F1 boss hoping for Nurburgring deal

An aerial view of the Nurburgring racetrack.

An aerial view of the Nurburgring racetrack.

Published Jan 9, 2013

Share

The Nurburgring is set to host this year's German Grand Prix and a deal could be agreed this week after further talks, Formula One's commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone said on Tuesday.

The 82-year-old also told Reuters that the calendar, approved by the FIA governing body last November, would have 19 races rather than the 20 slots available.

The calendar has the German race listed for July 7 at a circuit to be confirmed and another unnamed European round pencilled in for July 21. The latter had been intended for Turkey before talks stalled over money.

The Nurburgring and Hockenheim have alternated as venues for the German Grand Prix in recent years, with the former due to host this year's round.

MONEY WOES

However the circuit's financial problems have led to uncertainty.

“It should be the Nurburgring and we are trying to make it happen,” said Ecclestone in a telephone conversation. “I'm talking with them today.”

The billionaire, who has expanded the calendar to new destinations far from the sport's European heartland, played down suggestions Hockenheim could step in.

Circuit owners Nuerburgring GmbH, who are 90 percent owned by the German regional state of Rhineland-Palatinate, has run into financial trouble amid a dispute with track operator NAG over leasing fees.

The state authorities are under pressure to make the track pay after pouring millions of euros into a racing-themed amusement park there.

The circuit is due to be put up for auction later this year but Nuerburgring managing director Thomas Schmidt, who runs the company with an insolvency administrator, told Reuters in November that they had agreed with NAG to plan for 2013 regardless of the dispute.

The race is a home one for Red Bull's triple world champion Sebastian Vettel, who has yet to win a grand prix on German soil, as well as for car maker Mercedes who now have Britain's 2008 champion Lewis Hamilton partnering Germany's Nico Rosberg in their works team. -Reuters

Related Topics: