German Grand Prix

The race was held at the Hockenheimring every year between 1977 and 2006 (except 1985). During that time, a separate Formula One race was held in Germany at the Nürburgring most years from 1995 until 2007 under the title of the European Grand Prix. The Hockenheimring and the Nürburgring alternated hosting the German Grand Prix between 2008 and 2014, at which point the Nürburgring pulled out of hosting the event in 2015, leaving Hockenheim the sole host but only in alternating years until 2018. A further one-year deal placed the German Grand Prix on the 2019 calendar. As of 2026, a race under the name "German Grand Prix" has not been run again, although Germany hosted the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix at the Nürburgring.

In 1907, Germany staged the first of the Kaiserpreis (Emperor's Prize) races at the 73-mile (118 km) Taunus public road circuit, just outside Frankfurt. The same circuit had been used three years earlier for the 1904 Gordon Bennett Cup race, won by Leon Thery in a Brasier, beating Belgian Camille Jenatzy in a Mercedes. Entries were limited to touring cars with engines of less than eight litres. The race itself was a tragedy: driver Otto Göbel was badly injured and his co-driver Ludwig Faber, pinned under their Adler, was already dead; Göbel later died of his injuries in hospital. Italy's Felice Nazzaro won the race in a Fiat. The Prinz-Heinrich-Fahrt, organised by Prince Albert Wilhelm Heinrich, was the biggest German international race, held from 1908 to 1911 as week-long point-to-point races starting in Berlin and covering around 2,000 km (1,250 mi) over varying terrain across multiple countries. Although this kind of racing had been banned in France because of multiple fatal accidents, these races had prestige equal to the Kaiserpreis races, with drivers such as Nazzaro competing.

In the early 1920s, ADAC Eifelrennen races were held on the twisty 33.2 km (20.6 mi) Nideggen public road circuit near Cologne and Bonn. Around 1925, the construction of a dedicated race track was proposed just south of the Nideggen circuit around the ancient castle of the town of Nürburg, following the examples of Italy's Monza and Targa Florio courses and Berlin's AVUS, yet with a different character. The layout of the circuit in the mountains was similar to the Targa Florio event. The original Nürburgring was to be a showcase for German automotive engineering and racing talent. Construction, designed by the Eichler Architekturbüro from Ravensburg (led by architect Gustav Eichler), began in September 1925.

The first national event in German Grand Prix motor racing was held at the AVUS (Automobil Verkehrs und Übungs-Straße) circuit in southwestern Berlin in 1926 as a sports car race. The AVUS circuit was made up of two 6-mile straights combined with two left-hand hairpins at each end. The first race there, in heavy rain, was won by Germany's Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz. The event was marred by Adolf Rosenberger's crash into one of the marshals' huts, killing three people. The AVUS circuit was considered extremely dangerous, so the event was moved. The German Grand Prix became an official event in 1929. Although it was raced in the non-championship AVUS-Rennen in the 1930s, the Grand Prix would not return to AVUS until 1959 for a one-off appearance. It should have had another race in 1960, but that Grand Prix was run as a Formula Two race instead at the Nürburgring on the Südschleife layout.

The Grand Prix moved to the new 28.3 km (17.6 mi) Nürburgring, located in the Eifel mountain region in western Germany about 70 miles (112 km) from Frankfurt and Cologne. It was inaugurated on 18 June 1927 with the annual ADAC Eifelrennen. It was a huge, challenging circuit that twisted through the forests of the Eifel Mountains, with over 1,000 feet (300 m) of elevation change and many spots where cars visibly left the ground, such as the Flugplatz, Brünnchen and Pflanzgarten sections. Caracciola won his second of six German Grands Prix on the combined Gesamtstrecke course.

