F1 » BMW, Mercedes won't bail out German GP

Seems to me the area F1 REALLY needs to cut costs in is in the fees Ecclestone and Co. charge to hold a GP... this is what?.. the 3rd(?) GP venue to announce that without outside financial help it will have to give up hosting them?...

Either F1 is no where near as popular as the F1 propaganda brigade is trying to make out or Bernie & "friends" are taking far to much money for themselves

It is about time all the venues called Bernies bluff. Just say they don't want to host the event (as a whole) and watch him crawl back, cap in hand. A rival formula is seriously overdue.

Not a lot of good news lately. Hard to see where F1 will be in a few years time. The world is changing and Bernie needs to get a grip before its too late or just let go...

When will the Arabian circuits follow?
100 USD a barrel less is going to hurt them too.
How about the development of the track in Moscow, can't see that being finished if even the construction of the highest tower in Moscow (and I hear several other projects too) is being stopped due to lack of credit.

So you can host a GP in Malaysia. But what if nobody can afford the tickets?
Do you think I will buy tickets for a European race next year? I'd be lucky if I still have a job!

Just another nail into the coffin for F1.
I lost interest in the Hockenheim circuit when they destroyed it a few years ago by cutting out the long straights into the forest and made it into another mickey mouse circuit.Theres only 2 hard core tracks left and thats Monza and Spa,what is happening to this great sport???????

it is understandable that merc and bmw do not want to put money into hockenheim, as they already put millions into the sport. why should they then pay to stage a race in which they can compete? BE is obsessed with money.he wont be able to take it with him when he goes, so why does he not INVEST in the sport. oh, i forgot, the last time he did that (brabham), he nearly bankrupted it!

@simon - That was my first reaction to the new Hockenheim too. Unfortunetely the old track was boring. I remember Gerhard Berger commenting that it was easy, you just had to floor it for most of the lap. The only overtaking opportunity was to do a kamikazi move at a chicane. The new track has produced some great races. The hairpin corner really encourages decent overtaking moves. I just wish that they left the old track in place so they had the option running the longer track. Remember the stadium section was not original either. It originally was a big egg shaped oval track.

The whole structure needs to change. Let Bernie keep the gate money and pay a track rental fee. The track could also get income from parking fees and concessions. It is Bernie's responsibility to market F1 so let him get the rewards or risk from the TV and the gate income. The tracks should not be losing money.

With France, Canada, USA, Germany, and most likely GB to disappear from the calendar it is hardly the series that attracted us to the sport in the first place. If Belgium and Italy were to go, there literally would be almost nothing left of the original F1.