Misplaced Pages

#217782

120-787: The Hockenheimring Baden-Württemberg ( German: [ˈhɔkŋ̍haɪmʁɪŋ ˌbaːdn̩ ˈvʏʁtəmbɛʁk] ) is a motor racing circuit situated in the Rhine valley near the town of Hockenheim in Baden-Württemberg , Germany, located on the Bertha Benz Memorial Route . Amongst other motor racing events, it has hosted the German Grand Prix , most recently in 2019 . The circuit has very little differences in elevation. The circuit has an FIA Grade 1 licence. Originally called "Dreieckskurs" (triangle course),

240-715: A concussion during practice at Watkins Glen . He also retired from the previous round in Montreal a week earlier because of rear suspension failure. At the end of the season, despite having two years remaining on his contract, he left McLaren and signed with Renault . Prost later explained that he left because the car frequently broke down and because he felt the team blamed him for several accidents. According to Watson, Mayer had initially wanted to sign Kevin Cogan but Marlboro insisted on Prost. Prost would not return to McLaren until 1984, after Ron Dennis assumed full control of

360-556: A 1.6 litre Ford engine , Prost sat on pole for the race with a time of 39.18. He then led every lap to win what would be the first of 3 Australian Grand Prix wins. He finished 15.32 seconds clear of Laffite, with 1981 Australian Grand Prix winner, young Brazilian driver Roberto Moreno finishing third. Arnoux left Renault in 1983 and American Eddie Cheever replaced him as Prost's partner, allegedly because of Renault's desire to sell more road cars in North America (three of

480-536: A better idea to organise a test." After winning the European Formula Three title, Prost was courted by Formula One teams McLaren , Brabham , and Ligier . After impressing McLaren team boss Teddy Mayer at a test drive, McLaren signed him for the 1980 season . He was paired with Ulsterman John Watson . Prost's career started promisingly. On his debut in Buenos Aires , he accomplished

600-475: A commanding 20-point lead in the Drivers' Championship. Prost threw salt in the wound by dropping his winner's trophy into the crowd of cheering Ferrari fans, a major taboo at McLaren. Following the tumult of the weekend, Senna opportunistically encouraged McLaren to fire Prost immediately, and Ferrari offered to accommodate the move by switching Prost with Ferrari's Gerhard Berger for the final four weeks of

720-532: A compromise, the 38-year-old Prost agreed to retire after the 1993 season, provided that Williams paid him his agreed-upon salary for the 1994 season. This cleared the way for Senna to join Williams in 1994. Prost finished on the podium in his final race ( Adelaide 1993). Following the race, Senna embraced him, which Prost found surprising, as Senna had declined a handshake at the previous race. McLaren tempted Prost to unretire by offering him Senna's old seat for

840-461: A furniture store. Prost had one older brother called Daniel, who died of cancer in September 1986. Prost was an active and athletic child, who enthusiastically took part in diverse sports, including wrestling , roller skating and football . In doing so he broke his nose several times. He considered careers as a gym instructor or a professional footballer before he discovered kart racing at

960-668: A hat. Matters came to a head at the Italian Grand Prix , where Prost burned his bridges with both McLaren and Honda. In advance of the Italian Grand Prix, he announced that he would drive for Ferrari in 1990. Following his announcement, McLaren provided full support to Senna's title chase. Although Prost was the championship leader and would have been the natural candidate for priority, at Monza McLaren gave Prost one car and four or five mechanics, while Senna received two cars and 20 assistants. In addition, while

1080-567: A puncture and did not need to change his tyres again. He then held the lead ahead of a charging Piquet to the chequered flag and the Championship. Prost became the first driver to retain the title since Jack Brabham in 1960. Another memorable race that year for Prost was at the San Marino Grand Prix . He was cruising to victory when his car began to run out of fuel three corners from the chequered flag. Frantically weaving

1200-664: A purportedly superior chassis, Prost secretly demanded that Ferrari give him Mansell's car for the next race in Britain . Mansell was replaced by Frenchman Jean Alesi . The 1991 season was not as kind to Ferrari, as the Ferrari 642 was not as reliable as the McLaren and Williams cars. Prost never finished a race lower than fifth, but won no races, scored only five podiums, and finished only eight races; similarly, Alesi finished only seven races. Reportedly, Ferrari's famous V12 engine

