Vettel on German GP: "There will be no $30 million from the government"
General
- GPblog.com
The last time the German Grand Prix was firmly on the Formula 1 calendar was in 2019. Last season, the Nürburgring was still driven after races outside Europe were cancelled due to the coronavirus, but it seems to remain there for the time being. Sebastian Vettel finds that a pity.
Formula 1 and Germany are actually inextricably linked. With Mercedes taking the constructors' world championship for the last eight years, Michael Schumacher being the record champion with seven world titles and Sebastian Vettel still racing (four times champion), the German contribution is (has been) great.
The problem for Germany at the moment is that organising Grands Prix is too expensive. To host Formula 1 tens of millions of dollars have to be paid to owner Liberty Media. Because of this amount organising is not profitable and it all comes down to sponsors, but even they don't fill up every gap.
No Germany for the time being
Vettel does not expect the German GP to return to the calendar in the near future, he says to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. "There will be no $30 million from the government, as is common in some countries. Politicians see more important things. A subsidy seems unthinkable to me at the moment."
Liberty Media doesn't necessarily need Germany to fill the calendar, because with the rising popularity there are plenty of countries willing to dig deep into their pockets to bring in the pinnacle of motorsport. These include Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, but also South Africa. Governments there pay a lot to the organization, so Germany has no chance.