Round 11 - Hockenheimring
Summary
After a year's absence due to the rotation agreement with the Nürburgring, Hockenheim once again hosts the Großer Preis von Deutschland.
The circuit in Baden-Württemberg has seen many changes since the Nazis used it for testing pre-war Mercedes and Auto Union behemoths. The original high-speed loop through the woods was broken up by chicanes relatively early in life, but still saw slipstreaming battles raging around the long lap and into the 'stadium' section, whose concrete grandstands still accommodate up to 120,000 flag- and flare-wielding fans.
The 2000 race saw a dramatic first victory for Rubens Barrichello after a disgruntled former Mercedes employee ventured onto the forest section of track and triggered a Safety Car period that was deeply inconvenient for his former employers. In 2002, perhaps not coincidentally, a much revised Hockenheim was unveiled, with the flat-out blasts through the forest short-cutted by a new link section designed by Hermann Tilke.
The new layout has produced some dramatic races, not least the last event in 2008, when Lewis Hamilton was delayed by a strategic error from the McLaren team and fought back in fine style, passing Felipe Massa and Nelson Piquet Jr. to take the victory. The revised circuit demands high levels of downforce, consistent tyre grip for traction in the slower corners and a setup that is responsive to sudden direction changes.
The overall finishing rate at Hockenheim is around the average for this year's circuits.
The likelihood of a driver-related retirement is slightly below average.
Mechanical failures at Hockenheim are consistent with the mean of other current tracks.
Finally, the circuit ranks as slightly below average for first-lap retirements in the past five years.
The Last Five Years
[td]Year[/td][td]Starters[/td][td]Finishers[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Lap 1 retirements[/td][td]Most places gained[/td]
Circuit Ranking (of all 18 circuits)
Finishing Rate
...
8th Sakhir 80%
9th Hockenheim 79%
10th Spa 78%
...
Mechanical Failures
...
6th= Melbourne 13%
6th= Sepang 13%
8th Hockenheim 13%
9th Spa 11%
...
Driver-related Retirements
...
13th Istanbul 8%
14th Hockenheim 6%
15th Valencia 5%
...
First lap Retirements
...
12th Suzuka 1.6%
13th Hockenheim 1.6%
14th Monza 1.0%
...
With the German race only having been held once at Hockenheim in the three previous seasons, some leading drivers have recorded surprisingly few starts at the venue. While Robert Kubica and Lewis Hamilton may need a little familiarisation time, local hero Sebastian Vettel is unlikely to be so disadvantaged. Jenson Button has a good record at Hockenheim, having consistently got his car to the finish and scoring points despite starting from some lowly grid slots. Fernando Alonso has also done well, finishing six times out of six. Hispania new boy Sakon Yamamoto is returning to the scene of his Grand Prix debut, four years ago for Super Aguri.
Home advantage seems to have been a burden for McLaren and Mercedes over the past decade, their cars being notably unreliable mechanically, and unusually outscored overall by the Renault team as well as arch-rivals Ferrari. Williams scored two victories in the early part of the decade with BMW power. Of the rest, Red Bull will certainly be expecting to at least double their paltry six-point haul, while the Sauber team (then under BMW ownership) struggled at Hockenheim in 2008 in what was otherwise a strong season.
Current Drivers' Records at Hockenheim
[td]Driver[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td]
Chassis Records at Hockenheim (since 2000)
[td]Chassis[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td]Results for Renault include Benetton
Results for Mercedes GP include BAR, Honda and Brawn
Results for BMW Sauber include Sauber
Results for Red Bull include Jaguar
Results for Toro Rosso include Minardi
Results for Force India include Jordan, Midland and Spyker
Engine Records at Hockenheim (since 2000)
[td]Engine[/td][td]Starts[/td][td]Finishes[/td][td]Best result[/td][td]Points[/td][td]Retirements - Mech[/td][td]Retirements - Acc[/td][td]Average grid pos.[/td]Results for Ferrari include Petronas and Acer
Results for Cosworth include Ford
All ranking figures are expressed as a % of total starts.
"Retirements-Acc" are retirements where the reason has been listed as Collision, Accident or Spun Off.
Summary
After a year's absence due to the rotation agreement with the Nürburgring, Hockenheim once again hosts the Großer Preis von Deutschland.
The circuit in Baden-Württemberg has seen many changes since the Nazis used it for testing pre-war Mercedes and Auto Union behemoths. The original high-speed loop through the woods was broken up by chicanes relatively early in life, but still saw slipstreaming battles raging around the long lap and into the 'stadium' section, whose concrete grandstands still accommodate up to 120,000 flag- and flare-wielding fans.
The 2000 race saw a dramatic first victory for Rubens Barrichello after a disgruntled former Mercedes employee ventured onto the forest section of track and triggered a Safety Car period that was deeply inconvenient for his former employers. In 2002, perhaps not coincidentally, a much revised Hockenheim was unveiled, with the flat-out blasts through the forest short-cutted by a new link section designed by Hermann Tilke.
The new layout has produced some dramatic races, not least the last event in 2008, when Lewis Hamilton was delayed by a strategic error from the McLaren team and fought back in fine style, passing Felipe Massa and Nelson Piquet Jr. to take the victory. The revised circuit demands high levels of downforce, consistent tyre grip for traction in the slower corners and a setup that is responsive to sudden direction changes.
The overall finishing rate at Hockenheim is around the average for this year's circuits.
The likelihood of a driver-related retirement is slightly below average.
Mechanical failures at Hockenheim are consistent with the mean of other current tracks.
