Seven current drivers have previous F1 experience at the Nurburgring, Hamilton and Vettel have previously taken victory at the circuit and Raikkonen has never won in nine appearances. Here’s everything you need to know about each driver’s history at the Nurburgring!
?? Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton has made four appearances in Formula 1 at the Nurburgring. From those four appearances, he has taken one win – in 2011. Hamilton failed to score in both 2007 and 2009, though he did finish in the top ten on his maiden outing at the circuit in 2007. Hamilton started from the front row at the two most recent F1 races at the Nurburgring, taking pole position at the 2013 German Grand Prix. The British driver has never failed to reach Q3 at this circuit, though he crashed out in the final qualifying session and started only tenth in 2007. That is the only time in four appearances that Hamilton has failed to out-qualify his team-mate. Hamilton’s win in 2011 is the only time that he has gained a position from where he started at this track.
Prior to his Formula 1 career, Hamilton appeared at the Nurburgring in the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2004 and 2005, and in GP2 in 2006. Most notably, he won both the Feature Race and the Sprint Race in GP2.
?? Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas has one previous F1 appearance at the Nurburgring, having finished sixteenth at the 2013 German Grand Prix. In his maiden F1 season with Williams, the Finn out-qualified his team-mate and started seventeenth. Bottas has also competed here in Formula 3 Euro Series and in GP3. On his way to the GP3 title in 2011, Bottas took two podium finishes at the Nurburgring, with a third place finish in the Feature Race and a win in the Sprint Race.
?? Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel is Formula 1’s most recent winner at the Nurburgring. Vettel took his only home victory at the circuit with Red Bull in 2013, his latest championship winning year. On all three appearances at the circuit, Vettel has finished in the top four – he finished second to team-mate Mark Webber in 2009, finished fourth in 2011 and won in 2013. Vettel has also qualified in the top four on all three appearances, with a best starting position of second in 2013. 2013 is the only year in which Vettel out-qualified Webber at this circuit. Vettel has also raced here in the Formula 3 Euro Series in 2005 and 2006 and in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2007. Vettel won both races in the Formula 3 Series meeting at the circuit in 2006, and took his final victory in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series here before joining Formula 1.
?? Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc has no past F1 experience at the Nurburgring. He last raced at the track in the 2015 FIA Formula 3 European Championship. He finished in the top five in all three races over the weekend, with a best result of fourth in the first race.
?? Max Verstappen
This will be Max Verstappen’s first Formula 1 outing at the Nurburgring. Verstappen last raced at the circuit in the 2014 FIA Formula 3 European Championship. Of the three races that weekend, he finished on the podium twice, one of those times being a win in the opening race.
?? Alex Albon
Alex Albon has not raced at the Nurburgring in Formula 1 before, but does have past experience at the circuit. In three years in the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 – 2012, 2013 and 2014 – Albon took two pole positions, one of those coming at the Nurburgring in 2014. Albon last raced here in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, where he failed to score in any of the three races that weekend.
?? Carlos Sainz
This will be Carlos Sainz’s first Formula 1 appearance at the Nurburgring. He has previously raced here in the Formula 3 Euro Series, GP3 and the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. In the latter series, he won the first race of the weekend in 2014.
?? Lando Norris
Lando Norris is the most recent Nurburgring race winner on the 2020 Formula 1 grid. He raced at the Nurburgring in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in 2017, where he won two races over the weekend, and recorded a further podium finish.
?? Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo has made two Formula 1 outings at the Nurburgring. His first was with HRT in 2011, and his most recent in 2013 with Toro Rosso. Ricciardo finished outside of the points on both occasions, with nineteenth in 2011 and twelfth in 2013. While the Australian qualified last in 2011, he reached Q3 in 2013 and qualified in sixth. Prior to Formula 1, Ricciardo made his Formula 3 debut at the circuit in 2008, qualifying in eighth and finishing an impressive sixth. He also raced here in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2011, recording two top five results.
?? Esteban Ocon
Esteban Ocon’s most recent races at the Nurburgring were in 2014, in the FIA European Formula 3 Championship. That weekend, he finished two of the three races, with a best result of third.
?? Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez has raced at the Nurburgring twice in Formula 1. He has raced here with Sauber in 2011 and with McLaren in 2013. His most recent appearance in 2013 is the only time that he has scored at the circuit, finishing in eighth place. Perez has been eliminated in Q2 on both appearances at the circuit, with a best qualifying result of thirteenth in 2013. The Mexican has made up places on both outings at the circuit, gaining four positions in 2011 and five in 2013. Prior to his Formula 1 career, Perez raced at the circuit in GP2 in 2009. He finished eighth in the Feature Race and twentieth in the Sprint Race.
?? Lance Stroll
Lance Stroll last raced at the Nurburgring in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in 2016. He won two of the three races held that weekend on his way to being crowned the 2016 champion.
?? Daniil Kvyat
Daniil Kvyat has not raced at the Nurburgring in F1 before, but he has previous experience at the circuit. He has won at the circuit previously, in the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2011. He also raced here in 2013 in both the FIA Formula 3 European Championship and GP3.
?? Pierre Gasly
Pierre Gasly has previous experience at the Nurburgring. He took podium finishes here in Formula Renault machinery in 2012, where he raced in the Formula Renault Eurocup and the Formula Renault 2.0 Northern European Cup. Gasly also raced here in Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2014, with a best result of eighth place in the second of the two races.
?? Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen has competed in over double the number of F1 races at the Nurburgring of any other driver on the 2020 grid. From his nine previous appearances, Raikkonen has never won – though he came close in 2005. He led 48 laps of the race, but retired with suspension failure caused by a worse for wear tyre on the final lap. Raikkonen has not had the best luck at the Nurburgring, retiring on five of his nine appearances. He has finished on the podium twice, with third place for McLaren in 2002 and second in 2013 for Lotus. Fourth place in 2006 is his only other points finish at the track. Raikkonen has never failed to qualify in the top ten at the circuit, and has started from pole twice – in 2003 and 2007. He also started from the front row in 2005. 2002 and 2009 are the only times that the Finn has failed to out-qualify his team-mate here.
?? Antonio Giovinazzi
Antonio Giovinazzi raced here in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship when he competed in the series in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In his nine F3 races here, Giovinazzi took one win, in 2014, and a further two podium finishes in 2014 and 2015.
?? Romain Grosjean
Romain Grosjean’s only Formula 1 appearance at the Nurburgring resulted in a podium finish. After qualifying in fifth place, one spot behind Lotus team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, the Frenchman finished the race in third place. Grosjean led five laps on his way to finishing third. With Raikkonen also finishing on the podium, this was the penultimate time that the Lotus pairing would finish on the podium together. Before F1, Grosjean competed here in Formula 3 Euro Series and in GP2. His best result at the circuit from his junior career was a win in the 2011 GP2 Sprint Race.
?? Kevin Magnussen
Kevin Magnussen last raced at the Nurburgring in 2012, in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series. In the two races that weekend, he finished fifth and eighth.
?? George Russell
George Russell raced at the Nurburgring in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in both 2015 and 2016. From the six F3 races he competed in here, his best result was third place in the first race of the 2016 meeting.
?? Nicholas Latifi
Nicholas Latifi last competed at the Nurburgring in the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2015, where he retired from all three races of the weekend. He previously appeared at the track in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in 2013 and 2014, scoring a best result of tenth.
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