Growing financial loss at Austrian GP

Like all GPs without government backing, the Austrian GP is losing its shirt on F1. The Americans aim to fix that

UPDATE In Melbourne, Peter Rolfe reported Ecclestone's exit "opened the door for a fairer future race deal for the Melbourne Grand Prix."

The "changing of the guard" could see a fresh deal brokered with the new owners and the "secret fee paid by Victorians to host the Albert Park race slashed."

Australian Grand Prix CEO Andrew Westacott vowed to “explore all opportunities with the new owners’’ and the estimated A$50M ($38M) license fee could be on the table.

He said, "At the right time, there will be lots of discussions about ways of working and that will focus on all aspects of the relationship that we have with them."

But he said that any "significant changes were unlikely until Melbourne’s long-term contract for the race expired" in '23. HERALD SUN

12/08/16 (GMM) Austrian grand prix venue, the Red Bull Ring, has recorded an alarming financial loss for 2016.

That is the claim of the Austrian weekly business magazine Trend, shortly after it was confirmed that Germany will not host a race next year for financial reasons.

Trend said the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, having returned to F1 in 2014 thanks to circuit owner and promoter Dietrich Mateschitz, lost about EUR 30 million in 2016.

The report said the higher numbers are due mainly to a decline in ticket sales, following a "steeply falling trend" since the race's revival in 2014.

Indeed, 95,000 attended the 2014 race, followed by just 40,000 in 2016. The financial loss in 2015, meanwhile, was reportedly already almost EUR 18 million.

"Red Bull has already reacted to the loss and lowered ticket prices for the grand prix in 2017," said an insider.