# German Grand Prix
The German Grand Prix (Großer Preis von Deutschland) is a motor race for Formula 1 cars that has been held at three German venues, the [Nürburgring](https://www.edgepedia.org/nurburgring), the [Hockenheimring](https://www.edgepedia.org/hockenheimring), and, once, the AVUS circuit in Berlin, and which has not been run since 2019.[1](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/f1-german-grand-prix-in-numbers.3jowm7F5RxoFmkTfprm9CW) • [2](https://f1.fandom.com/wiki/German_Grand_Prix)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| First event | 1926, a Formula Libre sports car race at the AVUS circuit in southwestern Berlin[2](https://f1.fandom.com/wiki/German_Grand_Prix) |
| Venues | Three in total: Hockenheim (34 times before 2016), the Nürburgring (26), and AVUS (1)[1](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/f1-german-grand-prix-in-numbers.3jowm7F5RxoFmkTfprm9CW) |
| First F1 World Championship round | 29 July 1951 at the Nürburgring, won by Alberto Ascari on Ferrari[3](https://nuerburgring.de/history/) |
| Most successful team | Ferrari, with 21 German Grand Prix victories[4](https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/2019_german_gp_preview_0.pdf) |
| Last running | 2019 at Hockenheim, won by Max Verstappen in a rain-affected race with 78 pit stops[5](https://speedcafe.com/f1-news-2026-german-grand-prix-return-hockenheim-talks-discussions-update-negotiations-calendar/) • [6](https://www.racefans.net/2019/07/30/german-gp-thriller-was-like-donington-1993-horner/) |
| Last F1 race in Germany | 2020 Eifel Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, won by Lewis Hamilton[5](https://speedcafe.com/f1-news-2026-german-grand-prix-return-hockenheim-talks-discussions-update-negotiations-calendar/) |
## Origins and the Nürburgring era
**The Nürburgring becomes the home race.** The circuit in the Eifel mountains opened in 1927 with a 28.265 km track built at a cost of 14 million [Reichsmark](https://www.edgepedia.org/reichsmark) by up to 2,500 workers; the car race of 19 June 1927, won by [Rudolf Caracciola](https://www.edgepedia.org/rudolf-caracciola), marked the birth of the venue.[7](https://www.nuerburgring.de/history?locale=en) Germany's first race for grand prix cars was also won by Caracciola for Mercedes at the Nürburgring, in 1931.[8](https://porschecarshistory.com/wp-content/old/biblio6/01/2004%20FIA%20Formula%20One%20World%20Championship%20%28ITV%29.pdf)
The Nürburgring hosted the first German Grand Prix counted as a round of the Formula 1 World Championship on 29 July 1951, won by [Alberto Ascari](https://www.edgepedia.org/alberto-ascari) on Ferrari.[3](https://nuerburgring.de/history/) The 1957 race entered the track's history as one of its greatest: [Juan Manuel Fangio](https://www.edgepedia.org/juan-manuel-fangio), at one point apparently hopelessly behind, overtook the leading Ferraris of Peter Collins and [Mike Hawthorn](https://www.edgepedia.org/mike-hawthorn) to take his third and final Nürburgring victory and his fifth world title.[7](https://www.nuerburgring.de/history?locale=en) In 1961 more than 100,000 spectators watched Wolfgang Graf Berghe von Trips lose to Stirling Moss.[3](https://nuerburgring.de/history/)
## Move to Hockenheim
**1970 and the switch.** The Hockenheimring, built from a plan by the local timekeeper Ernst Christ with construction starting on 23 March 1932, had taken its famous oval form in 1938 through the inclusion of the Ostkurve.[9](https://www.hockenheimring.de/en/info/hockenheimring/history/) The first Formula 1 race there was held on 2 August 1970, with more than 100,000 spectators watching [Jochen Rindt](https://www.edgepedia.org/jochen-rindt) win in a Lotus-Ford; that 1970 race also set the circuit's record of 13 lead changes in a single event.[9](https://www.hockenheimring.de/en/info/hockenheimring/history/) • [1](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/f1-german-grand-prix-in-numbers.3jowm7F5RxoFmkTfprm9CW) Formula 1 returned to the Nürburgring in 1971, but [Niki Lauda](https://www.edgepedia.org/niki-lauda)'s serious crash on the Nordschleife at the 1 August 1976 race, in the section between Ex-Mühle and Bergwerk, ended that track's hosting of the event, and Hockenheim became the new home of the German Grand Prix from 1977.[9](https://www.hockenheimring.de/en/info/hockenheimring/history/) • [10](https://www.grandprix.com/circuits/hockenheim.html) • [7](https://www.nuerburgring.de/history?locale=en) There was one interruption, in 1985 for the opening of the new Nürburgring.[9](https://www.hockenheimring.de/en/info/hockenheimring/history/)
**The 2002 rebuild.** Because the old circuit was too long at 6.8 km and ran through dense woods inaccessible to spectators, plans were made in 1999 for a shorter circuit with more overtaking; work began on 4 February 2002 and cost about 62 million euros. The new track was two kilometers shorter, and grandstand capacity rose from 83,000 to 120,000.[9](https://www.hockenheimring.de/en/info/hockenheimring/history/) The revised shape removed the flat-out forest blasts and overtaking places of the old layout.[8](https://porschecarshistory.com/wp-content/old/biblio6/01/2004%20FIA%20Formula%20One%20World%20Championship%20%28ITV%29.pdf)
## Alternation and decline
**Sharing the race.** The Nürburgring's races in this period ran under other names, the European or Luxembourg Grands Prix, while Hockenheim kept the German title.