With doubt cast on the British Grand Prix due to impending quarantine rulings in the UK, Liberty Media are in talks with Hockenheim about it joining the F1 calendar as a backup option.
The UK government recently announced a mandatory 14-day quarantine for overseas visitors and is expected to be imposed from the start of next month.
F1 has been in talks with the government, with the hope that those travelling for F1 will be exempt from the ruling.
However, in the likely scenario that the British Grand Prix cannot go ahead, Hockenheim has emerged as a favourite to replace it.
Speaking with Motorsport.com, Hockenheim managing director Jorn Teske says that talks between themselves and Liberty have recently accelerated and were now focusing on practical matters.
“It is indeed true that we are still in ongoing talks with Formula 1. We’ve moved from a casual conversation mode to a mode of sounding things out.
“We are sounding out under which conditions such a thing could be possible – [such as] the approval situation, infection situation, track availability. And, of course, economics. These are all important issues.”
Teske reiterated comments he has made recently, however, that hosting the German GP would need to make financial sense for the track – as with no spectators there were no obvious revenue streams for the venue.
“We cannot take any economic risk in hosting Formula 1. We’re sticking to that. And I will go one step further and say: in a year like this, we have to earn money. There’s no other way.
“We haven’t been able to run a decent operation here for months, and couldn’t hold a race event. We have to compensate for that to some extent. So for a period of time when F1 would be here, of course we would need a minimum turnover for it to make any sense to us.”
While Liberty is hoping to host all its European race in a bloc in July and August, starting with the Austrian Grand Prix, Teske believes that there will need to be some flexibility with the schedule in order to react to a change of circumstances.
“I can imagine that there will be a provisional calendar with a few asterisks. That is especially true because the legal situation in some countries cannot yet be seriously assessed.
“The topic of coronavirus with various regulations is very much in a state of flux. What is valid today may not be valid tomorrow.”
A decision from the British government on whether or not F1 and other top level sports will be granted exemptions from quarantine plans is expected before the end of this week.
Source: Motorsport.com
