Patronise F1

Patronising F1 since 2007

Wednesday
May 23rd
Text size
  • Increase font size
  • Default font size
  • Decrease font size

Barcelona could "reconsider" GP deal

E-mail Print PDF

The local government in charge of the Spanish GP-hostingĀ Circuit de Catalunya has joined fellow Spanish F1 venue Valencia in suggesting that their future in the sport may be limited, given the current financial situation in the country.

The Barcelona-based track has hosted the Spanish Grand Prix since 1991, and is currently one of two Spanish venues along with the Valencia street circuit, which hosts the European GP.

Last week, the Valencia venue suggested that they may well struggle to stay on the F1 calendar without renegotiating their race fees with Bernie Ecclestone.

And now, the local Catalunyan government has suggested that the current Eurozone financial crisis could force the Barcelona track to reconsider their future as well.

"We could reconsider the hosting of Formula 1 or motorcycle grands prix," the region's economy minister Andreu Mas-Colell told the exciting RAC1 radio station.

He went on: "It is not clear to us that we can afford them in the current situation.

"It is not the first thing we will reconsider, but in times like these we must look very closely at where we spend the money."

The current contract for the Spanish GP is set to stay in place all the way through to the 2016 season.

However, Mas-Colell suggested that the current situation meant that they may not even wait until the end of the contract to leave the sport.

"There are contracts that are more expensive to maintain than to break," he shrugged.

There have been suggestions that the presence of two Spanish races on the F1 calendar was always likely to be a limited lifespan, given the planned future expansion of the calendar.

However, neither track has yet shown much sign of being interested in a slot-share system similar to the arrangement between German GP hosts Hockenheim and the Nurburgring.