2015 German GP - DEAD..............

[donskar]

Last year only 50.000 Germans visited Hockenheim, 100.000 Australians and 120.000 British fans visited Melbourne and Silverstone. Germany have Mercedes, 4X times world champion Vettel, Rosberg as title contender and Nico Hülkenberg as young talent. This is still not enough and last year's event was painful to watch, with the empty stands. Then it's better not to organize a GP.

EXCELLENT points here: there are many reasons why a race in Germany SHOULD be a big draw -- M-B will probably win; a German will be one of only two likely winners. Yet, little interest. The symptoms are clear. The cause?
It's not a sport; it's a business.
It's not a sport; it's a business.
It's not a sport; it's a business.

It's all about money. And those who have the most money have the most power to keep or increase their money.

[mikeerfol]

https://twitter.com/andrewbensonf1/stat ... 1554822144 Meh

[foxmulder_ms]

On one hand I kind of understand Bernie, if someone like Azerbaijan is ready to shell out millions why settle with less with Germany or anyone else. On the other hand, without these old races, I think F1 may be losing something. Still after 15 years Azerbaijan will become "old", I guess. Hard to decide.

[MercedesAMGSpy]

People in the UK are more concerned about the German GP than the Germans, I think that says enough.

[SectorOne]

On one hand I kind of understand Bernie, if someone like Azerbaijan is ready to shell out millions why settle with less with Germany or anyone else. On the other hand, without these old races, I think F1 may be losing something. Still after 15 years Azerbaijan will become "old", I guess. Hard to decide.

It depends on the track i think. Sure every track will gather history automatically but Valencia will still be sh*t in 35 years.

But Azerbaijan, we did some "research" on it with google maps and stuff like that and it looks pretty interesting actually.
Some serious high speeds going on and some some elevation together with some tight stuff.
It has the potential to be a really good track.

I don´t mind new tracks as long as legendary good tracks like Monza, Silverstone, Monaco, Hungary etc stay on board.

[Sombrero]

Well, Monza could be out from 2017 onward....

[SectorOne]

All i can say is parasites needs to be exterminated sooner rather then later.

[r_b_l]

Last year only 50.000 Germans visited Hockenheim, 100.000 Australians and 120.000 British fans visited Melbourne and Silverstone. Germany have Mercedes, 4X times world champion Vettel, Rosberg as title contender and Nico Hülkenberg as young talent. This is still not enough and last year's event was painful to watch, with the empty stands. Then it's better not to organize a GP.

EXCELLENT points here: there are many reasons why a race in Germany SHOULD be a big draw -- M-B will probably win; a German will be one of only two likely winners. Yet, little interest. The symptoms are clear. The cause?
It's not a sport; it's a business.
It's not a sport; it's a business.
It's not a sport; it's a business.

It's all about money. And those who have the most money have the most power to keep or increase their money.

It is a business and obviously the higher echelons of the "sport" benefit greatly. However it appears that the teams do not benefit from these new GP's, apart from prize money, which I am sure in part are guaranteed from the GP deals.

I am happy to see new tracks & GP's but I would be much happier if the teams benefited a little bit more than the businessmen, for example new sponsorship deals or Partnerships. How many new sponsors from Russia, UAE, South Korea, Singapore, the US have signed deals with teams to get more global exposure? I have noticed Astana on the Force India.

I know sponsorship may not be a considerable factor for many people, and for most teams the prize money is enough, but I think sponsorship does help teams keep afloat.

The key to all this business is the teams, but if teams continue to fail, collapse etc the opportunity for investment will decrease, there will be no business for them to pursue & draw less fans to events.

(obviously regulations is a big factor in the decreasing fan base. Eg This year at the Melbourne GP the Crowd cheering on a single old two seater Minardi & commenting on how loud it is & joking that the V8 super cars are almost louder than F1's)

[zeph]

Wow, just wow. No German GP for the first time since 1960.

BE/CVC: Let them eat cake, play the fiddle while Rome burns etc.

[iotar__]

Germans had their chance with Ecclestone and his trial now they're paying the price, let's worry about Monza instead.

[ScottB]

I find it hard to comprehend why Bernie throws money at Ferrari, because of their 'historic significance' to the sport, but seems unwilling to treat the historic races in a similar way.

Just as an F1 grid without Ferrari, Mclaren and Williams would feel somewhat hollow, so would a calendar without Germany, Italy and Belgium. Furthermore, dragging F1 off to places like Russia, Bahrain and Azerbaijan does nothing for the sports image, or attract sponsors. The core of F1's support is in Europe, but by driving up ticket prices through inflated race fees, moving the races themselves to dictatorships and corrupt, albeit cash rich nations then screening them on pay TV threatens to kill the sport.

[Richard]

I find it hard to comprehend why Bernie throws money at Ferrari...

Bernie has a budget for total prize fund based on a % of income, how that money is divided between teams is a separate matter. So in Bernie's view Ferrari don't increase the money from him, they're reducing the share for the other teams.

[ChrisM40]

The ticket prices are insane. Minimum of £155 for Silverstone, £300 if you want an actual seat, £50 for a parking spot! So for me its either 12 hrs in a megabus (total both ways) for £45 or 10 in a car with 375 miles worth of fuel + £50 parking. Or I pay for multiple days and camp. Yeah, ill pass thanks, ill be going to Thruxton for the BTCC for £40 of fuel, £25 ticket and probably more entertaining racing.

[Gaz.]

I find it hard to comprehend why Bernie throws money at Ferrari, because of their 'historic significance' to the sport, but seems unwilling to treat the historic races in a similar way.

He does actually. Spa pay $8m per race, Monaco doesn't pay a cent and Monza has a 'special agreement'. Contrast this to the $50m of Yas Marina, Marina Bay, Sakhir etc.

It was reported last night that Nurburg couldn't afford the race so Hockenheim were asked if they wanted to host the race, who declined mostly because they haven't got time to organise it and were not sure if they could sell tickets at such short notice to cover the $9m fee, so Mercedes then stepped in and said they'd make up the difference but Hockenheim still declined the slot on the calender at end of play last night.

The notice period may be a genuine problem for Hockenheim but there's also history between the two tracks, in late 2012 when Valencia was pulled from the 2013 calender Hockenheim offered to host the European GP instead. This was veto'd by Nurburg who said "there is only one GP in Germany and it was theirs" so this may be a bit of payback to make Nurburg look silly, and it's blown up in Hockenheim's face.

[FW17]

I dont think spa is 8 million per race. The race last year made a loss of 8 million euros

I dont think Hockenheim was offered 9 million either, the german GP regular contract was about 20 million euros