Nürburgring Nordschleife
The 'Green Hell' — 22.8 km of forest-lined corners through the Eifel mountains, the most demanding circuit ever to host a Formula 1 race.
Circuit at a glance
- Years active
- 1951–1976
- F1 races
- 22
- Length
- 22.835 km
- Turns
- 154
History and character
Built in 1927 to revive Germany's post-war economy and showcase its engineering, the Nordschleife hosted the German Grand Prix almost every year from 1951. Drivers needed two full minutes longer for a lap here than on any other championship circuit, and qualifying alone was treated as a survival exercise. Track marshals were spread thin across 22 kilometres of trees, dropoffs and blind crests, and the surface changed character every few hundred metres as the road climbed and fell more than 300 m through the Eifel.
Why it left the calendar
Niki Lauda's fiery crash at Bergwerk on lap two of the 1976 German Grand Prix ended Formula 1's relationship with the old Nordschleife overnight. The drivers had already voted to boycott the venue on safety grounds, and the championship moved permanently to the shorter modern GP-Strecke loop built next door in 1984. The Nordschleife survives today as a tourist toll road and the home of the 24 Hours of Nürburgring.
Iconic moment
Lauda's 1976 crash and his miraculous six-week return to racing at Monza — the moment that ended F1 at the Nordschleife and reshaped driver safety forever.
Notable Grand Prix winners
- Juan Manuel Fangio
- Jackie Stewart
- Niki Lauda
- Jim Clark