Next year's Formula One season will feature a record 22 races, but none of them will be in Germany. That means Ferrari star Sebastian Vettel and the title-winning Mercedes team will be without a home race.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Woitas
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The announcement that the Hockenheimring will not host a race in 2020 came on Thursday with the release of the provisional calendar for the upcoming season but had been foreshadowed for some time. "If that was the case, it would not surprise us" or "shock us," the track's CEO, Jorn Tesketold, told the press agency SID on Wednesday.
Money has been the major sticking point, with F1 owners Liberty Media reportedly asking for a fee in the region of $50 million (€44.5 million) to have motor racing's biggest show stop in a city. Ticket sales rarely cover such costs, and this year's Grand Prix was funded with the help of Mercedes. No such arrangement could be reached this time.
As a result, the country that has produced driving greats such as Michael Schumacher, Nico Rosberg and current favorite Sebastian Vettel will have to go without in 2020.
Vietnam is one of the beneficiaries and will become the 34th country to host an F1 grand prix on April 5 in Hanoi. Elsewhere, Dutch driver Max Verstappen will race at the top level in front of his own fans for the first time as the Dutch Grand Prix returns at Zandvoort on May 3 after an absence of 35 years.
The 70th season of the world championship will begin in Melbourne with the Australian Grand Prix on March 15 and will conclude on November 29 at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.
The grand prixs in Mexico and Spain both survived, despite initial speculation to the contrary, and F1 said an extension to the contract with the Italian Grand Prix was "being finalized" before it celebrates its 90th anniversary next weekend.
The 2020 season will feature 22 races for the first time, meaning there will be seven back-to-back race weekends.
mp/ft (dpa, SID)
Michael Schumacher: A Formula One legend turns 50
Michael Schumacher is arguably the best Formula One driver of all time. He still holds several F1 records including most drivers' titles (7) and most wins (91). As he turns 50 we look back at his impressive career.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Melchert
Starting out in cart racing
Born just outside of Cologne on January 3, 1969, Michael Schumacher, like many F1 drivers, got his start in kart racing, earning his kart license at the age of 12. Schumacher would go on to win numerous German and European kart championships before graduating to single-seat car racing in 1987. Here he is seen in 2011 leading his brother Ralf around the family-owned kart center in Kerpen.
Image: picture-alliance/BREUEL-BILD/ABB
F1 debut with Jordan
It may surprise some to learn that Schumacher didn't make his Formula One debut with Benetton, but with Jordan in 1991. However, he only wound up competing in one race for the team founded by Eddie Jordan (above, left), the Belgian Grand Prix. Actually, "competing" is probably overstating things, as clutch problems forced him to retire on the first lap.
Image: picture-alliance/Panimages
Move to Benetton
However, Schumacher would go on to drive in five more F1 races in 1991, after he signed on with Camel Benetton Ford. He earned four points in the drivers' championship in his first year, putting him 14th in the standings for that year.
Image: picture alliance / dpa
First Grand Prix win
A year after he had made his F1 debut at Spa-Francorchamps, that was also the scene of his first GP race win. Here Britain's Nigel Mansell, who would win the drivers' championship in 1992, helps him hold up his trophy at the course Schumacher would later describe as his favorite track. The German driver finished the season in third place in the drivers' championship, on 53 points.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/EPA
A first drivers' title
It would only take two more years for Schumacher to win it all. However, the 1994 season was marred by the deaths of Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger during the San Marino Grand Prix. Here Schumacher is seen in Adelaide, Australia celebrating his first drivers' title with his Benetton team. He would go on to successfully defend his drivers' championship with Benetton in 1995.
Image: picture-alliance/Panimages
On to Ferrari
In 1996, Michael Schumacher signed on with Ferrari, where he would enjoy his most successful years in Formula One, winning five consecutive drivers' titles from 2000 to 2004. Here he is seen celebrating his first win for his new team, at the 1996 Spanish Grand Prix.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/H. Melchert
No angel
Schumacher occasionally stepped out of line on the track. In the last race of 1997, he turned into Jacques Villeneuve's car as the Canadian attempted to overtake him. Damage resulting from the crash forced Schumacher to retire but the four points Villeneuve earned for finishing third gave him the drivers' title. The FIA subsequently disqualified Schumacher for the entire 1997 season.
Image: picture-alliance/ASA/LAT Photographic
A final bow
Schumacher won the 91st race of his Formula One career in Shanghai on October 1, 2006. It would turn out to be the last win of his F1 career. Schumacher retired from racing at the end of the season, in which he finished second in the drivers' standings. In 2007 he accepted an advisory role with Ferrari.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Breloer
Always testing his limits
During his time out of F1, Schumacher took up motorcycle racing and in early 2009 he had an accident while testing his Honda 1000 CBR-Fireblade on a track in Cartagena, Spain. He damaged a vertebra, a rib, and the bottom of his skull, while also suffering a torn artery in his brain. This forced him to call off a planned 2009 comeback, when he would have replaced the injured Felipe Massa.
Image: Getty Images
Comeback and permanent retirement
In 2010, Schumacher returned to the F1 circuit with Mercedes, enjoying limited success. However, at the 2012 European Grand Prix in Valencia, Schumacher finished third. At the age of 43 years and 173 days he became the oldest driver to reach the podium since Jack Brabham finished second in the 1970 British Grand Prix. Schumacher would retire (again) after the 2012 season.
Image: Getty Images/C. Mason
Ski accident
On December 29, 2013, Schumacher lost control while skiing a off piste in the French Alps, hitting his head on a rock. Despite having worn a helmet he sustained a serious head injury. He underwent surgery and was placed in an induced coma. In June 2014, his management announced that he was no longer in a coma. Since then the now 50-year-old Schumacher has been at home in Gland, Switzerland.
Image: Getty Images
A third Schumacher in F1?
Michael Schumacher is not the only member of the family to have competed in Formula One – his younger brother Ralf drove for Jordan, Williams and Toyota between 1997 and 2007, winning six races. Michael's son Mick (pictured above) won the FIA F3 European Championship in 2018 and in 2019 he is to move up to Formula 2. A future move to F1 looks like a distinct possibility – to say the least.
