Formula 1 German Grand Prix History
History - Facts - Winners - Schedule - Circuit
Back in 1907, Germany staged the first of the Kaiserpreis races at the Taunus Circuit, with entries limited to touring cars with engines of less than eight litres. The first race was won by the Italian Felice Nazzaro in a Fiat.
The first national event in German Grand Prix motor racing came to the AVUS (Automobil Verkehrs und Übungs-Straße) race course in southwest Berlin in 1926 as a sports car race. The first race at the AVUS track was won by Germany's native son, Rudolf Caracciola, who would win 6 of 12 Grand Prixs before 1940.
The German Grand Prix moved to the totally new 28 kilometers long track of Nürburgring after it was inaugurated on June 18, 1927 with an ADAC Eifelrennen. It would mainly stay there on the 22.8km Nordschleife version until the 1970s when the rival Hockenheimring took over due to safety concerns.
The 1930 and 1933 German Grands Prix were both cancelled due to the country's economic problems. After Bernd Rosemeyer and Hans Stuck scored one victory each, Rudolf Caracciola took the German Grand Prix in 1937 and again in 1939, an achievement that no other German driver could accomplish between 1937 and 1995, until Michael Schumacher won.
After World War 2, Germany and German drivers were banned from taking part in International contests until 1951, so the inaugural F1 Season in 1950 did not include the German Grand Prix.
Due to the decline in attendance after the retirement of Mercedes and Juan Manuel Fangio, the AVD hosted the German GP at Berlin's AVUS in 1959. Due to the simple layout of this high speed track and several accidents, it was considered a bad move.
Additionally, F1 races were held at their home town Stuttgart at the Solitude circuit. These races, joined with Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Championship events, drew an average of
288,000 spectators. There were rumors that the German Grand Prix might be moved to the more popular track, yet the opposite happened, as the Solitude races were cancelled after 1965, while the Grand Prix had returned to the Nürburgring in 1961.
In 1970, the drivers asked for safety improvements on short notice which could not be made, and the German Grand Prix moved to the Hockenheimring which was already modified. After a rebuilt, the Nordschleife hosted six more Prixs. F1 finally declined to race there after 1976.
Since 1977, the Hockenheimring became the German Grand Prix's permanent home with the one exception of 1985 that was ran on the new 4.5km Nürburgring. Following the success of Michael Schumacher, this track went on to become the venue for a second annual F1 race in Germany, the European Grand Prix or Luxembourg Grand Prix since 1995.
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