Circuit boss insists Hockenheim race safe

The track is currently alternating the hosting of Germany's Formula One round with the Nurburgring, but there had been suggestions that because of the losses incurred by running the event - expected to be in the region of three million euro this year - Hockenheim could not afford to continue to run it.

However, circuit managing director Karl-Josef Schmidt insists that there are no circumstances that would lead to it not holding the race in 2010, the final year of its current contract.

"I don't know what the source of that rumour is," Schmidt told autosport.com. "As far as the 2010 race is concerned, we have a contract and we are willing and able to fulfil that contract. For us it is simple and clear - we have the will and the means to fulfil that contract.

"And Hockenheim is not only about Formula One. We have many more races and events and we have a day-to-day business which is very profitable. We are in the black in all our other activities. We know rumours like this spread from time-to-time - we will just have to wait patiently and the rumours will be over in a few days.

"If you look at our balance sheet you will see there is sufficient equity in that. And we have a resolution made by the council of Hockenheim last summer that in the case of a lack of liquidity or a lack of capital they would fill that gap. This is official - it is not a hidden resolution. We are in a safe position. We have an operating profit every year."

Despite the losses caused by running the GP at Hockenheim - one of only two current F1 venues not to enjoy any kind of direct finance from its national government, alongside the British GP venue Silverstone - Schmidt believes the event benefits the business in other areas.

"It is not a secret the amount the race loses," he said. "This is the case for all of the circuits which run F1 - we are no exception. We have never concealed that the price of Formula One is very high and the number of tickets we are selling is no longer sufficient to fulfill what we need to pay. But making that loss is not a problem in itself if you have somebody who fills that gap - and that's the case for us."

Schmidt is also hopeful that should a new race-winning German driver emerge from the five drivers currently on the grid, it would be a significant boost to ticket sales, which were themselves helped by Nick Heidfeld's second place in the British Grand Prix two weeks ago.

However, the decline in ticket sales began before the retirement of German racing legend Michael Schumacher.

"The decline of the number of spectators has started in 2004 already and it has declined even though Schumacher was at the peak of his career," said Schmidt. "There is no obvious inter-dependence between the two.

"We have five German drivers and two German teams. Okay, I admit we need a hero, and perhaps Sebastian Vettel will be one with Red Bull in 2010."

The ADAC, which runs the Nurburgring event, is understood to benefit from government subsidy despite making losses believed to be significantly greater than those at Hockenheim.