1320-567: A quarter-mile track for drag racing . It hosts one of the largest drag racing events in Europe, known as the NitrOlympx , and was one of the last Top Fuel circuits to race to 0.25 mi (0.40 km) before the FIA switched the nitro categories to the now-recognised 1,000 ft (300 m) distance in 2012. The Hockenheim Circuit hosted the German Grand Prix for the first time in 1970 when

SECTION 10

#1732772345218

1440-412: A race like this the feeling is very, very good. There have been times when I have been flat-out to finish sixth, but you can't see that from the outside. In 1980 I finished three or four times in seventh place. I pushed like mad, yet everyone was gathered around the winner and they were thinking that I was just trundling around. But that's motor racing. So in fact the only thing you can judge in this sport

1560-427: A short course and a longer course which uses part of the shorter one, usually the main straight, such as Brands Hatch . The Le Mans road race venue is centred on a smaller permanent circuit within its complex. Surfaces include: Race tracks are primarily designed for road racing competition through speed, featuring defined start-finish lines or posts, and sometimes even a series of defined timing points that divide

1680-599: A watershed moment for Formula One, as Honda ended its relationship with defending champion Williams and brought their all-conquering RA16 engines to Prost's McLaren. Going into 1988, it was understood that any team that wanted Honda engines would have to sign one of the two Brazilian drivers favored by Honda (which coveted the South American car market ): three-time world champion Nelson Piquet , or rising star Ayrton Senna . When McLaren asked Prost for his opinion, Prost suggested Senna, citing his youth and talent. It

1800-569: Is Nardò where high-speed manufacturer testing often takes place, and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway . Some oval tracks are variations on an oval shape, for practical reasons or to introduce varying difficulties such as Talladega (a tri-oval). Most race tracks have meandering circuits with many curves, chicanes and changes in height, to allow for a challenge in skill to the competitors, notably motocross and touring car racing – these tend to predominate throughout most of

1920-558: Is a French former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from 1980 to 1993 . Nicknamed " The Professor ", Prost won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and – at the time of his retirement in 1993  – held the records for most wins (51), fastest laps (41), and podium finishes (106). Born in Lorette, Loire , Prost took up karting at 14, winning

2040-710: Is only used for two events in August, the Public Race Days and the NitrolympX  [ de ] main event a week later. Originally named the Nitrolympics and featuring Top Fuel dragsters, it was renamed to NitrolympX. When the Hockenheimring was shortened in 2002, the drag strip was moved back, closer to the new tall Tower stands that allow an unusual view along the drag strip. Even though

2160-450: Is the long term. You can judge a career or a season, but not one race. Prost finished the 1987 season in fourth place in the championship behind Piquet , Mansell and Lotus driver Ayrton Senna . Prost finished 30 points behind champion Nelson Piquet. Other than his debut season in 1980 and 1991 , it was the furthest away he would finish a season from the championship lead. Despite a slightly disappointing 1987 season, nevertheless by

2280-632: The 1979 FIA European Formula 3 Championship with Oreca . Prost signed for McLaren in 1980 , making his Formula One debut at the Argentine Grand Prix , where he finished sixth. He moved to Renault in 1981 , taking his maiden victory at his home Grand Prix in France , with further wins in the Netherlands and Italy . After achieving multiple race wins in his 1982 campaign with Renault, Prost finished runner-up to Nelson Piquet in

2400-435: The 1983 World Drivers' Championship after retiring with a turbo failure in the title decider . Prost was sacked by Renault two days later for his post-season comments and moved back to McLaren for the 1984 season, where he finished runner-up to teammate Niki Lauda by a record half-point . In 1985 , Prost won his maiden title with McLaren, becoming the first World Drivers' Champion from France . He defended his title

2520-404: The 2001 season . For his own part, Prost believed that had Ayrton Senna not died in 1994 , he would have broken Prost's wins record first. ) In addition, while Senna held the record for most career pole positions at Prost's retirement, Prost was superb on race day and held the record for most career fastest laps (41) until 2001, when Schumacher broke that record as well. Prost currently shares

