http://www.spiegel.de/sport/formel1/0,1518,593544,00.html (German) The Hockenheim track management will get out of F1 because they can't afford the race anymore. The Hockenheimring is writing black numbers - if it wasn't for F1. The amount of money Bernie wants eats up all the profit and quite a bit more... with the Nürburgring management also not wanting to pay the ridiculous sum needed for getting a F1 race, this could mean no German race from 2010 on...
More crap news then.. well he has got to pay for a divorce, so no chance of him doing a deal. Such is the high financial demands of Ecclestone.
Florian, you will have to come over here to see this rising star, beat Hamster on his home turf, thats if we don't lose the Brit GP... Image Unavailable, Please Login
Soo...let's see. Silverstone, MagnyCours, Hockenheim, Montreal, US. I'm sure Spa is on double secret probation. I guess I should get used to watching the races at 2am, since they're all going to end up in the Middle East and Asia.
I guess if we want to see a F1 race in future, we'll have to charter a jet to North Korea, only dictators like Kim Yong Il will be able to pony up with the money!
Bloody hell. Bernie has become so desperate for money he soon has to realise he will actually make less because there will only be a handful of tracks left. What a self obsessed prick.
This is getting beyond ridiculous. We know that Bernie is impossible to deal with, but what I don't get is that the car manufacturers are such push overs: He moves F1 out of all their markets, yet they just agree to everything? I'd think BMW-Sauber, Mercedes-McLaren and Toyota are quite a bit disappointed with no home GP. As I expect Renault to be ticked off at the loss of the French GP. And of course everybody should have a stake in the British GP as well the USGP. But no...they rather move their show to third world countries where the fans couldn't care less about F1 except for their government, that likes all the media attention.
Seems like F1 admin people are ruining the sport... No North American races, this track is pulling out too now... bummer but I'll still watch it next year
Well, it's high time someone take a stand against Bernie. And if the manufacturers really care the way we're told they do, they'll stand up against this lunacy. Otherwise, nothing changes. It's one thing for Bernie to complain about a lack of support in the States, but he doesn't really look too interested in rewarding European fans for their decades of support.
Yeah, and if they go to the single drivetrain formula, I'll have to get used to not watching them at all.
I'm hoping that the sudden acceleration of canning traditional GPs will create the required reaction by the teams. In the past he killed off the traditional GPs at a slow pace, maybe one every couple of years, but now he is doing them in bundles. Somebody stop this idiot.
Sometimes we remember the past with rose colored glasses, but not this time. Grand Prix racing in the past was truly much more glorious than the present. In fact, I venture to say it is no longer glorious at all. There is so much that has been lost that F1 racing is not recognizable as the same sport it was through the '70's. When Spa is gone, and we lose the most fantastic piece of track (Eau Rouge) left in the world the epoch will truly be over.
Like many of you... I'm hoping that Bernie kicks the bucket soon... then we can get back to basics in F1 and stomp out the GREED!
The funny thing is with the Drop in price on a barrel of Oil, it has to affect the Middle Eastern companies as well. With the current worldwide economic conditions, I wouldn't be surprised if the calendar falls to 14 or 15 races. To drop Silverstone, Magny Cours, Canada, USGP, and now Germany is a joke.
Agreed 100%. Bernie is out of control and must go. Max too. You hear about Bernie's new thing? Where drivers get gold, silver or bronze medals instead of points throughout the year? Ugh.....Bernie is well past his sold-by date. Move along...
Bernie and Max do not care about history, tradition, or you and I. All they care about is lining their pockets with money and F everything else. Max I thought for sure would be gone after his kinky sex fantasies, but I guess that's fine in Europe. Isn't it about time for Bernie to start pushing up daisies. F- One is going down hill fast and these two won't be happy until they destory it.
Can't imagine all the participants will return in 2009. Bernie has quite effectively given the 'second tier' an open door to depart the series without the stigma of a non-competitive team as the reason. Who would argue F1 isn't mismanaged? The increased disinterest and elimination of events held in high profile markets ? The loss of credibility in the series due to an arbitrary application of penalties and event winners. The global economic downturn addressed by negligence and the announcement of 'gold, silver and bronze' awards....... How many CEO's are comfortable with the expenditure, especially given the latest news... Berger is the tip of the iceberg.
It may have to run it course before Bernie realizes along with Porno Max, they have between them shafted us fans for far tooo long, when folk start turning off and stop watching F1 in droves. It may only take a breakway series to do this, and in this present climate folk want value for money, F1 is not helping core base fans in this area. They may rely on hard core fans to pay or go wherever to see race, personally Europe and the States is as far as I will go. Let the doddering old fools ruin it and lets hope from the ashes may a new and better F1 emerge.
Bernie wanted 30 millions from the Canadian GP, he also owns the luxury lounges on top of the pits and made money off that also. The fee increases each year.
F1 is very close to being dead IMO. Canada and the US was bad, and now they are losing an iconic, IMO, track. Hockenheim will be very missed by many, myself included. When will the madness stop?
in a way i'm happy, because they totally destroyed Hockenheim when they took off those beautiful long straights thru the forests and made into the crap it is now. but i wonder if the teams would stage a protest, like staying away from Grand Prix to protest Bernie's ridiculious demands. he's just a greedy piece of crap, IMHO. i was very upset when he took away the US GP, Montreal, arguably the best race of the season, Spa a few years ago, and Imola.
Oh I agree, that was my favorite sections as well, such a shame though. F1 events are dropping like dead flies.
Er. Fans should be happy. They don't have to race an Hockenheim anymore. I mean, really. Who likes Hockenheim? Hockenheim hasn't been cool since they re-routed the circuit to not use the old long straights of the original. Fans complain there isn't enough overtaking or enough action on track. Well the dude is slowly weeding out all these old tracks that really haven't produced anything spectacular in recent times. They don't want to pay? Fine. Let's see what the new tracks wealthier organizers have to offer. You never know. They COULD actually be better than these dated tracks the teams have been racing in for the last couple decades. I mean, c'mon. You can't go to the same playground ALL the time. It gets old.
