With the mid-season break fast approaching, the Formula One circus heads to the Hockenheim for the German Grand Prix. Alternating with the Nürburgring, the Hockenheimring last hosted the German Grand Prix in 2012. It is believed that this will be the last time Formula One heads to Hockenheim as the German Grand Prix will remain at the Nürburgring on a yearly basis. The original circuit was almost eight kilometres long and consisted of two long straights however was later shortened in 1965.
The Hockenheimring was originally built-in 1932 where it hosted various motorcycle racing events before hosting its first Formula One race in 1970 which saw the Lotus-Ford of Jochen Rindt win ahead of Jacky Ickx. Since 1986, the Hockenheimring has been a permanent inclusion on the Formula One calendar.
In 2000, Rubens Barrichello took his maiden Formula One victory after starting eighteenth on the grid. The Brazilian made the most of the changeable conditions as the rain started off lightly but began to fall more heavily towards the end of the Grand Prix however he gambled by staying on dry tyres which ultimately won him the race. A year later, Formula One officials demanded for the circuit to be shortened from 6.823km to 4.574km. Drivers such as Jarno Trulli and Juan Pablo Montoya were critical of the changes which included a tighter turn one with a shortened straight. Many of the previous unique technical challenges had been eradicated which led to criticism from several drivers.
The 2010 German Grand Prix provided us with much controversy as Ferrari asked Felipe Massa to move over for Fernando Alonso. The Brazilian had kept Alonso behind for majority of the race however the team had decided for the sake of the Drivers’ Championship that Alonso would score the most points. Subsequently, Ferrari were fined $100,000 for breaching the sporting regulations which at the time outlawed team orders. However in 2012, Alonso won the race without the help of his teammate as he dominated the weekend by starting on pole position and converting it into a race victory.
Looking forward to this year’s race, once again the battle for the race win looks to be between home-hero Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton who won his home race at Silverstone a fortnight ago. There is only four points between the two Mercedes drivers and with only two races before the four-week summer break, both drivers will be hoping to take the lead in the World Championship. Valtteri Bottas had a stunning drive from fourteenth on the grid to finish second at Silverstone indicating that the Williams are now the second fastest team. Both drivers are confident that they can challenge for the podium once again. The Hockenheimring has a long straight which should suit the FW36.
Force India suffered a torrid weekend at Silverstone with Hulkenburg finishing eighth and Perez eleventh. Ahead of this weekend, Perez has stated that this circuit will suit their car more so compared to Silverstone. On the other hand, McLaren had a better weekend with Button finishing in fourth – his best result since the opening race in Australia. Like Williams, Ferrari suffered a poor qualifying however Alonso showed that the F14-T had some speed recovering to sixth despite receiving a penalty for missing his grid slot at the start of the race. Raikkonen who suffered an injury after his crash on lap one of the British Grand Prix is back fit and ready to drive this weekend.
In the build-up to this weekend, there has been several reports suggesting that Kobayashi and Sutil would be replaced for this weekend’s race. Despite the speculation, both driver’s look set to drive for their respective teams. Pirelli bring the red-marked super-soft and yellow-marked soft tyres to this race.
