A solution for Hockenheim after Ecclestone meeting

Bernie Ecclestone may have intervened to save the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in 2010 and beyond.

Last week, citing annual losses, the circuit-owning city said it would no longer be the promoter of the event, raising the prospect that F1 will not return to Hockenheim and Germany will be left off next year's calendar.

However Mayor Dieter Gummer left the door open to investors or a new promoter, and bookmarked a forthcoming meeting with F1 Chief Executive Ecclestone.

That meeting took place in London this week, Gummer afterwards telling the Mannheimer Morgen newspaper that he thinks a solution has been found to "keep Formula One with us in the next years."

"We discussed the different options," Gummer explained, "and now we as well as Bernie Ecclestone need to do our homework."

The German news agency SID said two solutions are most likely: that Ecclestone becomes the promoter or finds an investor, or that the Briton simply reduces the race promotion fee.