RACE 11

German Grand Prix

Hockenheim

The German Grand Prix was first held in 1926, and became a regular event on the F1 calendar from 1951. The race has been held most years since then, but was not held in 2007, 2015, or 2017, and the future of the event continues to be the subject of speculation.

The most common venue for the German GP, and it's current home, is Hockenheim, though many events have also been held at Nurburgring, and the race was once held at the AVUS in 1959.

Hockenheimring

Hockenheim was originally built in 1932, as a 12km long triangular circuit, but has undergone several dramatic changes in layout since then.

In 1938 the track was shortened to 7.5km. In 1965 the circuit was redesigned to accomodate a new motorway, and chicanes were added in 1968, after the death of Jim Clark in a Formula 2 race.

The final alteration to the track came in 2002, when safety, and spectator concerns prompted the removal of the infamous forest sections, and the track was shortened to it's current length of 4.5km.

Winners

The most succesful driver at the German GP was Rudolf Caracciola, though none of his six wins were F1 events. Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton are the most successful divers of the F1 era with four wins apiece. Juan Manuel Fangio, Jackie Stewart, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna, and Fernando Alonso all have three wins each.

Ferrari are by far the most succesful team at the German GP, with 22 wins. Williams have 9 wins, McLaren 8, Brabham 5, and Lotus 4. Mercedes have 11 German GP victories, but only four of those were F1 events.

Of our current F1 drivers, Hamilton now has four wins, and Alonso three.

Crowds

Perhaps surprisingly, the German GP cannot match the crowd numbers achieved by Silverstone, or Spa. Race day attendances often struggle to reach 60,000, and attendances of around 120,000 for the whole event. This perhaps explains why the future of the German GP remains in doubt.