[11](https://www.racefans.net/2019/08/20/why-is-germany-losing-its-world-championship-round/) Financial pressure on the promoters was a recurring theme; by the mid-2010s the race was reported as possibly not taking place in a given year because of the promoter's financial issues and declining interest in the sport in Germany.[12](https://im.ft-static.com/content/images/648a9734-c7a6-11e4-8e1f-00144feab7de.pdf)
**The last races.** The most recent German Grand Prix was the rain-affected 2019 race at Hockenheim, won by [Max Verstappen](https://www.edgepedia.org/max-verstappen); [Red Bull](https://www.edgepedia.org/red-bull) team principal [Christian Horner](https://www.edgepedia.org/christian-horner) compared the race, which saw 78 pit stops in unpredictable conditions, with F1's celebrated 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park.[5](https://speedcafe.com/f1-news-2026-german-grand-prix-return-hockenheim-talks-discussions-update-negotiations-calendar/) • [6](https://www.racefans.net/2019/07/30/german-gp-thriller-was-like-donington-1993-horner/) Germany staged one further Formula 1 round, the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, which stepped in during the COVID-affected season and was won by Lewis Hamilton.[5](https://speedcafe.com/f1-news-2026-german-grand-prix-return-hockenheim-talks-discussions-update-negotiations-calendar/)
## Records and context
Ferrari are the most successful team at the German Grand Prix with 21 victories, and the team scored points at every Hockenheim race from 1987 through 2016, a run of 23 races.[4](https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/2019_german_gp_preview_0.pdf) • [1](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/f1-german-grand-prix-in-numbers.3jowm7F5RxoFmkTfprm9CW) Over the course of Formula 1 history, 164 Grand Prix victories have gone to German competitors, supplied by just seven men: [Michael Schumacher](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-schumacher) with 91, [Sebastian Vettel](https://www.edgepedia.org/sebastian-vettel) with 42, [Nico Rosberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/nico-rosberg) with 19, Ralf Schumacher with 6, Heinz-Harald Frentzen with 3, Wolfgang von Trips with 2, and Jochen Mass with 1; among nations, only Great Britain has a higher total, at 251.[1](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/f1-german-grand-prix-in-numbers.3jowm7F5RxoFmkTfprm9CW) The 2019 race was the 33rd time the German Grand Prix had been held at Hockenheim.[13](https://www.fia.com/news/f1-german-gp-preview)
**A possible return.** Driver Nico Hülkenberg, speaking at the presentation of Audi's 2026 Formula 1 campaign in Berlin, said talks about a German race are ongoing but that commercial realities will ultimately decide the issue.[14](https://www.grandprix.com/news/hulkenberg-cautious-over-german-gp-return.html) German public reporting on the question notes the contractual restrictions on circuit operators during a Grand Prix weekend, including limits on their own advertising and on renting out parts of the track, as part of why Formula 1 is not returning to Germany for the time being.[15](https://www.sportschau.de/regional/swr/swr-deshalb-kehrt-die-formel-1-vorerst-nicht-zurueck-nach-deutschland-102.html)
## References
1. [In numbers – the German Grand Prix, Formula 1](https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/f1-german-grand-prix-in-numbers.3jowm7F5RxoFmkTfprm9CW)
2. [German Grand Prix, Formula 1 Wiki (Fandom)](https://f1.fandom.com/wiki/German_Grand_Prix)
3. [Historie, Nürburgring](https://nuerburgring.de/history/)
4. [Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Grosser Preis von Deutschland 2019 preview, FIA](https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/2019_german_gp_preview_0.pdf)
5. [F1 news: F1 confirms talks over German GP return, Speedcafe](https://speedcafe.com/f1-news-2026-german-grand-prix-return-hockenheim-talks-discussions-update-negotiations-calendar/)
6. [German GP "thriller" was like Donington 1993 – Horner, RaceFans](https://www.racefans.net/2019/07/30/german-gp-thriller-was-like-donington-1993-horner/)
7. [The History, Nürburgring](https://www.nuerburgring.de/history?locale=en)
8. [Hockenheim – Baden-Württemberg, wegcircuits.nl / 2004 FIA Formula One World Championship (ITV)](https://porschecarshistory.com/wp-content/old/biblio6/01/2004%20FIA%20Formula%20One%20World%20Championship%20%28ITV%29.pdf)
9. [History, Hockenheimring](https://www.hockenheimring.de/en/info/hockenheimring/history/)
10. [Hockenheim circuit history, Grandprix.com](https://www.grandprix.com/circuits/hockenheim.html)
11. [Why is Germany losing its world championship round?, RaceFans](https://www.racefans.net/2019/08/20/why-is-germany-losing-its-world-championship-round/)
12. [FT Special Report on the German Grand Prix, Financial Times](https://im.ft-static.com/content/images/648a9734-c7a6-11e4-8e1f-00144feab7de.pdf)
13. [F1 – German GP Preview, FIA](https://www.fia.com/news/f1-german-gp-preview)
14. [Hulkenberg cautious over German GP return, Grandprix.com](https://www.grandprix.com/news/hulkenberg-cautious-over-german-gp-return.html)
15. [Deshalb kehrt die Formel 1 vorerst nicht zurück nach Deutschland, sportschau.de](https://www.sportschau.de/regional/swr/swr-deshalb-kehrt-die-formel-1-vorerst-nicht-zurueck-nach-deutschland-102.html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Individual sports and outdoor recreation › Cycling and motor sport › Formula One and Grand Prix motor racing › Formula One Grands Prix by nation and event › German Grand Prix*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license