Photo by Landmensch, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo by Landmensch, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Germany has always been a country that breathes motorsport…
Early decades of modern F1, no German star managed to break that strange barrier.
It almost felt like a curse, until one summer afternoon in 1995 when the spell finally shattered and history took a sharp turn in front of the grandstands at Hockenheim.
GERMAN GP: Germans to Win Their Home GP
Michael Schumacher German GP 1995
When Michael Schumacher crossed the line at Hockeneheim in 1995, the explosion of noise from the grandstands said everything.
Germany had waited decades for this!
For Michael Schumacher, the expectation was heavy, almost like a weight sitting on the engine cover of his Benetton, but he carried it with a calm that defined his rise.
However, his victory was not a simple runaway win from pole, he actually started second, behind Damon Hill, and for a brief moment it looked like another hard fight was comming.
But Hill’s williams snapped into the wall on only second lap with a driveshaft failure, leaving the German crown in shock and suddenly giving Schumacher a new kind of pressure: now he had to control a race that was his to lose!
The threat cme from the other Williams, with David Coulthard on a different race-strategy.
Schumacher had to build a huge gap, lap after lap, to cover his second stop, and he did it with that almost mysterious rhythm he had in his prime.
At one point the lead stretched beyond twenty seconds, by the time he rejoined after his final stop, the advantage he had created was enough to silence all doubts.
That day was more than a win, it was the moment Germany finally was its biggest racing star deliver the one victory that mattered most.
He would later achieve a strange and unmatched record; Schumacher is the only driver in hsitory to win two home Grand Prix in the same season, doing it twice, in 1995 and 2004.
Michael Schumacher retired from F1 at the end of 2012 season.
Michael Schumacher’s $10 Million Tsunami Aid
The Ferrari Job Schumacher Rejected—and Why
Ralf Schumacher – German GP 2001
Six years later; in 2001. The Hockenheim crowd witnessed something nobody expected to feel so emotional again, another member of the Schumacher family winning at home.
Ralf Schumacher, driving for Williams-BMW in 2001, delivered a clean race that showed he was far more than just ‘Michael’s younger brother.’
His victory added a second German name to the modern list of home winners, a list that had remained painfully empty for nearly half a century before Michael broke it up!
At the end of 2008, Ralf Schumacher retired from F1.
Sebastian Vettel – German GP 2013
Despite being a four-time world champion and one of the most dominant drivers of his era, Sebastian Vettel had to wait until 2013 to finally stand on the top step in front of his home crowd.
It was his first win in front of his fans, and the last one – German GP.
The win meant more to Vettel than many of his earlier victories, it was the one race that had always slipped away from him, until that warm July afternoon when everything aligned.
Nico Rosberg – German GP 2014
Nico Rosberg’s 2014 season was a rollercoaster, but one of its brightest moment came at Hockenheim.
He took pole, controlled the race pace and never lost the rhythm he needed.
Rosberg story is the same as Vettel, winning just once in front of their fans.
However, two years later in 2016, Nico Rosberg would become World Champion. It was intense battle during that season with Hamilton and Rosberg until the final race of the season, he retired from F1 after winning his first title in F1 at just 31.
