Experience stands the test of time for some

Gary Meenaghan reports from Hockenheim, a unique venue that continues to divide opinions among drivers.

Sebastian Vettel passes the main stand at the Hockenheimring during practice yesterday for tomorrow’s race.

The possibility of Formula One cars racing inside a stadium stumbled slowly forward earlier this week when London's Olympic Park confirmed an official bid has been made to take over the arena after this summer's Games with the intention of then hosting a London Grand Prix.

The expected failure of the bid – it is one of four tenders and by far the most controversial and unlikely – means the closest the sport comes to racing in an amphitheatre will for now remain the Motodrom stadium section of Germany's Hockenheimring. The 120,000-capacity grandstands provide spectators panoramic views of much of the track and are renowned for producing an atmosphere unrivalled anywhere else on the 20-race calendar.

Yet, for good or bad, it was not always like this. Built in 1932, the famous circuit was initially a 6.7km flat-out track that ran through dense forest and was used primarily for road-car testing. A slower section was constructed after the Second World War and then, following the death of Britain's double F1 world champion Jim Clark in a 1968 Formula 2 race, chicanes were added also.

In 1970, 38 years after it opened its doors, the Hockenheimring hosted the German Grand Prix and earned itself a reputation for generating an enviable, electric atmosphere. When Michael Schumacher, the seven-time world champion, was racing at his peak for Ferrari, the grandstands at times appeared a sea of horn-blowing tifosi.

By 2001, F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone was pushing for changes and they were implemented in time for the following year's race. Hermann Tilke, the German architect behind the design of Yas Marina Circuit, created a shorter lap that removed much of the forest and included more grandstands, which increased the capacity by 37,000. It is this final 4.5km incarnation that drivers will tomorrow navigate for 67 laps.

Mark Webber, the Red Bull Racing driver who won a fortnight ago at Silverstone, wrote on his official site earlier in the week that he was not overly excited about racing at the modern Hockenheim, calling it "not that thrilling" and "not even that technical".

"The old Hockenheim was a really cracking circuit; it was a flat-out blast through the forest and every time I brake for Turn 2 on the new track I wish we continued in a straight line, on the route of the old circuit," the 35 year old wrote.

Yet the stadium section of the circuit appears to appease the majority of the F1 field. Webber's younger teammate Sebastian Vettel never raced F1 on the old track and spoke to The National with nothing but admiration for the narrow stadium segment, which sees cars twisting through a hairpin, a chicane and two sharp right turns before jetting off up the start-finish straight. "I think it's one of the best sections we have in the whole calendar, because it's packed full of people," Vettel said.

"In the past, you were somewhere racing in the woods all by yourself and then you came back to the Motodrom where the people were. I think it's still incredible today: to turn right and then all of a sudden drive into a kind of stadium makes it very special for us. Hopefully, we will see a lot of German flags this weekend and have a great atmosphere."

Vettel, who turned 25 earlier this month, attended his first F1 race in 1992 at Hockenheim and sat among the fans in the grandstands a few years later. "It was very hot," he added. "I remember they sold water for 10 Deutsche marks, which was really expensive at the time and later on, when we left, we found out that they had just refilled the water bottles from the tap."

The wet stuff was again at the forefront of Vettel's mind yesterday as he took part in two rain-hit practice sessions, both of which were watched by only a small smattering of devoted - and drenched - spectators. It is hoped the stands will be busier for today's qualifying and tomorrow's showpiece spectacle. Organisers said on Thursday that 56,000 tickets had been sold ahead of race day, while Schumacher, now racing with Mercedes-GP, said the Mercedes-sponsored Motodrom section is sold out.

Such is the potential of the stands that Nico Rosberg, Schumacher's teammate, revealed it was a trip through a packed arena as a boy that convinced him to become an F1 driver.

"I had one of my most memorable experiences in the stadium, because it was my father's last race in DTM [Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters] and I sat on the roof of one of the DTM cars with him to wave goodbye to all the fans," said Rosberg, son of Finnish world champion Keke. "It was absolutely ram-packed and the atmosphere was incredible. That was one of the days when I decided 'Wow, OK, I want to do this'."

Whether a young motorsports enthusiast will ever get the chance to sit in a stadium in the suburbs of London and watch Formula One cars racing remains to be seen. For now, at least, there is Hockenheim.

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