A prominent German F1 racer believes that his country is going through a natural lull in interest, which is normal given what’s come before…
That’s despite the participation, and recent dominance, of the Mercedes F1 team, the return of Nico Hulkenberg to F1, the only recent departure of four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel, as well as Mick Schumacher’s step down from a race seat.Former F1 racer Nick Heidfeld was once one of six German drivers on the grid at the same time, back in 2011, but that number has eroded dramatically in the decade since.
“Not only did we have the first German Formula 1 world champion with Michael Schumacher, but two more after that: Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg. With F1 disappearing from free-to-view TV as RTL lost the rights in favour of the paywalled Sky product, Heidfeld said he suspects there has been oversaturation of the sport in Germany due to that success.“Just as there was a Schumacher boom here, there was one afterward with [Fernando] Alonso in Spain and now with [Max] Verstappen in the Netherlands.