Finally, the circuit ranks as slightly below average for first-lap retirements in the past five years.
The Last Five Years
2005 | 20 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 18 - Juan Pablo Montoya (McLaren) |
2006 | 22 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 13 - Jarno Trulli (Toyota) |
2007 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
2008 | 20 | 17 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 15 - Nelsinho Piquet (Renault) |
2009 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Overall | 62 | 49 | 8 | 4 | 1 |
Circuit Ranking (of all 18 circuits)
Finishing Rate
...
8th Sakhir 80%
9th Hockenheim 79%
10th Spa 78%
...
Mechanical Failures
...
6th= Melbourne 13%
6th= Sepang 13%
8th Hockenheim 13%
9th Spa 11%
...
Driver-related Retirements
...
13th Istanbul 8%
14th Hockenheim 6%
15th Valencia 5%
...
First lap Retirements
...
12th Suzuka 1.6%
13th Hockenheim 1.6%
14th Monza 1.0%
...
With the German race only having been held once at Hockenheim in the three previous seasons, some leading drivers have recorded surprisingly few starts at the venue. While Robert Kubica and Lewis Hamilton may need a little familiarisation time, local hero Sebastian Vettel is unlikely to be so disadvantaged. Jenson Button has a good record at Hockenheim, having consistently got his car to the finish and scoring points despite starting from some lowly grid slots. Fernando Alonso has also done well, finishing six times out of six. Hispania new boy Sakon Yamamoto is returning to the scene of his Grand Prix debut, four years ago for Super Aguri.
Home advantage seems to have been a burden for McLaren and Mercedes over the past decade, their cars being notably unreliable mechanically, and unusually outscored overall by the Renault team as well as arch-rivals Ferrari. Williams scored two victories in the early part of the decade with BMW power. Of the rest, Red Bull will certainly be expecting to at least double their paltry six-point haul, while the Sauber team (then under BMW ownership) struggled at Hockenheim in 2008 in what was otherwise a strong season.
Current Drivers' Records at Hockenheim
Michael Schumacher | 14 | 11 | 1st (4) | 67 | 2 | 1 | 3.71 |
Fernando Alonso | 6 | 6 | 1st (1) | 25 | 0 | 0 | 8.17 |
Jenson Button | 8 | 7 | 2nd (1) | 25 | 1 | 0 | 12.13 |
Rubens Barrichello | 15 | 6 | 1st (1) | 21 | 6 | 3 | 9.93 |
Felipe Massa | 5 | 5 | 2nd (1) | 15 | 0 | 0 | 9.6 |
Jarno Trulli | 11 | 8 | 3rd (1) | 11 | 3 | 1 | 9.18 |
Lewis Hamilton | 1 | 1 | 1st (1) | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Heikki Kovalainen | 1 | 1 | 5th (1) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Mark Webber | 6 | 2 | 6th (1) | 3 | 3 | 1 | 11.33 |
Robert Kubica | 1 | 1 | 7th (1) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Pedro de la Rosa | 5 | 1 | 6th (1) | 1 | 2 | 2 | 12.6 |
Sebastian Vettel | 1 | 1 | 8th (1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
Vitantonio Liuzzi | 1 | 1 | 10th (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
Nico Rosberg | 2 | 1 | 10th (1) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 13.5 |
Adrian Sutil | 1 | 1 | 15th (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
Timo Glock | 1 | 0 | Ret (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 |
Sakon Yamamoto | 1 | 0 | Ret (1) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 |
Jaime Alguersuari | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Sebastien Buemi | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Lucas di Grassi | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Nico Hulkenberg | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Kamui Kobayashi | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Vitaly Petrov | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Bruno Senna | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Chassis Records at Hockenheim (since 2000)
Ferrari | 16 | 13 | 1st (4) | 70 | 1 | 2 | 5.25 |
Renault | 16 | 12 | 1st (1) | 52 | 2 | 2 | 8.13 |
McLaren | 16 | 9 | 1st (1) | 51 | 5 | 2 | 5.25 |
Williams | 16 | 11 | 1st (2) | 39 | 2 | 2 | 7.56 |
Mercedes GP | 16 | 11 | 2nd (1) | 25 | 3 | 2 | 10.44 |
BMW Sauber | 16 | 10 | 4th (1) | 11 | 2 | 4 | 12.88 |
Red Bull | 16 | 9 | 6th (1) | 6 | 6 | 2 | 11.56 |
Toro Rosso | 15 | 11 | 8th (1) | 1 | 4 | 0 | 18.47 |
Force India | 16 | 8 | 8th (1) | 0 | 5 | 2 | 15.38 |
Hispania | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Lotus | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Virgin | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Results for Mercedes GP include BAR, Honda and Brawn
Results for BMW Sauber include Sauber
Results for Red Bull include Jaguar
Results for Toro Rosso include Minardi
Results for Force India include Jordan, Midland and Spyker
Engine Records at Hockenheim (since 2000)
Ferrari | 36 | 28 | 1st (4) | 77 | 2 | 6 | 9.53 |
Renault | 16 | 13 | 1st (1) | 52 | 2 | 1 | 8.63 |
Mercedes-Benz | 16 | 9 | 1st (1) | 51 | 5 | 2 | 5.25 |
Cosworth | 28 | 15 | 6th (1) | 5 | 11 | 4 | 14.79 |
Results for Cosworth include Ford
All ranking figures are expressed as a % of total starts.
"Retirements-Acc" are retirements where the reason has been listed as Collision, Accident or Spun Off.