Seven great grands prix on the 'new' Nürburgring

Prost puts pressure on Lauda – 1984

The new circuit was christened in May 1984 with a memorable star-studded one-make race in Mercedes 190Es, in which a young upstart called Ayrton Senna beat all the heroes, including McLaren title protagonists Alain Prost and Niki Lauda. But come October and the European Grand Prix, the first F1 race at the Nürburgring since Lauda’s fiery accident on the Nordschleife in 1976, Prost would dominate. Nelson Piquet’s Brabham-BMW took pole position, but despite a crash in the warm-up Prost’s McLaren-TAG was unstoppable in the race. Lauda was fourth, meaning Prost was now just 3.5 points behind with one race to go in Portugal – where Alain would win again, only for a canny Niki to claim the second place he needed to become champion for a third time. On the Estoril podium, Lauda consoled his friend: his time would come.

Schumacher’s masterclass – 1995

After hosting the German GP in 1985, the Nürburgring would have to wait 10 years for its next F1 race. But it proved worth the wait. Michael Schumacher was head and shoulders above anyone in his Benetton-Renault that year as he headed for his second consecutive championship, and the Nürburgring victory was perhaps the signature of nine he took for the season. In front of his home fans and in changeable October conditions (there’s that theme), Schumacher lagged behind the one-stopping Ferrari of Jean Alesi – not that it mattered. After his third pitstop, Michael had 22 seconds to find in just 15 laps  – and yet didn’t need them all. On lap 65 of 67, he rushed up on Alesi to pull off a ruthless ‘do-or-die’ pass at the chicane. The Frenchman, fiery by reputation as he was, could only acquiesce to the shining brilliance of this unstoppable force.

Häkkinen’s vital victory – 1998

Its autumnal place on the calendar in this era meant grands prix at the Nürburgring often held great significance for the outcome of world championships, none more so than in 1998. At what was the penultimate round and for the second year running labelled the Luxembourg GP, McLaren’s Mika Häkkinen and Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher arrived dead level on points, the German having won last time out at Monza. The Finn hadn’t won since Hockenheim in July – and the Ferraris locked out the front row. But Häkkinen put in one of his greatest performances, passing Eddie Irvine early on, then pushing out qualifying-style laps to defeat Schumacher on pitstop strategy. That afternoon, the momentum swung decisively back towards him. Mika would then win at Suzuka as Schumacher stalled on the line to claim the first of his back-to-back titles.

Herbert delivers for Jackie Stewart – 1999

A year later, the European GP (as it was once more) would serve up one of the most memorable races of the decade. From 14^th on the grid, Johnny Herbert had little hope of taking much from the Nürburgring. But on a crazy, topsy-turvy afternoon inspired once again by fickle weather, Herbert timed a stop for wet-weather tyres to perfection to vault into the lead. His victory meant Jackie Stewart joined Jack Brabham as the only world champion driver to also win as a constructor. The following year, Stewart Grand Prix morphed into ill-fated Jaguar as Jackie sold out to Ford – his mission accomplished.

Räikkönen’s title challenge collapses – 2005

The 2005 season was an anomaly for F1, as tyre stops were banned in an experiment to enliven races that had become staid in the sprint-stop-sprint era. Legitimate concerns on safety, highlighted only too clearly here at the Nürburgring, contributed to the return of tyre stops in 2006 – but running on one set for the duration that season certainly added some spice to the action. Now running in May, Kimi Räikkonen was on a hat-trick at the European GP after wins in Spain and Monaco kickstarted his chase of Fernando Alonso for the title. But he’d flat-spotted a tyre and faced an increasing vibration as the laps ticked by. Then as he started his last one still in the lead, the McLaren’s front suspension dramatically cried enough and alarmingly collapsed – as did Räikkönen’s title challenge. Alonso’s Renault picked up the win and although Kimi would come back at him over the course of the season, the heat had been taken out of his title challenge.

Winkelhock leads – in a Spyker! – 2007

The European GP was held in July this time, but still the weather wreaked havoc – in fact, more than ever before. The sight of Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren being craned back on the track after sliding off in a monumental downpour was strange enough – but that of F1 debutant Markus Winkelhock, son of late 1980s hero Manfred, leading for six glorious laps in an orange Spyker befuddled everyone, including Murray Walker who was making a one-off return to commentary for Radio 5 Live. Eventually, normal service was resumed as Alonso won for McLaren, but for the team formerly known as Jordan it was a brief, morale-boosting cameo during a season spent mostly in the doldrums. As for Winkelhock, he’d never start another grand prix. But he’d always have those six laps at the Nürburgring.

Vettel finally wins at home – 2013

By this time alternating year by year with Hockenheim as host of the German GP, the Nürburgring’s last F1 race before this coming weekend marked a significant moment in the career of Sebastian Vettel. Already a three-time world champion and well on his way to a fourth, he’d yet to win a home grand prix despite all his successes with Red Bull. But at the ’Ring he beat pole position starter Hamilton from the lights and drove a perfect race to beat Kimi Räikkönen’s Lotus by just one second after a mesmerising tactical battle. The friends will be back on the grid this coming Sunday, but a repeat performance is probably unlikely.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.