This weekend’s German grand prix will be the last race at the Nurburgring supported by the state, according to a government minister.
Earlier this year, it emerged that the new SPD/Green government alliance for the Rhineland-Palatinate state was only willing to support two more races at the Nurburgring until the current arrangements expire in 2016.

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

The German grand prix will definitely revert as scheduled to the Nurburgring next year.
The track has recently been alternating the annual hosting of the formula one race with Hockenheim, with the arrangement originally set to run only until 2011.

But at Hockenheim last weekend, there were rumours that Bernie Ecclestone is so happy with his new arrangement with that circuit that he wants to return next season and beyond.

Last year, when Hockenheim said it could no longer afford the F1 chief executive’s race fees, Ecclestone agreed to share the “business risks and opportunities” with a new deal through 2018.

In the days before the race, attended by 65,000 spectators, organisers confirmed that the 2010 event was set to break even.

On Tuesday, operating company Nurburgring Automotive GmbH played down the rumours about Hockenheim now taking its place in F1.

“The fact that the race will take place (in 2011) is beyond question,” the company said according to the news agency SID, as advance ticket bookings commenced.

Late last year, local Rhineland-Palatinate state politicians said they wanted a new F1 contract for the Nurburgring with “more favourable conditions” and not “at any price”.