{"id":119090,"date":"2025-09-04T10:50:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T10:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/119090\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T10:50:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T10:50:10","slug":"portugal-germany-and-turkey-targeting-f1-return-confirms-stefano-domenicali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/119090\/","title":{"rendered":"Portugal, Germany and Turkey targeting F1 return, confirms Stefano Domenicali"},"content":{"rendered":"

While there have been loud claims made by local \u2013 and even national \u2013 politicians about the return of Portugal<\/a> and Turkey<\/a> to the Formula 1 calendar, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has now confirmed interest from those countries \u2013 and Germany, in the form of Hockenheim<\/a>.
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Interest in F1 is at an all-time high, largely as a consequence of the so-called \u2018Netflix effect\u2019. Next year there will be a new race in Spain, at a yet-to-be-completed facility near Madrid. And, while the Concorde Agreement \u2013 the commercial contract which binds the teams, F1 and the FIA \u2013 enshrines a maximum number of races beyond the current 24, there is a consensus that this is a natural limit in terms of logistics, budget, and personnel welfare.
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Last month the Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, said at a political rally, \u201cWe have everything ready to formalise the return of Formula 1 to the Algarve in 2027.\u201d
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Such pronouncements are usually best treated with due scepticism, as are the regular claims from Turkey that it is likely to make a comeback. Istanbul and the Autodromo do Algarve near Portimao hosted grands prix in the Covid era, but these were not traditional events laid on and paid for by a promoter \u2013 F1 hired the tracks to fulfil its broadcasting contracts and hosted the races behind closed doors or with much-reduced crowds.<\/p>\n

A message to F1 from the Portuguese fans\"A<\/p>\n

A message to F1 from the Portuguese fans<\/p>\n

With the exception of Imola<\/a>, which held its final race this year, Zandvoort<\/a>, which falls off the calendar after 2026, and Barcelona, which may or may not continue after next year, the rest of the F1 venues have long-term contracts taking them to 2030 or beyond.
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\u201cWe\u2019ve signed important contracts with many promoters,\u201d F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali told a select group of media including Motorsport.com.
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\u201cLong terms mean the ability to spread out investments already made or planned. We have many requests.
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\u201cIn 2026 Zandvoort will host its last grand prix, so we\u2019re discussing new addition, including alternating events. But there won\u2019t be many: one or two, no more. Barcelona is interested in an alternating slot.
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\u201cThere\u2019s Portugal, Turkey, and recently Hockenheim \u2013 which has new ownership \u2013 has shown interest. The most important thing prospective hosts must understand is that there are very few available slots, so those who sit at the table need financial strength.
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\u201cToday the situation is different from a few years ago, not only for what it takes to enter F1 but also for what must be invested. Let\u2019s not forget we\u2019re pushing hard on sustainability: all promoters must be ready to meet 2030 carbon-neutral standards.
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\u201cEvents that host 450\u2013500 thousand people will face challenges in energy, general management and everything around them. We\u2019re working seriously on these issues and promoters must align. Those who aren\u2019t ready won\u2019t be able to organise the event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The old Hockenheim circuit\"The<\/p>\n

The old Hockenheim circuit<\/p>\n

When former F1 \u2018ringmaster\u2019 Bernie Ecclestone began annexing F1\u2019s commercial rights in the 1970s with his ally Max Mosley, later the FIA president, race promoters were independent commercial entities or national automobile clubs themselves. The former category were often fly-by-nights who left bills unpaid, the latter typically lacked the necessary commercial and organisational expertise.
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Indeed, Ecclestone and Mosley acted as promoters of the 1978 German Grand Prix at Hockenheim when the Automobilclub von Deutschland decided it was too much like hard work.
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In recent decades, the increasing expense required to lay on events (in part because Ecclestone sold F1\u2019s commercial rights to grasping venture capitalists in the mid-2000s) has made it virtually impossible to host grands prix without some form of government support.
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It\u2019s said Ecclestone had his \u2018lightbulb moment\u2019, after years of dealing with here today, gone tomorrow promoters, when a dignitary from the South Australian state government flew to London in person to present the cheque to host the 1985 Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide.
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F1\u2019s love affair with state subsidies continues today: new venues in the offing include a second one in Saudi Arabia, as well as new destinations in Rwanda and Thailand. They are currently very much ahead of Portugal and Turkey in the queue, and other races will have to enter \u2018rotation\u2019 arrangements to make way for them.
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As to Hockenheim, it desperately needs new investment to upgrade its dilapidated facilities. While there are those who have rose-tinted memories of its last race, in 2019, that grand prix was made all the more exciting by rapidly changing weather conditions. For the mechanics it was a miserable weekend toiling in sub-standard facilities.
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For the German Grand Prix to return it will need support from government at some level, regardless of the aspirations of its new owners.
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\u201cIt\u2019s very difficult,\u201d said Domenicali.
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\u201cAside from a very few cases, I have to say that about 90% of promoters receive contributions from their government or related entities. Without that support it\u2019s very difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Turkey prepared to step in for 2026 F1 calendar if other circuits cancel <\/a><\/p>\n

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While there have been loud claims made by local \u2013 and even national \u2013 politicians about the return…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[5180,49,48,66361,578,2479,576,577,3840,11546,49431,82,42804,3848],"class_list":["post-119090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-bernie-ecclestone","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-confirmed-interest","tag-f1","tag-f1-calendar","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-hockenheim","tag-portugal","tag-promoters","tag-sports","tag-stefano-domenicali","tag-turkey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}