Local officials in Germany are eyeing a future with less motorsport and more business-oriented activities at Hockenheim.
The iconic venue was once a staple of almost every European and even worldwide racing series but has seen that reputation wain in recent years.
Formula 1 only started to visit the circuit biannual after 2008 with German Grand Prix’s the past two years the first time Hockenheim had been on the calendar in consecutive years since.
But last year’s wet-weather classic will be the last to be held there for the foreseeable future because, much like at Germany’s other historic motorsport hub at the Nurburgring, it appears F1 is no longer viable.
“The door for the future is not closed. It is only a question of financial terms,” Thomas Reister, head of the Emodrom Group, who run the business development operation at Hockenheim commented to local publication RNZ.
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But those financial terms also do appear based on making Hockenheim more profitable for the local region of Baden-Wurttemberg.
“The Hockenheimring is an important economic factor for the Rhine-Neckar region, but also for our country,” Minister of Economic Affairs Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut said.
“However, we welcome the intention to break new ground and to build a future technology-open mobility centre here.”
Member of parliament Karl Klein added: “Despite the long tradition of the ring, further development and adaptation to social developments is necessary.”
And the Mayor of Hockenheim Marcus Zeitler also suggested the circuit needed to diversify its commercial activities.
“For the future, the Hockenheimring must be expanded into a modern business location,” he said. “Here we can prove that visions and innovations fit together if we all pull together.”
Hockenheim has been here before with lowering costs and increasing capacity one reason for the decision to cut the old circuit practically in half back in 2001.
However, from a time when almost every major European and international racing series stopped at Hockenheim, it appears concerts and other public events like fair trade festivals could become the new norm.
“It is a well-known fact that motorsport is a stagnant field, but there will still be one or two racing cars in Hockenheim,” Jorn Teske, the circuit’s managing director concluded.