Nurburgring chief SLAMS F1 for abandoning traditional grands prix

Nurburgring chief SLAMS F1 for abandoning traditional events such as the German Grand Prix in favour of richer venues in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, insisting the track has no financial chance of hosting a race

• The German Grand Prix remains absent off this year’s Formula One calendar
• Traditional race has now not been held since the 2019 season at Hockenheim
• Nurburgring has not been financially fit to host a Formula One race since 2013
• Venue’s chief Ingo Boder insists venue can’t compete with richer states

The boss of the Nurburgring race track has hit out at Formula One for not doing enough to help stage grands prix in the sport’s traditional and more famous circuits. 

Although the grand prix calendar now features a record 23 races, many of the sport’s famous European venues and grands prix have faced uncertainty over their future in recent times due to financial issues in being able to host a race.

That includes in Germany where the Nurburgring and Hockenheim tracks once both featured as part of the furniture on the race calendar before alternating and dropping off altogether in 2019. 

The Nurburgring looks no closer to sealing a permanent return to Formula One

The famous track has held 41 Formula One races across its many layouts since the 1950s

The German Grand Prix has not run since and while the Nurburgring hosted the Eifel Grand Prix in 2020 as an emergency addition to the calendar after the Covid outbreak, it was never in a position to maintain a long term place.

The Nurburgring, which has staged 41 races and first featured in the world championship in 1951, has now not been able to put the funds together to stage a race for nine years outside of its one-off showing in 2020.

With F1 having now moved away to more commercially lucrative venues in recent times including Saudi Arabia and Qatar – and Bahrain recently penning a new mammoth contract until 2036 – Nurburgring managing director Ingo Boder insists there is next to no chance his track can financially afford to host a one-off race let alone sign a long term deal. 

The venue cannot compete with richer venues such as Bahrain (above), which has recently penned a new deal to run until 2036

World championship Formula One racing at the Nurburgring has featured since the 1950s

‘We are talking about very high entry fees and the income that we can generate,’ Boder told Sky Sports Germany via motorsport-total.

‘Unfortunately, there is always a gap that is far too large that we as a medium-sized company simply cannot bridge.

‘Without private investment and with the entry fees of Formula One we cannot even begin to risk our annual result in order to only have Formula One here once.’

‘We don’t see ourselves on an equal footing with these states [Qatar or Saudi Arabia]. We [have] no big investor in the background who wants or can spend that much money just for a Formula One race. I think that’s the biggest obstacle to a Formula One race in Germany.’

Lewis Hamilton won the last race at the Nurburgring in 2020, which was staged as the Eifel Grand Prix as an emergency addition to the calendar following the outbreak of Covid 19

Otherwise Nurburgring hasn’t staged a Formula One race since the 2013 season (above)

Boder was hopeful of F1 returning to Germany in the future, stating that F1 boss Stefano Domenicali was open to talks over how to make it financially viable for a return to the country that has produced multiple world champions in Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel.

Boder though insists a deal is only likely to work if concessions can be made.

‘We have to see: is there a way for Formula One to price the traditional racetracks differently, yes or no?’, he added.

‘We very much welcome the fact that Domenicali has at least signaled a willingness to talk. Domenicali had said at the beginning of the year that he wanted to stimulate an “open discussion”.

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