SECTION 20

#1732772345218

2640-769: The Andros Trophy , competing from 2003 to 2012. He was the co-owner of Renault e.dams in Formula E until 2018, winning three consecutive Teams' Championships from 2014–15 to 2016–17 . Prost was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1999. Alain Prost was born in the commune of Lorette near the town of Saint-Chamond , in the département of Loire close to Saint-Étienne , France to André Prost and Marie-Rose Karatchian, born in France of Armenian descent. His father ran

2760-548: The Belgian Grand Prix , where he collided with Gerhard Berger in the Benetton. As a result, the car's front suspension and engine mountings were bent, which badly affected its handling. It would behave one way in left hand corners and a completely different way in right hand corners. McLaren Technical Director John Barnard said afterwards that the car was "bent like a banana" upon the teams' post-race inspection of

2880-615: The FIA to greatly improve spectator viewing, safety, and security at the track, claiming that the track was no longer suited to modern Formula One racing. In the early 2000s, F1 officials demanded the 6.823 km (4.240 mi) track be shortened and threatened to discontinue racing there, threatening to relocate to other tracks such as the EuroSpeedway Lausitz and sites in Asia . The state government of Baden-Württemberg secured

3000-738: The German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, plus either the European Grand Prix or the Luxembourg Grand Prix at the Nürburgring. From 2007, the Nürburgring and Hockenheimring alternated hosting the German Grand Prix, starting with the Nürburgring in 2007. Ongoing deficits of the Formula One races, amounting to up to 5.3 million Euro per race that had to be covered by the local communities, made it likely

3120-758: The Middle Ages , and records exist of a public racecourse being opened at Newmarket , in London, in 1174. In 1780, the Earl of Derby created a horse-racing course on his estate at Epsom; the English Derby continues to be held there today. Racecourses in the British Isles are based on grass, known as turf tracks. In the United States, the race tracks are soil. With the advent of the automobile in

3240-771: The Monaco and Singapore Grands Prix in Formula One . Some evidence remains of racetracks being developed in several ancient civilizations. The most developed ancient race tracks were the hippodromes of the Ancient Greeks and the circuses ( circi ) of the Roman Empire . Both of these structures were designed for horse and chariot racing. The stadium of the Circus Maximus in Ancient Rome could hold 200,000 spectators. Racing facilities existed during

3360-719: The Monaco GP , and the Circuit de la Sarthe circuit in Le Mans , France. These are not permanent facilities built for racing (although parts of the Circuit de la Sarthe are purpose-built, and closed to the public). After World War II , many wartime airfields, particularly in Great Britain, were left without further use. This coincided with a post-war boom in motorsport, and many airfields were converted to race tracks, where

3480-429: The final race of the 1979 season , Paddy McNally and John Hogan of Marlboro ( McLaren 's lead sponsor) offered to cover the costs of a third McLaren car so that Prost could make an early Formula One debut, but Prost declined the cameo appearance, reasoning that it would be a mistake to debut in Formula One without being fully prepared: "I didn't know Watkins Glen and I didn't know the car. I said I thought it would be

3600-602: The following season , amidst a close title battle with Piquet and Nigel Mansell . After winning several races in 1987 , Prost was partnered by Ayrton Senna . Together, they won all but one of the Grands Prix in 1988  – driving the Honda-powered MP4/4  – with Senna taking the title by three points. Their fierce rivalry culminated in title-deciding collisions at Suzuka in 1989 and 1990 , despite Prost's move to Ferrari in

3720-678: The junior direct-drive Karting World Cup four years later, and progressing to junior formulae in 1976. Prost won his first title at the Formula Renault National Championship that year, prior to winning the Challenge de Formule Renault Europe in 1977. Replaced by the French Formula Three Championship the following season, he successfully defended his titles in 1978 and 1979. Prost's junior career culminated in his victory at

Hockenheimring - Misplaced Pages Continue

3840-466: The 1920s, many of the races on the AAA Championship circuit were run on such board tracks. Modern racetracks are designed with spectator safety being paramount, following incidents of spectator and track marshals fatalities. These often involve run-off areas, barriers, and high fencing. Racetracks are used for: Some racetracks offer little in the way of permanent infrastructure other than

3960-473: The 1984 season within days and moved his family home to Switzerland after Renault factory workers burned the second of 2 of Prost's cars, one of them being a Mercedes-Benz. Prost joined double world champion Niki Lauda at McLaren in 1984 , driving the John Barnard designed McLaren MP4/2 which used a 1.5 litre TAG - Porsche V6 engine . He lost the world championship to Lauda in the final race of

