Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali has said the German Grand Prix will "definitely" return to the calendar, citing the country's evolving media market and Audi's entry into the sport as key factors.
Germany last hosted a race in 2020, when the Nurburgring staged the Eifel Grand Prix as part of a revised schedule due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The last official German Grand Prix took place at the Hockenheimring in 2019.
Shift in focus back to Europe
In recent years, F1 has prioritised expansion into new markets, with Las Vegas and Miami joining the calendar to give the USA three annual races. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have also been added, while work continues on a future event in Thailand. This has often come at the expense of traditional European venues, with Spa-Francorchamps and Barcelona-Catalunya set to become rotational circuits from next year, and Imola losing its place.
However, there has been a noticeable shift. Portimao in Portugal and Istanbul Park in Turkey are returning in 2027, and Hockenheimring bosses have initiated talks with F1 over a German Grand Prix return.
Media and Audi influence
Liberty Media chief executive Derek Chang said: "Germany is a market in flux, with the RTL/Sky merger. I think also you've got some of the digital players, the streaming platforms that are coming into Germany. So it's a market that probably a few years ago was not as robust, and it's looking now more robust."
Domenicali added that the new TV rights landscape and Audi's entry make a return likely, though not immediately. He explained: "RTL was an important step in our need to have more reach in that market. I'm pretty sure that in the future, when it will be the right negotiation, the market with Germany will be different, for example, from what we have now in Italy or in the UK."
"There will be a digital platform or other streamer that will apply for the tender, because that's a market that possibly will have that opportunity to put us in a situation that we need to make the right decision for the future. But with regard to the potential, I would say that we don't have to forget that we have Audi that stepped into the business. We have Mercedes. We have big partners that have their home base in Germany."
"I think now Germany wants us to think in the medium-term if they can come back into the calendar, or even more important, being, as it was 20 years ago, one of the most important markets for Formula 1. I think that is the base for this discussion."
"Definitely, the new situation in Germany, starts to move in the direction that I see Germany potentially in the future being a very interesting market that will have a positive effect both on the media side, but also maybe on the promoter side. It will not be, in that case, a short-term call, but definitely will happen, and this is very, very important to remember."
