F1: Boss of Hockenheim gives up on trying to save 2015 German GP
Hockenheim boss Georg Seiler says his track has given up hope of hosting Formula 1's German Grand Prix this year
Despite months of uncertainty about the future of the race, there remained a chance that Hockenheim and Formula 1 promoter Bernie Ecclestone could reach some sort of compromise to keep it on the calendar.
But speaking to German newspaper Bild on Tuesday, Seiler made it clear that time had run out - and he has abandoned the idea of his circuit hosting the race.
"We have no more hope that the Formula 1 race takes place here," he told Bild.
"We did everything we could in the last few years to make the fans happy.
"Time has run out to organise the race here. Otherwise, [there was a risk that] the quality of the event would have suffered."
The German GP was originally scheduled to take place at the Nurburgring on July 19, but talks with the track's new owners collapsed over the winter.
Ecclestone said in January that he expected to close a deal with Hockenheim but those discussions have also come to nothing.
If Hockenheim no longer wants a deal, then Ecclestone will have to inform the FIA that the race is off so they can formally cancel it.
THREE-MONTH RULE
Making a decision to not hold the race as soon as possible was important for Hockenheim because there would have been a risk of the event permanently falling off the calendar if it held out too long to try to keep it.
Article 5.6 of F1's Sporting Regulations states: "An event which is cancelled with less than three months written notice to the FIA will not be considered for inclusion in the following year's championship unless the FIA judges the cancellation to have been due to force majeure."
It means that if the 2015 event was not cancelled by the end of next month, then the German GP would not have been able to return until 2017 at the earliest.
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