F1 president reacts after German Grand Prix return plans unveiled

Stefano Domenicali, generic, 2025, Monaco — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

F1 president reacts after German Grand Prix return plans unveiled

Hockenheimring hosted F1 races on and off between 1970-2019

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Friday 31 July 2026 17:29

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F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali has revealed that the former home of the German Grand Prix approached F1 about returning to the calendar.

Hockenheimring hosted F1 races on and off between 1970-2019, becoming the de facto host of the German GP following the Nurburgring Nordschleife's banishment after the fateful 1976 event.

The most recent race at the Hockenheim was in 2019 and was won by Max Verstappen, before the race fell off the calendar altogether having not struck up a fresh deal with the sport.

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Since then, there has been a desire for the sport to head back to the track, but no official deal has been made. Now, Domenicali has revealed that Hockenheim, under new owners has explored plans for an F1 return.

Much of the F1 talk on races this season has been about the cancelled races following the instability in the Middle East, with the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix being axed near the start of the season.

Bahrain has since found its way back onto the calendar later in the year at Sepang, the former home of the Malaysian Grand Prix, but there are still fears over the Qatar and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix at the end of the season.

Domenicali has said that a decision will be made by the middle of September about whether those races can be put on, and if not, which venues will replace them.

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F1 heading back to Germany?

Hockenheim has sensed an opportunity to perhaps provide a more stable race for the F1 calendar, and approached F1 with a proposal to return to the calendar seven years after their last race.

"It was Hockenheim that connected with us, and they had the first discussion," Domenicali revealed in a wide-ranging interview with F1 media this week.

"As you know, they are developing the motorsport park there with a different objective.

"If they want to discuss a possible F1 event, of course the investment needs to be different - because our platform needs to have a different kind of investment. But we have discussed that."