Categories: CircuitsF1 News, Reports and Race Results

Spanish GP set for reduction in funding

The Spanish Grand Prix is set to have its funding from the city of Barcelona cut by 50% in 2016.

Local media reports the council will reduce its contribution towards the race from €4million to €2million from this year, as part of a move to phase out the funding altogether. The first deputy mayor of Barcelona, Gerardo Pisarello, told Diario Sport the decision has been taken because "Formula 1 is not a priority".

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya underwent a rebranding to incorporate the city's name in 2013, and during last year's Spanish Grand Prix announced a new contract to host the race until 2019. However, that deal came before the current council was elected.

The council is set to withdraw the complete €4m of funding for the race, but Pisarello says it has opted for a "phasing out" of its backing in order to avoid "damaging consequences".

Negotiations have taken place between the council and the municipalities involved in order to put together a viable business plan which may involved a "restructuring" to make the circuit self-sufficient "little by little", Pisarello added.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.