Circuit of the past · Nürburg

Nürburgring

Grand Prix years: 1951–2020
Grands Prix held: 41
Lap length: 5.148 km
Corners: 15
Type: Race circuit
Elevation change: 54 m

About the circuit

The North Loop

The Nürburgring was built in the Eifel mountains and opened in 1927. Its North Loop, the Nordschleife, is more than twenty-two kilometres long, with about a hundred and sixty corners through wooded hills; Jackie Stewart nicknamed it the “Green Hell”. Here in 1957, after a botched pit stop, Juan Manuel Fangio clawed back about fifty seconds on two Ferraris, won and became champion for the fifth time. In 1976 Niki Lauda crashed here and nearly burned to death — that Grand Prix was Formula 1’s last on the Nordschleife.

The new circuit

In 1984 a new, shorter circuit opened alongside, and Formula 1 returned. It hosted the German, European and Luxembourg Grands Prix, and in 2020 the Eifel Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton took his ninety-first win to equal Michael Schumacher’s total. Schumacher himself won at the Nürburgring five times — more than anyone else.

Championship races: 41 — from 1951 to 2020
First race: German Grand Prix, 29 July 1951 — Alberto Ascari
Grands Prix: German, European, Luxembourg, Eifel
Nordschleife: 22.835 km, 160 corners — until 1976
New circuit: since 1984; since 2002 — 5.148 km, 15 corners
Last race: Eifel Grand Prix, 11 October 2020 — Lewis Hamilton