German Grand Prix Best Moments: Part 1

The Green Hell

This is the name Sir Jackie Stewart gave to the old Nurburgring. Although Formula 1 stopped racing on the 14.8 mile Nordschleife more than 35 years ago after the accident in which Niki Lauda almost lost his life, the circuit near the Eifel mountains still holds a special place in the hearts of the fans. Since its inception it is considered as one of the most fearsome tracks in the whole world along with Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium.

Niki Lauda at Nurburgring

We return to the Nurburgring after two years due to the alternating pact between this track and Hockenheim for hosting the German Grand Prix since 2007. The track on which the drivers will race on Sunday can be said to be a shadow of the old Nurburgring but still with its fast corners and undulations it provides an interesting, albeit less fearful challenge nonetheless.

Since the 80s, the new shorter Nurburgring has hosted the European Grand Prix on quite a few occasions but as we are dealing with the German Grand Prix here, we shall shelve incidents from the past races with the nomenclature of the old continent for sometime later.

After Germany were defeated in World War II, they were banned from international motor-racing for many years to come which resulted in the first German Grand Prix not being held before 1951. In the earlier years, the Ring used to host the German Grand Prix with an exception being 1959 when the race was held around the very fast AVUS track in Berlin. Interestingly, that was the only time AVUS hosted an F1 race.

During the later years when safety concerns started rising with Sir Jackie Stewart leading the way, Nurburgring was deemed too dangerous, and a much safer track at Hockenheim was used. The Ring then underwent major modifications to meet the safety standards, thus clawing its way back into the F1 calendar.

Even the Hockeheimring went major changes in the early part of the 21st century, but they were down to different reasons which we shall come to know about in due course.

Fangio proving why he is the best

Juan Manuel Fangio – Winning the 1957 German Grand Prix

The victory for Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1957 German Grand Prix went down in history as one of the most sensational ever. Having decided before the race to go for softer tyres and less fuel mandating a pit stop, he was around a minute behind the two non-stopping Ferraris after exiting the pits, an unexpectedly big gap.

The pit stop went haywire when a mechanic let a nut run under the car while changing a wheel. It took the crew 30 seconds to find it – the time the complete pitstop should have taken!

Never mind, after a full minute or so, Fangio started the pursuit of the Ferraris. He broke the lap record 9 times during the next few laps with 7 of them being on successive laps – mind you, around a 22.7 km lap with 160 corners. Finally, on the penultimate lap, Fangio got the better of the two Prancing Horses and took the lead, never to relinquish it again – overtaking the second Ferrari with two wheels on the track and the other two on grass.

After the race, Fangio said: “I was stretching myself to the limit, until that race I had never demanded more of myself or the cars. Whenever I shut my eyes it was as if I were in the race again, making those leaps in the dark on those curves where I had never before had the courage to push things so far.”

Nurburgring and legendary drives: The saga continues

This time it was a Scot by the name of Jackie Stewart who started the race with a plaster on his wrist. The race was held in heavy rain and fog, and it required some serious guts to even think of doing a lap, maneuvering 160 odd corners with one by the name of Flugplatz even launching the car into the air, in those treacherous conditions, forget racing at full speed.

The small built man from Dumbartonshire started 6th, opened up a gap of 30 seconds by the end of the first lap and finished the race 4 minutes ahead of the next guy. Period.

Formula 2 with Formula 1

On four occasions – 1957, 1966, 1967 and 1969 both Formula 1 and Formula 2 cars shared the same grid. Although the F2 cars were classified as finishers, they wouldn’t be awarded Championship points. There is even dispute regarding whether to consider those races as starts in the respective drivers’ careers.

Alan vs Alain

In one of the most intriguing duels at the old Hockenheim circuit, during the 1981 race Australian Alan Jones and Frenchman Alain Prost battled it out for many laps with some excellent slipstreaming battles down the long straights through the forests.

Finally, the battle was brought to an end by the ungrateful teammate of Prost, Rene Arnoux whose unyielding tactics provided a golden opportunity to the defending champion which he took with both hands and overtook Prost into the stadium section.

WWE in Formula 1

After Eliseo Salazar pushed Nelson Piquet off the track at the Ostkurve chicane during the 1982 race, Piquet couldn’t control his anger and punched the Chilean in the face (helmet, to be more precise) right in front of the TV cameras.

Empty fuel tanks

Alain Prost

Towards the end of the 1986 race, the top 3 were all low on fuel and while Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna were lucky enough to cross the finish line, Alain Prost couldn’t. But he didn’t give up and like Jack Brabham some two and half decades earlier, tried to push his car past the finish line inducing huge cheer from the crowds.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to but was still classified 6th, thus earning a vital championship point which would prove very crucial later when the title would go down to the wire in the last race.

Jos the Boss on fire!

Jos Verstappen was very lucky to have survived that day in 1994 when his Benetton caught fire in the pits. With the fuel hose not being properly fitted, fuel splashed all over the car and very soon the whole Benetton pit area was engulfed in flames. Fires have occurred in the pitlane on other occasions too but none was so bad as this – not even close. Surprisingly, both the driver and the pitcrew came away with only a few minor burns.

The Luxembourg Grand Prix – not on Luxembourg soil!

The Nurburgring hosted the Luxembourg Grand Prix in 1997 and 1998. How can a German track hold a race slated to be in Luxembourg? The answer lies with the FIA.

During those days, the rule was that there couldn’t be two races in the same country. Although it had been violated in Spain and in Italy, when it came to Germany the FIA tried to circumvent the rules in a different way. Because the Nurburgring track is near the Germany-Luxembourg border, they named it as the Luxembourg Grand Prix.

Barrichello’s tryst with invaders

Rubens Barrichello won both the 2000 German Grand Prix and the 2003 British Grand Prix. One thing was common between the two races – track invaders. While it was Cornelius Horan at Silverstone, about whom we discussed last time around, at Hockenheim it was an expelled Mercedes employee. The employee’s antics brought out a safety car and seriously disadvantaged the leading McLaren of Mika Hakkinen who along with teammate David Coulthard were easing to a 1-2 finish before the incident.

Burti blows the start

The 2001 race had a very messy start when Luciano Burti ran into the back of the Ferrari of Michael Schumacher who had a poor getaway. The result was a launch into the air for the Brazilian Mark Webber in Valencia, 2010. The car had spectacular somersaults right on the start finish straight before coming to a standstill. Luckily, the driver escaped major injuries.

Driving through an eponymous corner

How many of us would enjoy the privilege of being able to drive a car through the corner named after us? Answer – only if we are either Ayrton Senna or Michael Schumacher. Those are the only two in F1 to have achieved that feat – Senna at Sao Paulo and Schumacher at Hockenheim. The German could do it only on his second stint in the sport because the corner had been named after his retirement in 2006.

Many would be surprised that there is no mention of Niki Lauda’s horrific accident at the Nurburgring. There is a Part 2 to this Memorable Moments feature where we would cover that incident and some other unfortunate ones too where the drivers weren’t lucky enough to surive.