The Weekly Grapevine

Save our circuits

Whichever way it's looked at, this week past has not been a good one for grand prix circuit owners in Europe, for no less than three established races, nay classics, are under threat and could well disappear from the calendar within two years.

The three events, in alphabetical sequence, are the Belgian round, Britain's summer jamboree and the German/European Grand Prix. And, somewhat perversely, news of their respective crises arrived in reverse order, starting on Friday evening.

That was when autosport.com first learned that 'the sporting power in Germany' was on the agenda of the World Motor Sport Council meeting to be held in Paris on October 7.

The German Grand Prix at Hockenheim © LAT

Such clauses are not uncommon, but the inclusion of the word 'Germany' is major cause for concern, for the country has two major centres of power, with the Algemeiner Deutscher Automobil Club and the Automobilclub von Deutschland being two of the three trustees of the Deutscher Motor Sport Bund. (The third is the Deutsche Motor Sport Verband, with which we need not concern ourselves at present.)

There has long been a tug of love between the ADAC, traditionally stronger in the Nurburgring catchment area, and the AvD, the promoter of Hockenheim's Formula 1 race, over the naming rights of the German Grand Prix.

Their dispute dates back to 1995, when Bernie Ecclestone first spotted a fiscal gap for two grands prix on Michael Schumacher's stomping ground, and granted the 'Newburgring' the rights to the European Grand Prix. Said race was held in the Eifel in 1995/6 and again from 1999 to 2007, with the 1997/8 rounds running under the flag of Luxembourg - situated within an hour's drive of the circuit.

Thus, for 13 years there were two grands prix in Germany, with Michael Schumacher's popularity ensuring that both venues were regularly packed full of Red Riding Hoods. Warning bells should have rung in 2002, when Hockenheim's management altered the circuit from a mindblowing blast through the forests to a typical Tilkedrome, in the process shortening it by 2.3 kilometres to 4.574 km.

They justified the incurred €34m debt on the basis that the emasculation would facilitate 67 laps on the shortened circuit versus the previous 45, thus increasing value for spectators, whose numbers would hopefully increase by approximately 30 per cent from 90,000 through packing the space thus made available with seats. Hockenheim has seen falling attendances ever since...

So bad had the drop-off become that, two years ago, the (local) Baden-Wurttemberg government and the community of Hockenheim announced they could no longer afford to carry the losses, and struck a timeshare deal with Ecclestone whereby the race would rotate with the Nurburgring.

At the time (July 2006) this column warned against just that, stating:

'Given that grand prix hosting fees have risen out of all proportion when compared with annual inflation rates of host countries (which country, bar Brazil, suffers 10 per cent annual cost-of-living increases?), and that grand prix timesharing was proven to be uneconomical in the 1970s, just why should it make commercial sense in the 21st century?'

The Nurburgring castle © LAT

Last year saw, of course, the first race run under the new arrangement, with the Nurburgring/ADAC having the honour of hosting Germany's only race, but, as AvD steadfastly refused to relinquish its rights to 'German Grand Prix', the race was run as the European Grand Prix.

So on to Hockenheim this year for the German Grand Prix, a race that saw such woeful crowds that even FIA president Max Mosley remarked about the empty grandstands 'all the way down to the Sachskurve'. During the weekend came rumours that, so large was the deficit, it was likely to be the last race at a circuit that first hosted a grand prix in 1970, then every season from 1977 bar 1985 (Nurburgring) and last year.

But since that timeshare deal two things occurred: Ecclestone signed Valencia for the European Grand Prix and Mosley found himself videotaped in Chelsea. With AvD refusing to release the 'German' title for races not organised by itself, the implications for the 2009 calendar (and odd years thereafter) are rather profound, even if the 'Hock' shies away from promoting a grand prix.

After all, with Valencia having spent an absolute fortune on promoting the European Grand Prix in its (empty) harbour, the city would now have to change tack and punt either the World Grand Prix or the Mediterranean Grand Prix - depending upon which source you believe.

Compounding all this was the Mosley Affair, for the ADAC was one of the most vociferous critics of the FIA president's proclivities, in the process suspending its involvement with the FIA for 'as long as Max Mosley will be on duty as president of the FIA'. Talk about an organisation making a rod for its own race!

So don't be surprised if the ADAC loses the right to promote a grand prix, leaving the door open for AvD to reach agreement with the Nurburgring for a German Grand Prix, thus allowing Hockenheim to gradually fade away, certainly as a world-class venue.

