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Hockenheim is keen to continue hosting the German Grand Prix after its current contract runs out this year, but only with a new ‘risk-free’ Formula 1 deal.
The track has suggested a form of revenue sharing, either with no sanctioning fee or a much reduced one, as it cannot afford to continue losing money as it has under the present contract.
The revelation follows news that the Miami GP will run under what F1 has called “an atypical business model”, with sources saying that Liberty is so keen to make it happen that the race will involve risk sharing and no fee.
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Other venues are consequently set to reconsider their future deals, with Hockenheim providing the first test case.
Its marketing director Jorn Teske said: “We’re aiming to host a GP in the future, and we’d like to have it in the future, but the key point is we cannot prolong under current conditions.
“So we would like to have a contract which will take the risk from us, this is the basic point.
“So we are not speaking about the fee, we are speaking about a new contract where we definitely have no risk anymore.
“We have a circuit which does not receive any financial support from anybody, neither from the state nor from the region nor from economic companies, so we have to make and manage everything for ourselves.
“We had some losses in the past. We had a 10-year contract, and we fulfilled this contract, even though we had some better and some worse years.
“Now’s the time that we cannot continue in the same way.”
Asked to expand on how a risk-free deal might work, Teske replied: “For the moment we are always talking about fees, and then we were asked how much fee would you pay to host the race?
“This is not our question, because we think we should restructure the business model.
“This could be a track rental [by F1 or a third party promoter], or it could be a sharing of ticket income, and sharing of costs.”
Teske said that the ball was now in F1’s court.
“We presented our ideas, we presented the figures, very transparent, very clear, in the details, and now they have to think about it,” he said.
“I hope that they move a bit. But it’s not that easy because it’s a financial decision they have to take.
“Do they take the big money? Then we’re out.
“Or do they believe in the importance of the traditional racetracks, and an important automotive country in Germany?”
Hockenheim alternated with the Nurburgring as German GP host until 2013, the theory being that neither venue was willing to lose money every year but could cope with taking a hit every second year.
Teske called the race-sharing deal “an ideal solution” but said Hockenheim would be content as sole German GP host “if the thing with the risk is clarified”.