The 1930 and 1933 races were cancelled due to economic reasons related to the Great Depression. In 1931 the event began to use only the 14.2-mile (22.8 km) Nordschleife, and this continued onwards throughout the century. Caracciola won the 1931 and 1932 events in a Mercedes and an Alfa Romeo respectively. Starting in 1934, there were often several races each year with the so-called "Silver Arrows" Grand Prix cars in Germany. Only the Grand Prix at the Nürburgring was the national Grande Épreuve, counting toward the European Championship from 1935 to 1939. The 1935 event was considered one of the greatest motorsport victories of all time: Italian legend Tazio Nuvolari, driving a hopelessly outdated and underpowered Alfa Romeo against state-of-the-art Mercedes and Auto Unions, drove a very hard race in appalling conditions. After a dreadful start and a botched pit stop that cost him six minutes, he made up the time and was second by the start of the last lap, 35 seconds behind leader Manfred von Brauchitsch in a Mercedes. Von Brauchitsch had ruined his tyres pushing hard, and Nuvolari caught the German to take victory in front of 350,000 spectators, finishing ahead of eight running Silver Arrows. Second-placed Hans Stuck was two minutes behind Nuvolari.

The 1936 race was won by German driver Bernd Rosemeyer, driving an Auto Union, who also won the Eifelrennen at the Nordschleife, earning the nickname "Fog Master". The 1937 race saw Caracciola win again in a Mercedes, and Auto Union driver Ernst von Delius die after a crash near the Antonius Bridge on the main straight; he hit the back of Briton Richard Seaman's Mercedes at 250 km/h (154 mph), suffered a broken leg and other injuries, and died the following night of thrombosis and other complications. Seaman crashed into a kilometre post, suffered minor injuries, and survived to win the 1938 race, also in a Mercedes, his only championship Grand Prix victory. In 1939 a new track was built near Dresden, called the Deutschlandring, intended to host the 1940 German Grand Prix; because of the outbreak of World War II, the race was never run and the circuit never used for competition. In the same year, Caracciola took his sixth German Grand Prix victory. Soon afterwards Germany was at war and the Grand Prix did not return to international status until 1951.

After World War II, Germany was separated into Eastern and Western territories, and West Germany was banned from international sporting events until 1951. A non-championship Formula 2 race was won by Alberto Ascari in 1950 at the Nürburgring. The German Grand Prix was included as part of the new Formula One championship in its second season. The Nordschleife became the mainstay of West Germany's premier motor racing event for the next quarter of a century, known as the toughest and most technically challenging circuit on the F1 calendar, drawing an average of 375,000 spectators each year.

In the 1951 race, Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio led for 14 laps but had to refuel his Alfa, was left with only third and fourth gears, was overtaken in the pits by Ascari in a Ferrari, and finished second behind the Italian. Fangio won for the first time in 1954 in a Mercedes — the first time a factory Mercedes Grand Prix car had taken part in 15 years — driving the new open-wheeled W196 built at his request. That event also saw the death of Argentine driver Onofre Marimón in a Maserati 250F during practice; he failed to negotiate a tricky bend near the Adenauer Bridge, went off the road and down a steep slope, and was pinned underneath the 670 kg (1,480 lb) car, which had no roll-over bars. Fangio later examined the wreckage and found it in fourth gear of four, at a corner normally taken in third, indicating driver error. The 1955 event was cancelled in the aftermath of the Le Mans disaster, with auto racing in Germany and much of Europe banned until tracks could be upgraded. Fangio won the next two events.

The 1957 event included a Formula 2 race run concurrently with the Formula One cars, and the track had been resurfaced with tarmac. Like Nuvolari's 1935 victory, it is regarded as one of the greatest motorsport victories of all time. Fangio led early in front of two Ferraris driven by Britons Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins. He planned a mid-distance refuel; the expected 30-second stop was botched and took 78 seconds, leaving him nearly a minute behind. He charged back, breaking the lap record nine times, passing Collins behind the pits on the 21st lap and Hawthorn late in the same lap. The 46-year-old Argentine won the race — his 24th and final F1 victory and his fifth and final championship. In 1958 the distance was shortened to 15 laps; Briton Tony Brooks won driving a Vanwall, the first British constructor to win a German Grand Prix. Collins crashed into a ditch at Pflanzgarten, was thrown from his car and hit a tree head first, and died in a hospital near the circuit.