4080-555: The 1988 season, Kawamoto was promoted to a position at Honda headquarters. McLaren's domination continued throughout 1989 , and with no meaningful outside competition, Prost and Senna's title fight turned inwards. Prost accused Senna of dangerous driving and dishonorable behavior. After Imola , the two drivers were no longer on speaking terms. Prost also accused Senna of receiving unwarranted favoritism from McLaren-Honda. His suspicions were inflamed when Honda sent McLaren an engine crate marked "Special - For Ayrton." After Prost (who

4200-453: The 1989 Prost-Honda controversy, as reigning world champion, Prost had joined Ferrari as the team's lead driver and was said to have played on this status. (According to Mansell, Ferrari contractually guaranteed him number one driver status, but once Prost became available, Ferrari paid Mansell to let Prost be the number one driver. ) Mansell said that after watching him take pole in France with

4320-422: The 1991 scoring system, Senna took the title by three points under the rules of the day – only the 11 best results from the season counted toward a driver's championship total, a rule that in practice valued Senna's wins over Prost's consistent podiums. Senna nearly shunted an overtaking Prost into the pit wall at Estoril , but other than that, the two competitors generally raced cleanly on track that year. Over

4440-459: The 1991 season. He was replaced by Italian driver Gianni Morbidelli for the 1991 Australian Grand Prix and by another Italian, Ivan Capelli , for the following season. Prost spent the 1992 season on sabbatical. Ligier offered him a seat, and he eventually performed pre-season testing for the team in early 1992, but Ferrari paid him a significant amount of money to take the year off. During this season, Nigel Mansell put up record numbers in

4560-491: The 1994 season, but while Senna encouraged Prost to take the offer, Prost was unimpressed by a test-drive of the 1994 car and retired for good. Prost used a helmet design based on the three colours of the French flag, blue, white and red, with his name along the side. During his early career Prost used a basic design of white all over with some blue detail around the visor (blue helmet with a white 180° flipped Y and red lines in

4680-752: The F1 drivers decided at the French Grand Prix to boycott the allegedly dangerous Nürburgring unless major changes were made. The next year the German Grand Prix went back to the Nürburgring until the 1976 German Grand Prix . From 1977 to 2006 , the Hockenheimring hosted the German Grand Prix with the exception of 1985 , when the race was held at the reconfigured Nürburgring. In July 2006, Bernie Ecclestone announced that from 2007 onwards, there would be only one Grand Prix per year in Germany. Since 1995 , there had been two Grands Prix every year in Germany;

4800-508: The French prefer martyrs who lose gloriously." In November 1982, three years before it became a round of the F1 World Championship, Prost, along with fellow F1 drivers Jacques Laffite and Nelson Piquet , made the trip to Melbourne , Australia to drive in the non-championship 1982 Australian Grand Prix at the short (1.609 km (1.000 mi)) Calder Park Raceway . Driving a Formula Pacific spec Ralt RT4 powered by

4920-438: The Hockenheimring was built in 1932. The man behind it is Ernst Christ, a young timekeeper who felt that a racing track should be built in his hometown of Hockenheim. He submitted the plans to the mayor and they were approved on Christmas day, in 1931. This first layout of the track was around twelve kilometres long and consisted of a large triangle-like section, a hairpin in the city and two straights connecting them. In 1938,

Hockenheimring - Misplaced Pages Continue

5040-661: The NitrolympX had retired in 2007. As the dragstrip can only be prepared for professional drag racing after the last major circuit event, mainly the Formula One race, the grip is often sub par compared to permanent drag strips that host two Euro Championship events each year, like Santa Pod Raceway in England or Tierp Arena in Sweden. The best performances on the full quarter-mile were significantly below those in Santa Pod, and

5160-567: The Williams- Renault and won the title with five races remaining. The McLaren-Honda combination was waning: due to economic difficulties in Japan , Honda was not in position to outspend Renault on engine development. Honda opted to leave Formula One at season's end rather than carry on with a second-tier product. With no meaningful competition, a Williams driver was expected to cruise to the title again in 1993. Prost quickly recognized

