Hockenheimring

The Hockenheimring is a racing circuit in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg. It was built in 1932 as the Dreieckskurs, an idea of Ernst Christ, a young timekeeper from Hockenheim. In 1938 the track was cut from about twelve kilometres to a little over seven and a half and renamed the Kurpfalzring. After the Second World War it took the name Hockenheimring.

In 1965 the new A 6 motorway separated the town from the main part of the site, and a new layout was built around the Motodrom, a stadium section designed by John Hugenholtz. After Jim Clark died in a Formula 2 race in 1968, two fast chicanes were added in 1970. Another followed at the Ostkurve in 1982, and that corner was rebuilt again in 1992. The circuit consisted of four forest straights of roughly 1.3 kilometres, broken up by chicanes, plus the tight Motodrom, which made car set-up difficult.

Hermann Tilke redesigned the track for the 2002 Grand Prix. The forest straights were removed, the lap shrank from 6.823 to 4.574 kilometres, and a new straight, the Parabolika, links the remaining sections. The Motodrom was largely kept. The circuit runs clockwise, has 17 corners and seats 120,000 spectators.

Hockenheim first staged the German Grand Prix in 1970, after the drivers had decided to boycott the Nürburgring unless major changes were made there. The race went back to the Nürburgring in 1971. From 1977 to 2006 it was held at Hockenheim, apart from 1985, when it moved to the Nürburgring. After that, Hockenheim hosted it in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2019. The 2019 race was the last Formula One race held there.