General:
Circuit: Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg
Opened: 29.05.1932
Spectators: Total capacity of 120,000
Surface area: 97 Hektar
Number of visitors: Estimated 40 million spectators since the circuit was opened
New Grand-Prix circuit
Built: 2002
Length: 4.574 m
Width: mind. 15 m
Bends: 17
Straights: 6
Facts and stats:
The Hockenheimring is located just outside the town of Hockenheim, near the Rhine River in the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg. The largest nearby cities are Frankfurt, about 100 kilometres to the north, and Stuttgart, slightly further and to the southeast.
Hockenheim lies along the Bertha Benz Memorial Route, which follows the route taken by automobile inventor Karl Benz’s wife on the first-ever long-distance road trip.
Originally built as a Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union test track, Hockenheim hosted its first German Grand Prix in 1970. At that time (and until 2001), the circuit was a series of long straights through a dense forest, connected by fast chicanes, starting and finishing in the familiar stadium section.
After the 2001 race, to increase safety and enhance the spectator experience, the track was significantly shortened. A long, fast curve was built to connect the first and last straights, cutting off the long forest section and reducing the circuit length from nearly seven kilometres to four and a half.
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Hermann Tilke oversaw the redesign, telling the official F1 website that, “The original idea was just to broaden the existing track according to current safety regulations, and to keep the track to its original length.” When that proved impossible, “The task became to design something new, on the existing site, and make it more interesting and accessible for visitors, all without impacting upon the woodland.”
The most famous and recognisable part of the Hockenheim circuit is the stadium section, where two massive grandstands embrace seven of the track’s 17 corners, including the start-finish straight.
From 1977 to 2006, the German Grand Prix was held almost exclusively at the Hockenheimring. The lone exception was 1985, when the race returned to the recently reconfigured Nurburgring.
Ten years later, in response to Michael Schumacher’s growing popularity, a second grand prix was held in Germany, again at the Nurburgring. Called the European Grand Prix, this arrangement persisted (with a two-year interruption in 1997 and 1998) until 2006.
The following year, an ongoing arrangement was put in place to alternate one German race between the two circuits.
Two F1 drivers have lost their lives at Hockenheim, although neither was during an F1 race. Two-time world champion Jim Clark was killed during a Formula Two race in 1968. The first forest chicane was installed near the site of his fatal crash, where a memorial to the British driver also stands. In 1980, Patrick Depailler suffered a fatal accident while testing an Alfa Romeo. He crashed at the Ostkurve, which was a high-speed right-hander at the time, but was soon converted to another chicane.
Like the last race, at Silverstone, the Hockenheimring is not located near a major city. Therefore, many fans choose to camp around the circuit.
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