Nürburgring – Nürburg

When was the track built?

A book won’t be enough to tell the whole story about this circuit: the original Nordschleife was opened in 1927 and it was the main and most recognizable German venue for motorsport until the late 1970s, when Niki Lauda’s crash finally raised safety concerns.
While the legendary course inside the forest is still alive and used for racing, Formula One used the more modern, safer and fitter for purpose version built in 1984, renewed few times until the early 2000s.
It has hosted F1 GPs rotating with Hockenheim until 2014, when bankruptcy stopped any chance to secure a slot in the calendar.
Thanks to the new Formula One rules it will be back more durably.

When was its first Grand Prix?

The first titled race on this venue was in 1951, won by Alberto Ascari on Ferrari, who also started on pole, with only Fangio’s Alfa Romeo breaking a full Ferrari top 6.
On the modern version, the first GP was held in 1984, named European Grand Prix,  won by Prost’s McLaren-TAG Porsche, followed by Alboreto’s Ferrari and Piquet’s Brabham-BMW, who started from pole.
It will rotate with other six circuits for the German spot in the F1 European Series calendar.

What’s the circuit like?

Although its charm can’t and will never match the iconic Nordschleife’s one, the new 5.1km racetrack has generated often interesting races, thanks to a very challenging layout, with various significant elevation changes, blind high-speed chicanes and unpredictable weather almost all year round.
Overtaking is difficult but not impossible, particularly at turn 1 and 13.

Where is it located?

In Nürburg, on the West side of Germany, close to the borders with Belgium and Luxembourg; Cologne/Bonn is the closest airport, around an hour away. (+ 50°20’03”, + 6°56’52”)