{"id":22300,"date":"2014-06-18T06:57:57","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T10:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/?p=22300"},"modified":"2014-06-18T06:57:57","modified_gmt":"2014-06-18T10:57:57","slug":"hockenheim-furious-as-ecclestone-eyes-f1-axe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/formula-1\/hockenheim-furious-as-ecclestone-eyes-f1-axe\/","title":{"rendered":"Hockenheim furious as Ecclestone eyes F1 axe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bernie Ecclestone could terminate Hockenheim’s contract, as he looks to secure the long-term future of formula one in Germany.<\/p>\n

\"Bernie-Ecclestone-3\"Currently, Hockenheim – to host the German grand prix next month – annually alternates the race with the country’s other F1 venue, the fabled Nurburgring.<\/p>\n

But it emerged this week that, following the formerly insolvent Nurburgring’s sale to a Dusseldorf group called Capricorn, the new owners are close to agreeing a contract to stage the German grand prix every year between 2015 and 2019.<\/p>\n

A press release to that effect was issued by Capricorn on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“It is outrageous that this press release was issued,” Hockenheim boss Georg Seiler told the German news agency SID.<\/p>\n

“In formula one there is an unwritten law that says ‘No press releases while you are negotiating’. This is scandalous.”<\/p>\n

After hosting July’s 2014 race, the remainder of Hockenheim’s current contract is for grands prix in 2016 and 2018.<\/p>\n

Referring to F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, Seiler said: “He cannot and will not terminate.”<\/p>\n

And DPA news agency also quoted him as saying: “I know Mr Ecclestone as a fair and good partner. The fact is that I was surprised by this news.”<\/p>\n

Ecclestone, however, told Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport that the new annual Nurburgring deal would result in Hockenheim’s contract being terminated.<\/p>\n

“I met with the people from Capricorn,” he confirmed. “The problem is that they need to find revenues on the level of other European races.<\/p>\n

“Since the Nurburgring is close to Spa, I offered them the same deal that Belgium has,” added Ecclestone, referring to an arrangement where Spa gives up ticket revenues in exchange for a low race fee.<\/p>\n

“I have nothing against Hockenheim,” he explained, “but it seems that they are not able to meet our requirements.<\/p>\n

“To help them, we had to enter into an agreement with special conditions. But it can’t stay like that forever,” said Ecclestone.<\/p>\n

“If we sign a long-term agreement with the Nurburgring, it’s best to end the existing contract and begin the new one as early as 2015.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bernie Ecclestone could terminate Hockenheim’s contract, as he looks to secure the long-term future of formula one in Germany. Currently, Hockenheim – to host the German grand prix next month – annually alternates the race with the country’s other F1 venue, the fabled Nurburgring. But it emerged this week that, following the formerly insolvent Nurburgring’s …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,5262,5340,1546,1548,1832],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22300"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22301,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22300\/revisions\/22301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}