Can German GP Overcome 'Impossible' Cost Barrier for F1 Return?
Dec.11 - Germany's brief burst of optimism about a Formula 1 return has been dampened again, with TZ newspaper reporting that the financial realities make a comeback highly unlikely - despite F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali recently declaring he wants Germany back on the calendar.
AvD president Lutz Leif Linden laid out the scale of the problem. "Formula 1 has experienced an extreme surge in popularity in recent years, also due to promotional activities such as the Netflix documentaries," he said.
"This has significantly increased the cost of everything."
Linden, who has previously organised German GPs himself, says the figures are now far beyond what ticket sales can cover.
"The license fees and any security costs for such an event alone cannot be covered by the sole source of income, namely ticket sales," he added.
Germany offers no public funding - unlike many F1 host nations - and even places an additional burden on drivers by taxing income earned during the weekend. "That doesn't exist in other countries," Linden noted.
The price tag, he said, is now brutal. "20 or 25 million euros are nowhere near enough anymore," he said, adding that a German GP would only be realistic "if some super-mega sponsor comes along."
Linden stressed the huge economic upside an F1 weekend brings to a region, but political reluctance and fears of breaching EU subsidy rules remain major obstacles.
He concluded: "Nowadays you can't get a major international sporting event anywhere unless the state fully backs it and cross-finances it. We can only achieve something if we go 'all in' - all of us."
6 F1 Fan comments on “Can German GP Overcome 'Impossible' Cost Barrier for F1 Return?”
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Simply the reality & too many comparatively more lucrative options for them to jump every single one anyway.
Btw, I may have referred to this once before, but Domenicali hasn’t said he ‘wants’ Germany back, so twisting his words is pointless.
He’s merely talked about it in a theoretical manner, which is different from actually wanting something & for that matter, the same about Imola, etc.
You think Spain is a more lucrative a market for F1 than Germany..!
Its happening in Spain because the regional Gov are daft, brave but daft..!
Audi, Mercedes+Ford in a Billion $$$ sport with all 3 having factories in Germany, Germany is just carefull, but not daft
In comparison, yes, not to mention Circuit De Catalunya's location isn't as isolated & difficult to access.
However, I meant zero chances to jump the likes of Qiddiya, Bangkok, South Africa, etc.
Even Istanbul Park has a better chance.
All in all, European circuits with at least somewhat difficult-to-access locations have pretty much non-existent chances, given their lack of profitability & F1's general trend for a while.
The lack of profitability has zero to do with location oh yeah thats the arguement put accross and we all buy into that,BUT it its just economics its just the size of the race fee that stops them being profitable, Arabs pay 30/40/50M ,whether the race is profitable or not has no bearing on it.
Countries these days just throw money at a race for political reasons your examples show that, and Madrid proves that, its part funded by he regional not national gov and potential losses underwritten by them.
Steffi wont turn away the big payers because its business , but the "trend is just to chase the $$" so it becomes a rich countries game/political cheap trick , take away the state funding and its just not profitable to hold a race if you use basic economics due to the race fee amount, not the location put simply if Steffi said its 40M for eg and the German Gov said ok , then Germany would have a race, thats nothing to do with a bad or good location its down to cash splashing Government
SS only manages to hold a race due to Arab cash,thats why a race is still there,. not the average location which incidentally no one moans about every year. if Rb didnt own Austria and pay the race fee, there would be no race there another example so its only sustainable because of big $$, not location or attendances, but im just using simple economics here so forgive me
I get what you mean & I don't dispute it, but I guess referring to most European locations as lacking ‘lucrativity’ would’ve been more fitting than profitability.
Anyway, European permanent circuits that aren’t presently in F1/haven’t been for a while will nevertheless struggle to find proper funding or other means to stand a chance against much more lucrative non-European locations in the battle for GP-hosting rights in the modern world.
Theres some wonderfully crazy vids on utube of how much campers on a Silverstone week, actually costs them for a whole weekend inc everything , its a stupid amount , says it all really, the only winners are Liberty in the lucrative stakes