And, if AvD can't strike a deal with the ADAC's circuit, then the German Grand Prix could easily fall away, opening the way for Ecclestone to add ever more non-European grands prix to his schedule, in the process earning ever-increasing revenues for his stakeholders and family trust.

In the process, the European Grand Prix could revert to Valencia for the foreseeable future, making it a win-win situation all round, one that could well rub some healing balm into the rift between Mosley and Ecclestone.

Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone © LAT

That their relationship is already well on the mend was evidenced early this week in an interview granted by Ecclestone to the BBC's Five Live station. Mindful that the 'Beeb' rapidly stepped into the breach when ITV decided to concentrate on football, Ecclestone has of late granted the station more than a few exclusives.

So it came to pass that Ecclestone told the station on Sunday: "For a short period I said [Mosley] should resign because I had so much pressure from people to say he should resign. In a lot of ways, at the time I wished he had done. Now I don't see why he should.

"Max works and does the best he can for the sport, 100 per cent."

If ever a statement was calculated to send shivers down the spines of the folk at the ADAC, that was it. However, what followed was even more chilling, for in one sentence Ecclestone effectively killed off all hopes Silverstone may have had of retaining the British Grand Prix should Donington's tenants not come up with the goods: "If there is no Donington there is no British GP."

When Ecclestone and, saliently, the FIA announced during the British Grand Prix in July that Donington would host the race from 2010, many in the Media Centre were hit by a severe bout of déjà vu, for in mid-1999 F1's commercial rights holder announced that the race would go to Brands Hatch from 2002 - a similar timeframe give or take a year, so seemingly a similar strategy of the race reverting to Silverstone if Donington did not pan out was at work.

In that case, it is thought the lessees of Donington would either lease Silverstone (as Octagon was forced to do when Brands went sour) or the race-hosting fees to Ecclestone who, in turn, could expand out of Europe without the pesky British Grand Prix standing in his way.

So crippling could that be that operational responsibility of the circuit could revert to the (Tom) Wheatcroft family, owners of the circuit and old friends of Ecclestone, particularly as Ecclestone seems to have slammed the door on the former option.

Certainly, if local media reports are to be taken at face value, Donington has not made life easy for itself: apart from the well-documented traffic problems during the MotoGP event held earlier this year, nearby East Midlands Airport last week complained about a series of 'management failures' at the circuit that caused aircraft to be diverted.

Then the circuit faced a (liquor) licence review after instances of alcohol being sold to underage teenagers, while planning permission for the major reconstruction required to bring the circuit up to Formula 1 standards has still not been submitted - for a grand prix less than two years away.

Donington Park © XPB

So, already the odds are stacked against the circuit. And, therefore, against a continuation of the British Grand Prix from 2010 - the very year Ecclestone hopes to bring Mexico, Korea and India on stream.

The third circuit in this set - the majestic Spa-Francorchamps track running through Belgium's brooding Ardennes forests - is not, for a welcome change, under siege, but its unique character most certainly is should plans to shorten (à la Hockenheim...) its 7.004 kilometre length come to fruition.

Spa is situated in a complex country, with the circuit's situation being further complicated by the fact that it runs on what were once public roads belonging to two communes - Malmedy and Stavelot - both of which have variously attempted to gain control of the circuit at one or other time. In fact, so convoluted is this dual administration that the previous Belgian Grand Prix promoter was placed into liquidation after both communities laid claim to taxes on his meagre profits.

As the longest circuit on the world championship trail, Spa's spectators see the cars come by only 45 times per race (à la Hockenheim...), while the FIA is said to favour a decrease in length for safety reasons - although exactly why Spa raises such concerns while, for example, the 13.65km Le Mans track is spared emasculation is not clear.

Thus, rumours have of late gained traction that the circuit will be cut to approximately 4.5 kilometres by directly connecting the Malmedy complex to the exit of Blanchimont, in the process cutting out Pouhon, Fagnes and Stavelot - with the added bonus that Stavelot commune's rights to co-administer the circuit are effectively nixed, making it easier for the current promoter, one Bernard Charles Ecclestone, to negotiate with but one commune...

Yes, under the proposals, which first saw the light of day two years ago but were placed on the backburner while the circuit upgraded its inadequate paddock, Eau Rouge - situated within Malmedy - would escape unscathed, but is the foot-flat left-right-left really still Spa's keynote corner, or can Blanchimont, reckoned by many to be even more challenging, lay claim to that mantle?

So, a change of sporting power in the country that invented the automobile and has contributed 25 per cent of the current crop of drivers looms; Nürburgring and/or Hockenheim under siege; Donington or nothing; and the essential character of Spa possibly changed forever - what next? The French Grand Prix moving to Disneyland?