In 1959 the race went to the ultra-fast AVUS circuit in Berlin, the only Formula One race held there, won by Brooks in a Ferrari. The circuit was made up of two 2.5-mile straights, a tight left-handed hairpin at one end and a huge 43° brick banking constructed in 1937 at the other, known as Die Mauer des Todes ("The Wall of Death"). Frenchman Jean Behra was killed during a support sportscar race driving a Porsche; he lost control, flew off the banking — which had no safety wall or barrier — and was thrown 300 feet, his head striking a flagpole and killing him instantly. Behra had been fired by Ferrari after an altercation with the Scuderia's manager shortly before his death.

For 1960 the race moved back to the Nürburgring, this time on the smaller 4.7-mile (7.7 km) Südschleife. It was held for Formula 2 rather than Formula 1, losing championship status but giving German spectators what they had missed since 1954, as Porsche had strong new cars built to the 1.5-litre regulations that would become Formula 1 from 1961. Running the shorter circuit and lower class lowered costs for the organisers.

The rest of the 1960s saw nine Formula One events at the Nordschleife. The 1961 event was won by Briton Stirling Moss in a privately entered Lotus, holding off the more powerful Ferraris of American Phil Hill and German Wolfgang von Trips, finishing 16 seconds ahead of von Trips with a clever wet-weather tyre choice. The 1964 event saw Dutch gentleman driver Carel Godin de Beaufort die during practice after going off at Bergwerk corner; Briton John Surtees won for the second year in a row from Jim Clark. In 1965 Clark won, taking his second Drivers' Championship in a Lotus. In 1966, changeable weather brought a battle between Australian Jack Brabham and Surtees, with Brabham winning; Briton John Taylor was killed after hitting the back of Belgian Jacky Ickx's Formula 2 Matra MS5, his Brabham BT11 catching fire and leaving him with severe burns from which he succumbed a month later.

In 1967 a chicane was added before the pits. The 1968 event, in heavy rain and fog, saw Briton Jackie Stewart win by more than four minutes from Graham Hill, 30 seconds ahead by the end of the first lap. Ickx won in 1969 driving a Brabham, taking the lead from Stewart on lap 5 after Stewart fell back with gearbox problems; Stewart held second, nearly a minute behind. German driver Gerhard Mitter was killed during practice driving a BMW 269 Formula 2 car after his rear suspension failed near the fast Schwedenkreuz bend — the fifth Formula One-related fatality at the 14.2-mile circuit in 15 years, the most of any circuit used for the championship.

The year 1970 began the demise of the Nordschleife for international racing. After the death of Piers Courage at the Dutch Grand Prix a few months earlier, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association met in London and voted not to race at the German circuit unless significant safety changes were made. The cars were lapping the 'Ring more than two minutes faster than in 1951, and the circuit was deemed too dangerous and outdated. The changes could not be made in time, forcing a hasty switch to the fast Hockenheimring, which had already been upgraded with safety features. The race was won by Austrian Jochen Rindt, resisting a charging Ickx in a Ferrari.

In 1971 the race returned to a modified Nürburgring, made smoother and fitted with Armco barriers and run-off areas wherever possible, but retaining much of the character that led Stewart to call it "The Green Hell". The first event on the rebuilt Nordschleife saw Stewart win from teammate François Cevert, who battled Swiss Clay Regazzoni for second. The 1972 event saw Ickx dominate in his Ferrari while Stewart crashed on the last lap after tangling with Regazzoni. The 1973 race was dominated by Tyrrell teammates Stewart and Cevert and was the 27th and last victory of Stewart's career. In 1974, New Zealander Howden Ganley crashed heavily at Hatzenbach, seriously injuring him and ending his F1 career; the race was won by Regazzoni after Austrian Niki Lauda and South African Jody Scheckter tangled on the first lap, Lauda out and Scheckter finishing second. Briton and multiple motorcycle world champion Mike Hailwood crashed heavily in a McLaren at Pflanzgarten and broke his leg, effectively ending his auto racing career. In 1975 Lauda became the only driver ever to lap the old Nürburgring in under seven minutes, posting 6:58.6 in his Ferrari for pole. Briton Ian Ashley was seriously injured in practice at Pflanzgarten. Argentine Carlos Reutemann took victory after Lauda had a puncture; Briton Tom Pryce ran as high as second from 17th in an under-funded Shadow but finished fourth after hot fuel leaked into his cockpit, with Frenchman Jacques Laffite finishing second — a milestone first taste of success for Frank Williams's struggling team. The 1975 Grand Prix was the fastest run on the old Nürburgring, Regazzoni posting the lap record at 7:06.4.

