Ecclestone: German GP will be at Hockenheim

Following yesterday's revelations by the CEO of the Nürburgring that no deal is in place for the circuit to host this year's German Grand Prix, with a race venue still holding 'To Be Announced' status on the 2015 calendar, F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has revealed that the race will be held at Hockenheim.

Yesterday, Nurburgring boss Carsten Schumacher said that the circuit had not sealed a deal to host the race but that any contract would need to "remain affordable". In response, Ecclestone this morning told the Reuters news agency that the race will be held at Hockenheim, ending the race-sharing scheme the Nurburgring has held with the Baden-Württemberg circuit since 2007.

"It's going to be at Hockenheim, we're in the middle of doing something with them. It can't be Nürburgring because there's nobody there," Ecclestone to the news agency. "We've got a contract in place (with Hockenheim), we just have to amend the years of the contract. It was alternating with Nürburgring so we'll just take that out.

"Providing the contract goes through as we expect it to, we'll be in good shape," he added.

Ecclestone continued by saying he had not  discussed a deal with the Nürburgring.

"We wanted to buy the Nürburgring, we made an offer and somebody topped us with a few dollars and bought it," he said of previous circuit owners Capricorn. "And then they couldn't pay and it went on sale again. I said I'd be interested and then they found somebody else. So I don't know what's happening."

The Nürburging has been under the control of Viktor Kharitonin, who controls pharmaceutical company Pharmstandard, since last October. It's believed the Russian bought a two thirds stake in the circuit, with the remaining third being held by a company called GetSpeed GmbH.

The race venue is shown as TBC on the official F1 website. However Hockenheim indicated in response, that it has not received a proposal to host the race.

The following for F1 in Germany is strangely in decline, with viewing figures among the hardest hit of the major European markets last year. This is despite Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg being race and championship winners consistently in the last few years and Mercedes dominating last season.