5280-421: The age of 14 while on a family holiday. This new sport quickly became his career of choice. At age 16, he bought his first kart with money he saved working for his father's shop. Prost won several karting championships in his teens. In 1974, he became a full-time racer. He won the French senior karting championship in 1975. Prost made the transition to open-wheel racing in 1976 and rapidly progressed through

5400-521: The best ET was set in 2005: 4.873 sec. and 458 km/h by Brady Kalivoda (USA). In 2012, some Pro classes could not find traction as Formula One had demanded a new surface. In subsequent years, the organizers provided a better track, with support from Santa Pod personnel and machinery. In 2016, Hockenheim, and mainland Europe, finally saw the first 3-second Top Fuel 1000 ft passes, with 3.939 sec. and 486.91 km/h (302.55 mph) by Anita Mäkelä (FIN). An overall European record for Super Street Bike

5520-470: The car back and forth to slosh the last drops of fuel into the pickup, he managed to keep it running just long enough to creep over the line and win the race. Prost commented after the race that when his car started running dry he immediately thought to himself "shit, I am going to lose this race again" , referring to his 1985 disqualification at Imola. It happened again at the German Grand Prix : while running in fourth position, Prost's car ran out of fuel on

5640-422: The car was still unable to compete for the title over the course of the season. Adding insult to injury, Mansell's Williams-Renault clearly supplanted Ferrari as McLaren-Honda's main competition in 1991, and Mansell finished second in the Drivers' Championship that year. Prost took out his frustrations on the team, publicly likening the car to a "truck." Ferrari retaliated by firing him with one race left to go in

5760-636: The car. With Rosberg retiring from Formula One at the end of 1986 season, underrated Swede Stefan Johansson filled the McLaren seat alongside Prost for the 1987 season. Even though McLaren had introduced the new Steve Nichols designed MP4/3 after three seasons with the MP4/2 model (Barnard had departed for Ferrari), the TAG engines were not the force they had been previously, lagging behind in power and with unreliability previously unseen. He never gave up though and challenged Piquet and Mansell almost until

5880-404: The championship on such an incident." He later said that he knew Senna would attempt to pass him at the chicane, and while "I did not [crash] on purpose, I did not open the door." McLaren, now fully behind Senna, unsuccessfully appealed the disqualification, which Sports Illustrated characterized as Ron Dennis "objecting to his [own] driver's winning the world title." In 1990 , Prost became

6000-451: The changes and stated their preference for the old circuit. The change in the track layout also saw the installation of a new memorial to Jim Clark. This is located at the outside of the current track's turn 2, where the old track continued out into the forests, and the new shortened track turns to the right. The new track has a seating capacity of 120,000, due to new large grandstands sponsored by Mercedes-Benz . The complex also features

6120-399: The circuit configuration of most race tracks, allowing races to occur over several laps. Some race tracks may also be known as speedways , or raceways . A race course , as opposed to a racecourse , is a nonpermanent track for sports, particularly road running , water sports , road racing , or rallying . Many sports usually held on race tracks also can occur on temporary tracks, such as

SECTION 50

#1732772345218

6240-504: The circuit dramatically shortened, from twelve kilometres down to just over seven and a half, and the Ostkurve corner, which lasted until 2001, was introduced for the first time. In that year, the track was also renamed to "Kurpfalzring". The track was damaged by tanks during World War II . After the war, the track was repaired, and renamed to "Hockenheimring". Former DKW and NSU factory rider and world record setter Wilhelm Herz became

6360-697: The circuit layout usually combined parts of the runways and the surrounding perimeter taxiways. The famous British track at Silverstone is a former Class A airfield , as are Castle Combe and Goodwood . The long runways were perfect for drag strips such as at Santa Pod Raceway . This type of track also appears on the popular motoring show Top Gear , which is filmed at Dunsfold Aerodrome , in Surrey, United kingdom Alain Prost Alain Marie Pascal Prost ( French pronunciation: [alɛ̃ pʁɔst] ; born 24 February 1955)

6480-712: The contract between the Hockenheimring and Formula One Management would not be extended after the Grand Prix of 2010. However, in October 2009 the contract for the circuit to hold the German GP was extended to 2018, with the FOA agreeing to cover any losses the event incurs. Neither Hockenheim nor the Nürburgring hosted a Grand Prix in 2015 or 2017 after the Nürburgring failed to complete an agreement with Formula 1's commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone . From 1986 to 1988,

