It has been a busy time in Formula 1 recently. In what will be the longest season yet in the sport's history, with 21 Grands Prix, this will be the fourth race in a month, during which time Lewis Hamilton has managed to overturn Nico Rosberg's large advantage in the drivers' championship into his own slight lead, now owning the championship battle by six points. It is also the final race before we embark on the summer break and the final opportunity for teams and drivers to give themselves that boost before they all disperse until Spa at the end of August.
This weekend, we go to the Hockenheimring. The German Grand Prix is the home race for four of the twenty-two drivers, not the least of whom is championship contender Rosberg. The race was first held at the circuit in 1970, although back then it was a vastly different layout from now. The new incarnation has been used since 2002, although the race has often altered between here and the modern incarnation of the Nurburgring.
The German Grand Prix has a long history, going back to 1926, although it has only ever been held at three places, albeit on various different versions. The first was at AVUS in Berlin. Considered dangerous even back then, the circuit was made up of two six-mile straights with two left-hand hairpins at the end. In 1927, Grand Prix racing came to the fearsome Nurburgring in the Eifel Mountains, 28.3km in its entirety. The Gesamtstrecke (the full course) was only used for a few years, before the event was run on the 22.8km Nordschleife (North Loop) for the first time in 1931. The circuit was perhaps the best in the world. Full of exciting twists, turns and jumps, it was a beast of a track and taming it required high levels of both skill and bravery.
In 1935, in his Alfa Romeo and after losing six minutes during a pitstop, Tazio Nuvolari managed to catch up with the lead Mercedes and Auto Union cars, which performed much better. He started the final lap 35 seconds behind the leader Manfred von Brauchitsch in his Mercedes, but with him having used up his tyres, Nuvolari managed to get past. In 1936, Auto Union driver Bernd Rosemeyer won, earning him the title of Nebelmeister ('Fog Master').
In 1939 a new circuit, called the Deutschlandring, was built near Dresden, with the aim that it would host the German Grand Prix but World War II put paid to that ever taking place.
Formula 1 racing arrived in 1951 at the Norschleife. In 1959, the second Grand Prix was held at AVUS, this time with two 2.5 mile straights, a tight left-hander at one end and 43° bricked banking at the other. It didn't return. It was considered too bland to be worth the danger. The following year, a race run for Formula 2 cars was held on the Sudschleife (South Loop), which was just 7.7km. The race then took place on the Nordschleife for the rest of the 60s. The Grand Prix Drivers' Association required changes in the interests of safety to be made but they were not implemented and the Grand Prix was held at Hockenheim for the first time in 1970.
Smoother and with Armco barrier in places, the Nurburgring came back the following year, In 1976, the Nurburgring was finishing a three-year contract and despite some safety enhancements, Niki Lauda, dissatisfied with the circuit arrangements, tried to organize a boycott with his fellow drivers. He was outvoted on this, though, and the race went ahead. Nonetheless, the decision had already been taken to make this the last race at this circuit. On Lap 2, Lauda's Ferrari's rear suspension failed and he was pitched into an embankment and his car into flames. Lauda made a recovery, but there was no going back to the circuit.
Hockenheim then became the home of the German Grand Prix, It is curious for me that, growing up with this circuit on the calendar, I always had the impression that it was slightly unpopular or unloved. Perhaps it was the indignity of being the place which claimed Jim Clark's life that did for it or it was the fact that it never had the sheer thrill of the Nurburgring, no matter how overly dangerous the latter was considered. Now, though, since the track was completely modified in 2002, making it into much of a normal and less original layout, I sense nostalgia for the old layout. It was made up of four blasts through the forest, punctuated by different chicanes. It was always one of the most distinctive Grands Prix to watch on the television, those long slipstreaming battles in between the trees, before drivers came into a stadium section in the final sector, greeted by the cheers of fans. Now, those forest bits of track have become derelict, with grass growing all over them and the Hockenheim of old has passed into the annals of history.
After the new layout had been used for five years, in 2007 the German Grand Prix was not held and was replaced by a European Grand Prix on the new configuration of the Nurburgring (the Strecke circuit - a very different circuit from the Nordschleife). That circuit had previously hosted the German Grand Prix for one year in 1985, a lot of European Grands Prix since the 90s in the and even one which was dubbed the Luxembourg Grand Prix.
Since 2008, the German Grand Prix has alternated between Hockenheim and the Nurburgring, although it was cancelled last year.
This year, with supersoft, soft and medium tyres and a track with limited tyre wear, it seems as though the pattern will be similar to Hungary, with supersofts dominating, but some teams outside the top ten may try a strategy with a first stint on softs.
It has also be announced that pit-to-driver communications have been freed up again:
"At the request of the Teams and Commercial Rights Holder, the FIA has agreed to adopt a more liberal approach to the interpretation of Article 27.1 (that a driver must drive the car “alone and unaided”).
“With the exception of the period between the start of the formation lap and the start of the race, there will be no limitations on the messages teams send to their drivers either by radio or pit board.
“This approach is aimed at providing improved content for fans and spectators, as teams will now be required to provide the Commercial Rights Holder with unrestricted access to their radio messages at all times that their cars are out of the garage.”
To join in our predictions contest on Ten-Tenths, go here:
http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=147540
Our Fantasy F1 contest is here:
http://tentenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146625
Constructors’ championship standings:
http://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2016/team.html
Drivers’ championship standings:
http://www.formula1.com/en/results.h...6/drivers.html
German Grand Prix tyre selections:
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/h...r-germany.html
Circuit length: 4.574km
Number of laps: 67
Race distance: 306.458km
Dry weather tyre compounds: Medium, Soft and Supersoft
DRS Detection Zone 1: at end of start-finish straight
DRS Activation Zone 1: between Turns 1 and 2
DRS Detection Zone 2: just after Turn 4
DRS Activation Zone 2: between Turns 5 and 6
Lap Record: 1:13,780 (2004 – Kimi Raikkonen - McLaren-Mercedes)
First German Grand Prix: 1926
First Grand Prix at this circuit: 1970
First Grand Prix on current layout: 2002