The 1976 event went down in history. Lauda, the reigning world champion, was dissatisfied with the safety arrangements and attempted to organise a boycott during a meeting at the third race of the season in Long Beach, California. The Nürburgring needed five to six times the marshals and medical staff of a typical F1 race, which the organisers were unwilling or unable to provide; its geography made the modifications demanded by the drivers and FIA prohibitively expensive, and its length made effective broadcast coverage all but impossible. Lauda was outvoted because most drivers felt they should complete the circuit's three-year contract, which had started with the 1974 race; the 1976 race was already decided to be the last at the Nordschleife. As the race started, parts of the circuit were wet and other parts dry. After pitting to change to dry tyres, Lauda came out far behind leader Jochen Mass. While pushing hard on the second lap, Lauda lost control of his Ferrari when its rear suspension failed at the fast left-hand kink before Bergwerk, over six miles into the lap. The car crashed into a grass embankment and burst into flames, was hit by the cars of Brett Lunger, Arturo Merzario and Harald Ertl, and Lunger pulled Lauda from the burning wreckage before the ill-equipped marshals arrived. Severely burned and having breathed toxic fumes, Lauda lapsed into a coma and nearly died, out of action for six weeks; the only medical helicopter took six minutes to reach the scene. The race was red-flagged and restarted; New Zealander Chris Amon elected not to take the restart, his last Grand Prix. Englishman James Hunt won, crucial for his championship chances that year. After 49 years, the old Nürburgring never hosted a Grand Prix again, and the race returned to Hockenheim.

The fast, flat Hockenheim circuit near Heidelberg almost solely hosted the German Grand Prix for the next 30 years. The 1977 event was won by Lauda, and was also notable when local driver Hans Heyer competed despite failing to qualify. In 1979, Swiss Regazzoni in his Williams chased teammate Australian Alan Jones to no avail. The 1980 race was won by Frenchman Laffite in a Ligier after Jones dropped to third with a punctured tyre, but it was overshadowed by Patrick Depailler's fatal accident at the Ostkurve in testing for Alfa Romeo a few days before the race weekend. The 1981 event saw a battle between Jones and rising star Alain Prost in a Renault, with Jones passing Prost in the stadium due to interference by Prost's backmarker teammate René Arnoux; the race was won by Brazilian Nelson Piquet after Jones pitted with problems.

The 1982 race saw a chicane added to the ultra-fast Ostkurve and a slower first chicane. It also saw the end of Frenchman Didier Pironi's career: he had an appalling crash in pouring rain during qualifying after hitting the back of Prost's Renault, was launched skyward and rolled to a stop with such serious leg injuries that FIA doctor Sid Watkins nearly had to amputate his legs to extract him from the wrecked Ferrari. During the race, Piquet physically attacked Chilean driver Eliseo Salazar after Salazar punted him off at the Ostkurve chicane while leading. Patrick Tambay won his first race for Ferrari. The 1984 race saw Prost (now in a McLaren) win, with Toleman rookie Ayrton Senna driving hard at the front early on.

