Hockenheim admits German GP future in doubt

Hockenheim promoter Georg Seiler this week admitted Bernie Ecclestone is right that Germany might once again be absent from the F1 calendar in 2017.

The good news for fans of the German grand prix is that, after an absence in 2015 that Nico Hulkenberg describe on Tuesday as "almost criminal", it is back this year with a race at Hockenheim at the end of July.

To help promote Germany’s F1 return, Hulkenberg as well as fellow German drivers Nico Rosberg and Pascal Wehrlein attended a media day at Hockenheim on Tuesday.

According to the German press, they urged their countrymen to come to Hockenheim late in July to enjoy the race and help secure its future.

But F1 supremo Ecclestone has warned that Germany will probably be absent from the calendar once again in 2017, as the alternating deal with the Nurburgring appears defunct.

"2017 was to be the Nurburgring’s turn," Hockenheim managing director Georg Seiler agreed.

"I don’t know about the negotiations, because we can only step in if we can eliminate any risk to us," he warned.

Seiler vowed that Hockenheim will honour its contract through 2018, but German reports said the future of the race is in doubt due to dangerously low ticket sales.

So far, only 46,000 tickets have reportedly been sold, well short of Seiler’s target of 60,000.