Motorsport: Haug: No chance for Formula 1 races in Germany

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Motorsport
Haug: No chance for Formula 1 races in Germany

Norbert Haug was head of motorsport at Mercedes from 1990 to the end of 2012. photo

© Christoph Schmidt/dpa

The Nürburgring last hosted a Formula 1 race in Germany in 2020. Is there hope again for German fans? Ex-Mercedes motorsport director Norbert Haug is under no illusions.

Norbert Haug believes that a Formula 1 race in Germany is out of the question in the foreseeable future. The 71-year-old said no to a corresponding question in an interview with the “Pforzheimer Zeitung”. “If politicians worked together as constructively and purposefully as a successful racing team, I wouldn’t be worried that things in Germany and Baden-Württemberg would be very different than they are now,” said Haug, head of motorsport at Mercedes from 1990 to the end of 2012.

“There are very few who demonize the car, but they ensure that potential sponsors do not consider it opportune to support Formula 1 and then make a profit from it,” said Haug. Between 2007 and 2014, Formula 1 races took place alternately in Hockenheim and at the Nürburgring. The racing series made a total of 79 appearances in Germany.

The Nürburgring most recently hosted the Eifel Grand Prix in the 2020 Corona season. However, both courses cannot afford the high entry fees in the mid double-digit million range. In other countries, the state subsidizes the events.

“If the state of Baden-Württemberg were to invest 20 million euros for a Grand Prix in Hockenheim, this would result in sales of around 50 million, with taxes of ten to twelve million flowing back to the state. In the Stuttgart football stadium, for example Quite rightly, many millions have been invested,” Haug said in his own calculation.

dpa

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