F1: Nurburgring puts its future in Bernie Ecclestone's hands

By ,

Adapted from GMM

The Nurburgring aims to stay on the formula one calendar beyond 2011 by renegotiating the financial terms of its contract.

With the Rhineland-Palatinate state now run by a SPD/Green coalition, minister Eveline Lemke on Monday said that despite the contract running through 2016, this weekend's race will be the last one supported financially by the government .

"Until 2016, there will be only one formula one grand prix sponsored financially by the land, and it's 2011. That's it," Eveline Lemke told business newspaper Handelsblatt .

"The conditions at the moment generate high and no longer acceptable losses. So there will only be a continuation of the great and legendary tradition of formula one at the Nurburgring if a future contract includes economically and politically acceptable conditions," DPA news agency quotes circuit operator Jorg Lindner as saying.

And minister Lemke is quoted by the Financial Times Deutschland : "Whether this weekend's race will be the last depends on the demands of Bernie Ecclestone."