In 1985 a one-off return was made to the new 2.8-mile (4.5 km) Nürburgring Grand Prix circuit, built next to the site of the old Nordschleife; it was won by Italian Michele Alboreto. The governing body, FISA, had a policy of long-term single-circuit contracts; the German Grand Prix went to Hockenheim, where it stayed for the next 20 years. In 1986, top three Piquet, Senna and Prost all ran low on fuel; Brazilians Piquet and Senna finished 1–2 while Prost finished sixth, his car completely drained. The 1988 race was run in treacherous wet conditions; Senna (now in a McLaren) used his skill in the wet to win over teammate Prost. The 1989 race, near the height of the Prost–Senna rivalry, saw Prost's gearbox lose sixth gear on the second-to-last lap and Senna pass him to win. Senna won again the next year from Italian Alessandro Nannini. The 1992 race saw further changes to the Ostkurve after Érik Comas's 1991 crash there, and 1994 saw a further change to the third chicane in the aftermath of the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix.

In 1995, German Michael Schumacher won, the first German to win his home race since Rudolf Caracciola in 1939; Formula One interest in Germany peaked during his emergence. The 1997 race was won by Austrian Gerhard Berger. The 2000 race had multiple problems: a disgruntled ex-Mercedes employee walked onto the circuit during the race, Jean Alesi had a huge accident at the third chicane, and the far side of the circuit was dry while the stadium and pits were in pouring rain; Rubens Barrichello won from 18th on the grid, his first Formula One victory. In 2001, a huge start accident occurred between Brazilian Luciano Burti in a Prost and Schumacher in a Ferrari; the race was won by Michael's brother Ralf in a BMW-powered Williams.

There was pressure from the FIA and the drivers for Hockenheim to be shortened from its 4.2-mile length after the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994 and the events of 2000 and 2001. Three new circuits built or rebuilt in the former East Germany after the 1990 reunification were seen as potential venues: Oschersleben, opened in 1997 with a hotel built into the circuit at 2.3 miles; the Lausitzring, with a combined oval/road course opened in 2000 at 2.8 miles; and the Sachsenring, venue of the German motorcycle Grand Prix, reopened in 1996 at 2.2 miles. All three were shorter than the 4.2-mile Hockenheim, and the 2.8-mile Nürburgring GP circuit was also considered. This threat partly led to Hockenheim being cut in length in 2002.

In 2002, the Hockenheimring was dramatically shortened, with the forest straights removed and more corners added, reducing it from 4.2 to 2.7 miles. Schumacher won that year. In 2003, Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya won for Williams-BMW, the second German GP victory in three years for BMW engines; that year also saw the last appearance of the British Arrows team. Schumacher continued his domination by winning in 2004, and Spaniard Fernando Alonso won in 2005 in a Renault after rival Kimi Räikkönen retired with a hydraulics failure. In 2006, Renault's experimental mass damper system was deemed legal by the stewards but banned by the FIA; Renault did not use it and Schumacher won his home race in a Ferrari.

In 2006 it was announced that from 2007 to 2010 the German Grand Prix would be shared between the Nürburgring GP circuit and the Hockenheimring. The 2007 race was held under the title "Großer Preis von Europa" (European Grand Prix) owing to a naming-rights dispute with Hockenheim; by 2009 the dispute appeared resolved as the Nürburgring race ran under the German Grand Prix title. The 2010 Hockenheim race was at one stage in jeopardy as the track owners were unwilling to keep losing money on high licensing costs, but on 30 September 2009 a deal was announced keeping it on the calendar until 2018, with the circuit management and FOA sharing the financial burden. The alternating pattern continued, with Hockenheim hosting in even years and the Nürburgring in odd years until 2013.

The Nürburgring changed ownership in 2014, and the new owners were unable to sign an agreement to continue hosting in odd-numbered years. The Hockenheimring could not host the 2015 or 2017 events either, so the race became a biennial event, returning in 2016 and 2018 at Hockenheim. The deal with Hockenheim concluded after the 2018 event, putting the future of the event in doubt, but a deal reached in August 2018 held one more event at Hockenheim in 2019. No new deal was made following the 2019 edition, and the German Grand Prix was not on the Formula One calendar in 2020 or subsequent years. Due to multiple Grands Prix being cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Eifel Grand Prix was held in Germany at the Nürburgring in October 2020 as a replacement event.

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