Motor Sport

A Preview to the Nürburgring

Published

4 weeks ago

28th October 2024

A Preview to the Nürburgring

Nestled under the shadow of the magnificent Eifel mountain range , the Nürburgring is one of F1’s most prestigious and famous circuits. It has undoubtedly made its mark in F1’s history. So as Formula 1 returns to the Nürburgring after a long, wide gap of seven years, here is a preview of the track’s history & some of its major events.

History

Ever since its construction was completed in 1927 after the World War, the Nürburgring has been notorious for being dangerous & difficult to drive in, with Sir Jackie nicknaming it as “Green Hell“. After the horrific crash of Niki Lauda’s Ferrari in the 1976 German Grand Prix, major calls were taken to improve the track’s safety and to enable competitive driving.

This resulted in the track which we see today, built in 1984 the “Strecke-circuit” ushered a new era of racing beginning with the 1984 European Grand prix, followed by the 1985 German Grand Prix. It continued hosting Grand Prix’s in several different guises such as the European GP and the Luxembourg GP. This continued until 2007 after which the FIA decided that the German Grand Prix, would be alternated between the Nürburgring & the Hockenheimring. With this the track hosted the 2009, 2011 and the 2013 German Grand Prix, before being added to the current 2020 F1 calendar.

Here's the updated 2020 race calendar ?#F1 pic.twitter.com/o6INhA3YY8

— Formula 1 (@F1) August 25, 2020

Major Events

Michael Schumacher’s first title win in 1994, accelerated the proposal for the German track to mark a return to the F1 calendar. This led to the track hosting the European GP for 2 years in a row. With Schumacher winning the 1995 European GP with Benetton and finishing 2nd with Ferrari in 1996.

The 1999 European GP at the circuit turned out to be the most exciting races of that season with Stewart Grand Prix getting a double podium finish and Johnny Herbert’s 3rd and final F1 victory.

In the V8 era the track got to see Mark Webber’s win his first F1 race in 2009 , the on track battle between Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa for the race win in 2007 and the 2013 German GP which was the last F1 race the track hosted saw Sebastian Vettel under pressure by the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen in 2013, after which the German took his first and only German GP win.

2013 German Grand Prix
Red Bull RB9
60 laps, 308.863 km

Sebastian Vettel won the German Grand Prix for the first time. Despite some close competition from the two Lotus drivers, Vettel was able to hold on for his maiden victory on home tarmac. pic.twitter.com/OEr0PO4sAu

— Maisie (@vetteled) May 14, 2020