F1 CEO, Stefano Domenicali confirms that talks with a view to Hockenheim's return to the schedule have taken place.

The German track, indeed Germany itself, has enjoyed a strange relationship with the sport over the last couple of decades. During the Schumacher era Germany, understandably, couldn't get enough of their hero, and consequently the country regularly hosted two events.

Despite his success, Sebastian Vettel didn't prove quite so popular and so interest began to wane, and whereby Hockenheim and the Nurburgring had both hosted races, as hosting fees increased, and attendance began to fall, Germany's round of the world championship alternated between the two tracks until first the Nurburgring pulled the plug, and then, in 2019, Hockenheim.

With F1 scrambling to put together a schedule in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the Nurburgring hosted the Eifel Grand Prix, but that was it, even the success of Mercedes failed to convince organisers to stump up the cash for the hosting fees or the requisite upgrades to either track.

Now, Mercedes is joined by Audi, and at a time F1 is negotiating TV contracts, it would appear that once again German is showing interest.

"Canal+ is really looking forward to extending our deal because the numbers are really good and the sport is really in great shape," the Italian told members of the media, referring to the French broadcaster. "Germany, for the first time, we are reconnecting with the possibility of having contact with the Hockenheim people to see if, in the future, mid-term, not short-term, they can have a race back," he added.

"But now, with the deal we are having with RTL, the numbers are getting different, and in the new tender on the German market, we will have for the first time more than one operator that is interested in being part of this tender.

"So it's another sign that, in Europe, that is our very important market. The attention is getting even bigger. We extended the deal with Sky UK and Sky Italy until 2034, so that means that the solidity, and in Spain, with DAZN, stay tuned very, very soon. So everything is looking very, very strong."

Understandably, the ears of the members of the German media had pricked up at this point, and consequently Domenicali was asked to give further insight.

"As you know, they are developing the motorsport part there, with a different objective," he said. "If they want to discuss a possible F1 event, of course, the investment needs to be different because our platform is to have a different kind of investment. But we have a discussion with them."

Since that last race in 2019, Hockenheim has come under new ownership with the Emodom Group GmbH now holding 74.99% of the shares in Hockenheimring GmbH and the city, along with the Badischer Motorsport-Club, retaining 25.01%.

Traditionally, F1 has preferred to deal with governments rather than private investors or even local authorities, so this could be a sticking point, and, according to Motorsport Week, Hockenheim's managing director, Jorn Teske, agrees.

"We have already been told that there is a great deal of interest in Germany as a location," he is quoted as saying. "I don't believe that this is just lip service," he continued. "Of course, key economic figures also play a role for Formula 1. However, it is not entirely clear to me to what extent they are prepared to reduce the maximum achievable entry fees.

"You often hear the question of why it doesn't work in Germany. Our answer is always the same, in other countries, there is cross-financing from third parties. That hasn't been the case here so far. If nothing changes or Formula 1 isn't prepared to make major compromises, it can't work."

Even if a deal can be agreed - and money is always going to be the main sticking point - one has to wonder if Hockenheim fits in with F1's ongoing push for exotic, conveniently located tracks, and even so any deal would see the German track alternating with another European venue.