Former Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that he is baffled by the continued disappearance of the German Grand Prix from the calendar.
The famed event, which was often alternated between Hockenheim and the Nurburgring, was last featured on the calendar in 2019.
Germany did host the Eifel Grand Prix during the Covid-hit season of 2020, but has not been since, as prices as well as dwindling interest amid the retirements of Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel from the sport.
A return to Germany was recently mooted by F1’s current CEO Stefano Domenicali, but with competition for places on the calendar as tough as ever, it may take time to see the country host a Grand Prix.
This is a fact that has bemused Ecclestone, who told German publication sport.de his surprise at its extended hiatus.
“I often think about it and I don’t understand it,” he said.
“It’s just strange that it’s not being made possible. No one would oppose it, except maybe a few people in Germany itself.
“It’s just about money. If someone with the right funding were there, it would work.”
Germany has produced three World Champions – Rosberg, Vettel and Michael Schumacher, who helped the sport rise to new popularity with his myriad of successes and high profile.
But prior to Schumacher’s rise to the top, Germany had been a longstanding host of a Grand Prix, most notably at the infamous Nordschleife.
The ‘green hell’ was known for its extreme danger, and the event survived and moved away from the circuit after Niki Lauda’s near-life-ending crash in 1976.
Moving to Hockenheim, it returned to the shortened Nurburgring in 1985, which then held the event in a bi-yearly cycle with Hockenheim, which was renovated and shortened in 2002.
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