Originally Posted by Assa2:
“The question is, what was the fee Bernie was asking for? There are countries all over the world queuing up to 'buy' a GP, most backed by their governments. GP's in Europe struggle to make money and cannot compete with the fly-away circuits. An Austrian GP is not going to make Red Bull a lot of money and Mateschitz has not made Red Bull the global success by throwing money away. Therefore he's got this on the cheap.”
I dont agree with your conclusion he got it on the cheap. He may well have, but we dont know as yet. The track is currently used for DTM, so will just add F1 to its calendar. So if they werent making money in the past, then the amount of loss may be reduced (or profits increased) with bringing F1 to the circuit. Now that the track has an F1 race, this kudos can be used to attract other races (from other series) to the track. Also the Red Bull adverts will be everywhere - how much would that advertising cost?
As you say Mateschitz is a smart man, he would have thought long and hard about paying Bernie his fee. Bernie is also a smart man. He has more races, than he has room for. There isnt much chance of him letting Mateschitz have it on the cheap. Especially when there are circuits throwing cash at Bernie to join the F1 season.
Teams only want 20 races per season. With Russia, Austria, New Jersey all set to join the 2014 calendar. That will mean a total 22 races next season. So the demand is there, with Thailand and Mexico also wanting a race. The demand outstrips supply, thus Bernie can name his price. At the moment the cheapest race is Canada, who pay $15million. With America now having two races, I can see Canada also dropping of the calendar in the near future.
As Meteschitz, got it on the cheap, its possible, but I doubt it.
Originally Posted by Assa2:
“As for the German GP... both circuits in Germany are in dire financial situations. As you said it's all about money so unless Mercedes buys a circuit to ensure there's a German GP there's every chance it'll fall off the calendar at some point, just as there was the very real possibility of the British GP doing the same a few years ago. None of the historic European races is safe with the exception of Monaco. That is what makes the addition of Austria so suspicious.”
I though it was only the Nurburgring that had financial problems. Hockenheim was ok?