Shell and Ferrari move back to Europe

The Nurburgring is a track steeped in history. In racing circles, it is Mecca. In the 1920’s the Franco-Italian marque of Bugatti made the long circuit its own, until the rise of the great German teams such as Auto Union and Mercedes rose to the challenge in the 1930’s to dominate. Yet as thrilling as the 14.2 mile track was, it was dangerous.

The North Loop (Nordschleife) included jumps, bomb holes and fast sweeping downhill turns and over 73 bends. It is on this track that drivers such as Tazio Nouvolari, Juan Manuel Fangio and Jackie Stewart earned their legendary status. However, as the accidents grew, concerns over safety grew too. Following Niki Lauda’s near fatal, fiery crash in 1976, the track lost its racing licence, and F1 never returned to the “big ring”.

But racing is passion in this part of the world and in 1995, Formula One returned to the mountains. Based on the much shorter Southern Loop of the old track, the new Nurburgring is where Formula One will race this week. Based only 50 miles from Michael Schumacher’s home town of Kerpen, the European Grand Prix meeting is something of a home-coming for the World Champion.

Michael Schumacher speaking after he won here last year, was very buoyant and delighted to have won for the fourth time at his home race "It is always special to win at your home race. On the slowing down lap after I had won the race, I slowed right down so I could sense the joy of the fans. It is the one time when I can feel close to the fans who have stood or sat all weekend with their fingers crossed hoping I will win. It is a chance to celebrate victory with them.”

Turn One has been changed this year and that may change the start somewhat, but in the dry, drivers find overtaking tricky. The sequence of flowing third and fourth gear corners put the emphasis on driver error rather than driver skill. That’s to say that the best opportunity for overtaking lies in the car in front making a mistake rather than “out-driving” an opponent.

However, the weather is a fickle factor in Germany and in the wet, the track has provided some masterful driving displays, but the key to winning here is often a good reading of the weather. In this part of Germany, the rain can arrive suddenly as at nearby Spa, and so teams have to be flexible enough to cope with unforeseen strategy changes.

Shell’s Trackside Manager, Tobias Tasche said: "The Nurburgring benefits from a really modern design, flat and smooth with a mix of corners. We're nearly halfway through the season now, and some of the teams who were struggling at the start of the season are catching up. If it's wet here, it can have a huge impact on fuel consumption, and we work with the team to make sure that Rubens (Barrichello) and Michael (Schumacher) can pit at the opportune moment."