBC's Luke Smith. "If you compare Hockenheim Friday to Friday at Silverstone and Friday in Austria, it’s a different world and we have to understand why that is."

One reason could be that fans in traditional markets feel abandoned. France lost its race after 2008, there ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Formula 1

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