German Grand Prix: 30 July
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Loaction: Hockenheimring, Hockenheim
Raceday: Sunday, 30 July 2006
Time: 2000 (+6 GMT)
2005 winner: F Alonso
Number of laps: 67
Circuit length: 4.574 Km
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The Hockenheim circuit was built in 1939 as a high-speed test track for Mercedes-Benz who needed a venue to test for the Tripoli Grand Prix. The original track was almost 8 kilometres long and was formed of two long curved straights with a long corner at either end.
When war broke out the construction was halted and in the post-war Germany the Nurburgring became the venue for Formula One, with Hockenheim hosting a few smaller events. When a plan to build an Autobahn through the circuit was approved, the government supplied Hockenheim with a large sum by way of compensation. This money was used to build a new circuit, the now famous Hockenheim circuit which cut through the forest before looping into the wonderful stadium section around which large grandstands were erected.
In 1968 Hockenheim hit the headlines when Jim Clark was killed there in an F2 race. Nevertheless, Formula One came to the track in 1970 as the Nurburgring was quickly becoming outdated. Once the Nurburgring had been updated however the sport returned there, leaving Hockenheim with national and F2 events.
In 1976, Niki Lauda suffered horrific burns at the Nurburgring and from that point on Hockenheim became the home of the German Grand Prix. In 1980 Patrick Depailler was killed in testing at the track, and a chicane was put in to break up the fast Ostkurve. Didier Pironi suffered terrible injuries to his legs in an accident in 1982, though Patrick Tambay brought the Ferrari team some consolation with a win that weekend.
Since the debut of Michael Schumacher, the German Grand prix at Hockenheim has become one of the most atmospheric races of the season, the noise in the stadium section being quite deafening at times. In 2002 the long runs through the forest were done away with and the layout of the track was heavily modified. Despite arguments that the track had lost some of its character, the first race at the new track, in 2002, was deemed a great success.
Hockenheim is a small town in South-central Germany, some 90km away from the international Frankfurt Am Main Airport. The A5 road link is the most convenient to use when coming from Frankfurt.
Stuttgart Echterdingen Airport lies 110km away to the north-west, while the Konrad Adenauer Airport at Koln/Bonn and Dusseldorf Rhein Ruhr Airport are a little more remote, but linked by the A61 route. -
1. RAIKKONEN McLaren
2. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari
3. MASSA Ferrari
4. BUTTON Honda
5. FISICHELLA Renault
6. BARRICHELLO Honda
7. ALONSO Renault
8. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota
9. DE LA ROSA McLaren
10. COULTHARD Red Bull
11. WEBBER Williams
12. KLIEN Red Bull
13. TRULLI Toyota
14. VILLENEUVE BMW
15. ROSBERG Williams
16. HEIDFELD BMW
17. LIUZZI Toro Rosso
18. ALBERS Midland
19. SATO Super Aguri
20. MONTEIRO Midland
21. YAMAMOTO Super Aguri
22. SPEED Toro Rosso -
Kimi Raikkonen put his surprise pole position for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim down to the improving McLaren-Mercedes MP4-21, after stealing Michael SchumacherÂ’s thunder in the top-ten shoot-out.
The 26-year-old Finn scored his first pole of the season with an unbeatable 1m14.070s lap having not looked a realistic threat to Ferrari until the final session of qualifying.
But Raikkonen claims that advances made by McLaren during the recent test at Jerez have transformed his car and is now hoping to replicate his quali form in the race.
"It was great to get pole today as the car has been working really well all weekend,” he said.
“We had some new developments at the test last week and it is clear that they have moved us in the right direction.
“Obviously today is only half the story, but I like this track, and we will have to see what happens in the race tomorrow.”
Kimi set pole on the first of his two hot laps, which turned out to be a good thing since his second ended up in the gravel as he stormed into the stadium section.
“I was a little bit slower than my fastest lap at that point so I didn’t have anything to lose, and I went a little too fast – actually quite a bit too fast,” he added.
Mercedes motorsport chief Norbert Haug last week publicly urged McLaren to take a more aggressive approach to qualifying and start the race with less fuel.
Having watched his engine take pole in front of the home crowd, he admitted that the team had followed his advice.
“Pole position at Mercedes-Benz's home grand prix is a nice reward for all the efforts of the team to further improve our technical package during the last few weeks,” said Haug.
“Our speed was good, and mostly the best in the Michelin camp, throughout all the sessions, and we chose an aggressive strategy.”
Team principal Ron Dennis agreed that the best strategy for Raikkonen was to lead from the front.
"Pole is a very good position to avoid any first lap incidents and allows Kimi the ability to race in clean air,” he said.
RaikkonenÂ’s team-mate Pedro de la Rosa was unable to produce similar form after he was collected by ToyotaÂ’s Ralf Schumacher at the hairpin.
“I'm sure Pedro would have done better if it hadn't been for his collision with Ralf Schumacher,” added Dennis.
“As you would expect the team is looking forward to a competitive race." -
think renault wud only come back if mass damper are allowed this season...
McLaren was just close to fight for first....
1. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1h27m51.693s
2. MASSA Ferrari +0.7s
3. RAIKKONEN McLaren +13.2s
4. BUTTON Honda +18.8s
5. ALONSO Renault +23.7s
6. FISICHELLA Renault +24.8s
7. TRULLI Toyota +26.5s
8. KLIEN Red Bull +48.1s
9. R.SCHUMACHER Toyota +60.3s
10. LIUZZI Toro Rosso +1 lap
11. COULTHARD Red Bull +1 lap
12. SPEED Toro Rosso +1 lap
13. ALBERS Midland +1 lap
14. MONTEIRO Midland +2 laps
R. WEBBER Williams +8 laps
R. SATO Super Aguri +29 laps
R. VILLENEUVE BMW +37 laps
R. BARRICHELLO Honda +49 laps
R. HEIDFELD BMW +58 laps
R. DE LA ROSA McLaren +65 laps
R. YAMAMOTO Super Aguri +66 laps
R. ROSBERG Williams +67 laps -
Midland cars were disqualified for using flexible rear wings.
