Why the German Grand Prix's future is so bleak

In a single number, the German Grand Prix weekend encapsulated everything that is wrong with Formula 1's marketing and, equally, that of other international motorsport series. That number is 57,000, and represents not only the race day attendance last Sunday, but exactly half the attendance at the very same Hockenheim circuit, run on the very same track layout, a decade ago.

The 2006 and '16 grands prix were even held on virtually the same date, give or take a week, in Germany's traditional window. But if - and F1 is IF spelt backwards - a great deal of thought went into this year's calendar slot, then in the process it was clearly overlooked that within a three-week period, Germany was slated to host as many high-profile motorsport events.

In the July run, MotoGP at the Sachsenring was followed by the World Endurance Championship (with two German manufacturers in Audi and Porsche going head-to-head) at the Nurburgring, and then F1 at Hockenheim.

Then, consider that within a radius of around 375 miles - less than five hours given the Autobahn infrastructure - fans in the southern part of the country had a choice of two further grands prix, namely Austria and Hungary, within the same month. To compound that, three weeks after Hockenheim, fans in central and northern Germany have Belgium's round at Spa-Francorchamps within easy driving distance.

As an aside, the scheduling did make a massive difference to F1's logistics and hospitality staff. It ensured they found themselves closer to the next grand prix - Belgium - than would have been the case had the final event before the summer break been staged in Hungary, as had been become traditional.

"At least someone put some thought into this year's calendar, so all we need to do is drive the units the 300 miles to Spa, park them up, and get home to start our summer break," one seasoned hospitality man said in Hockenheim on Sunday. "Previously, from Budapest the journey was at least a day longer, which was frustrating."

But against that backdrop of races that are close on both calendars and maps, is it any wonder that Hockenheim managed to attract just 57,000 spectators on race day? Most of them had purchased three-day tickets - making a moot point of Friday/Saturday attendances, for those punters had not incrementally contributed much to the circuit's coffers.

For the record, the promoters bragged about 25,000 and 40,000 spectators on Friday and Saturday respectively, but these numbers were clearly optimistic when compared with the sight of the official attendance of 57,000 on Sunday. That said, the promoter's original target had been a 60,000 race day attendance, yet that figure would still have fallen below Silverstone's Friday attendance.

This, mind, in a country, where every single form of internal combustion engine currently in use was invented; the country that gave the world the car; the country that delivered nine drivers' world titles spread over two drivers since 2000, and 86% of hybrid engine victories since the current engine formula was introduced in 2014.

The various influences that contributed to the decline of F1's popularity from the heights of two packed GPs per season at the turn of the century to a single, sparsely attended race every two years were analysed here, so there is no need to revisit those factors. Equally, calendar clashes were addressed here.

However, it is the abject failures by the powers-that-be to react to those (and other) factors, then permit them to be compounded by the myopic rotating deal with Nurburgring, plus the calendar issues mentioned above, that places Germany's future as F1 grand prix host in serious doubt after Hockenheim's current contract expires in 2018.

Hosting four grands prix within seven weeks - included in which falls F1's traditional three-week summer break - in neighbouring countries during the height of the annual west European holiday period, when most folk head off for costly vacations, borders on the inexplicable. To do so in the knowledge that they will clash with at least two other high-profile world championship events makes it even more so.

The real hammer, though, is the price of tickets and related costs of attending a grand prix. A family of four will easily spend upwards of £2000 (including transport and accommodation) during a grand prix weekend. When WEC is available for a fifth (including secondary cost) the choice is simple: watch Audi and Porsche play for six hours from within the open paddock, then spend the saving on a vacation in Spain.

If there is time on Sunday afternoon, said family quartet may even condescend to watch the F1 race on TV in their holiday apartment.

The prevailing problem is that every series believes its manhood to be bigger than that of the next championship; that they can control dates and force fans to fall in line. Little do promoters, all by now in the high net-worth category, realise that, for their target markets, time and money is increasingly restricted - and whatever disposable income/leisure time remains faces severe competition from various other activities.

This situation does not only apply to regional calendar conflicts. Consider the looming overlap between WEC and Formula E - despite both drawing heavily from the same driver pool - and Le Mans versus Baku earlier this year.

When such clashes were discussed with a very senior FIA official recently, with the thrust being that fans have domestic commitments that prevent sustained TV viewing during weekends with clashing fixtures, he gave the issue short shrift: "They should get another wife."

It is all very well pointing to the turn of the millennium, when sell-out races were held across Europe during the full summer season, then duplicating those calendars at whatever continent circuits still host F1, in the hope of replicating packed grandstands. But the fact of the matter is the noughties saw the most buoyant economy Europe has ever experienced, while motor manufacturers threw vast budgets at F1.

Their support extended beyond track activities, as evidenced by gigantic merchandising stands, discounted tickets and TV advertising campaigns that enabled free-to-air broadcasts, so F1 was not only visibly marketed across the globe, but times were extremely good and costs of admission reasonable.

That was also, remember, the time before the travel industry invented algorithms that predicted peak periods and adjusted prices accordingly. Now, the minute the F1 calendar is confirmed, airlines, hotel booking sites and car renters hike their prices, their tasks made all the easier by the fact that commercial rights holder Formula One Management books out hotels via its Formula One World Travel subsidiary.

Word soon spreads within regions, and hoteliers and airlines are tipped off well before fans have a chance to book before prices rise. It is, though, little skin off FOM's nose, for hosting fees have been paid and it is race promoters who suffer via modest attendances, while FOTW has inventories of rooms to sell to teams at inflated prices.

The final contributing factor to Hockenheim's low attendance - slightly above that for the Austrian Grand Prix, despite Germany outnumbering Austria almost ten-fold in the population stakes (82m versus 8.7m) - is the utterly daft rotating deal that has in any event now popped after the Nurburgring plunged into liquidation before being bought by its current owner, a Russian billionaire.

The fact that there is unlikely to be a German Grand Prix next year - and, if one comes to pass, it is unlikely to be hosted by Hockenheim, what with FOM CEO Bernie Ecclestone now indicating that MotoGP host Sachsenring, very likely but not certain to remain on that calendar, is in his sights for next year and in future - left fans with a sense of emptiness as they departed Hockenheim after the race.

Rather than excitedly planning a similar trip next year, they realised that it could be two years, if at all.

The rotating deal further means that services such as traffic control - flow was worse than during the early 2000s despite half the attendance, probably due to officials being unused to the situation given a two-year break - while the circuit steadfastly refuses to upgrade its media centre (a glorified tent) on the basis that it simply cannot justify such expense for biennial events, given that other series have a fifth of the media presence.

Hockenheim's surroundings were similarly tacky, for which the circuit cannot be blamed given the uncertainty over its future.

In closing, then, what is Hockenheim's future with regard to F1? In a word: bleak.

The circuit is owned and operated by the eponymous town (pop. 22k), which gains little from the event it bankrolls due to the paucity of actual accommodation within its boundaries. Most folk stay in Mannheim or Heidelberg, which do not contribute to hosting the race bar via the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, which contributes modestly to costs.

Only when all of these factors are addressed can the event have a guaranteed future rather than limping along every two years. Germany deserves better than that.