Spain can lose the grand prize of Formula 1 because of Quim Torra, Ada Colau and Holland

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Since the Spanish Grand Prix in 1991 changed the circuit of Jerez for Montmeló, the automotive event has not failed any year in the Catalan track. The GP of Spain has a gap in the calendar uninterrupted since 1986, something that may have a final date.

Montmeló finalizes contract this season with the Grand Circus of Formula 1 and the owners and Liberty Media have not yet reached an agreement for the 50th Grand Prix of Spain to be played on the Catalan track in 2020.

The reason that can end the tradition of the GP of Spain in Formula 1 is none other than money. Liberty Media has new proposals for circuits that want to enter the championship and are willing to pay the high fee that the organizers of F1 demand each year, in addition to the costs of organization (safety, traffic, cleaning, rental of the track , etc) that also has to assume the seat of the Grand Prize.

Who pays for F1?

Montmeló pays some 24 million euros annually in the form of a fee to the FOM (Formula One Management) for the GP of Spain to be played on its circuit. The layout has the help of the Generalitat and the City of Barcelona that this year contribute 7.5 and 1.5 million euros.

The company that manages the Circuit is 78% owned by the Government of Catalonia, something that has served for in certain years the regional government, now chaired by Quim Torra, had to inject just over 14 million euros between 2016 and 2018 to compensate for the losses.

Quim Torra and the President of the Circuit, Vincenç Aguilera, met at the end of March with Chase Carey, CEO of the Formula 1, in a meeting that had as objective to lay the foundations of the new agreement from 2020. More than a month later , the agreement is still not signed, the position of the Generalitat remains firm: "Yes to F1 but not at any price".

The financing problems do not only come from the Government of Torra. Barcelona City Council has been cutting back for three years the contribution it makes to the grand prize and which, among other things, allows the circuit to be called Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The first deputy mayor of Barcelona, Gerardo Pisarello, announced a few weeks ago the intention of the consistory to stop subsidizing the Circuit for a "possible fraud" in the management of the facility.

Pisarello made this announcement in a message on his official Twitter account: "In 2015 we announced that it was necessary to prioritize public investment in Barcelona and that we would progressively withdraw aid to the Montmeló Circuit." "Before the possible fraud, we stopped the contribution of 2019. Not one more public euro until the facts are clarified," the councilor wrote on social networks.

Edited May 11, 2019 by - Dark.ito
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