6600-416: The corners while going fast down the straights. With his car having less tyre wear than his rivals, Prost was able to get through the 61 laps of the abrasive Jacarepaguá Circuit with only two stops compared to the three or more by his rivals (Piquet pitted for tyres 3 times within the first 40 laps). Prost finished 40 seconds in front of Piquet, with Johansson a further 16 seconds back in third. When you win

6720-479: The course of the 1988 season, Prost began to suspect that Honda was trying to make Senna McLaren's number one driver, in violation of McLaren's promise to treat the two drivers equally. He met with Honda F1 boss Nobuhiko Kawamoto at the end of the season to express these concerns. Kawamoto acknowledged that Honda's engineers were probably more excited to work with Senna than Prost, but said that he intended to deliver Prost equal machinery on race day. However, following

6840-635: The end of that year Prost had the honour of notching up his 4th consecutive No.1 driver of the year by the editor of the Autocourse annual, matching Niki Lauda's run of No.1's from 1975 to 1978 in the same annual. Writing in 1987, the Autocourse editor mentioned that despite driving a down on power engine (compared to the Honda's) "Prost should have won at least 6 races in 1987 – but he won't moan about it. Despite being out of championship contention, 1987

6960-399: The end of the 1986 race , pushing his McLaren towards the line before giving up. He was placed 3rd when he ran dry and was eventually classified 6th, gaining a valuable championship point that would help him with his second World Championship . Many problems came to light during the 2000 German Grand Prix , which was won by Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello from having started 18th on

7080-498: The end, winning three races and breaking Jackie Stewart 's record for race victories by winning for the 28th time at the Portuguese Grand Prix . "People might not believe me," said Stewart at the time. "But I'm glad to see Alain take my record. I am glad that he has done it because he's the one that deserves it. There is no doubt in my mind that he is the best race driver of his generation." Prost considers his win in

7200-569: The fastest official race lap records at the Hockenheimring are listed as: Race track A racetrack is a permanent facility or building. Racecourse is an alternate term for a horse racing track, found in countries such as the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates. Race tracks built for bicycles are known as velodromes . Circuit is a common alternate term for race track, given

7320-441: The financing for the redesign by Hermann Tilke for the 2002 German Grand Prix . The stadium section remained mostly intact, despite a new surface and a tighter Turn 1 ("Nordkurve"). However, the circuit was dramatically shortened, with the long, forested straights section chopped off in favour of more tight corners. More than half of the first straight and almost all of the straight between the Ostkurve and Senna chicane were cut and

SECTION 60

#1732772345218

7440-483: The finishing straight of the last lap. Instead of retiring at a time in the season when points were critical, Prost got out of his car and tried to push it to the finish, to great applause from the crowd. The finish line was too far, though, and he never reached it. He was eventually classified sixth in the race, as the seventh-placed car (the Brabham -BMW of Derek Warwick ) was a lap behind. Prost also finished sixth at

7560-721: The first Ferrari driver to sign for the Scuderia after the death of team founder Enzo Ferrari in 1988. Ferrari had lured away several McLaren chassis designers over the years, including John Barnard and Steve Nichols . The 1990 Ferrari 641 was the first car to seriously threaten Honda's stranglehold on the Constructors' Championship, as Ferrari came within 11 points of the title. Prost won five races for Ferrari that year, in Brazil , Mexico , France , Britain and Spain . At Mexico, he accomplished one of his finest drives, winning

7680-464: The first forest straight, showing vulnerable security facilities in the forest and leading to the deployment of the safety car that neutralized a comfortable lead for the two Mercedes-powered McLarens . Later on, French driver Jean Alesi collided with Brazilian Pedro Diniz in the braking zone for the third chicane and his car spun uncontrollably down the track, which caused him to suffer dizziness for three days. These events prompted much protest from

7800-475: The first lap, Senna intentionally drove his car into Prost's, taking them both out of the race and sealing the title in his favour. Dennis immediately knew that Senna had purposefully crashed Prost out of the race, but it took a year for Senna to admit that the crash was intentional; in 1991, he disclosed that he crashed into Prost in part to retaliate for Prost's actions in 1989. Although Prost complained loudly about Senna's manoeuvre, saying that "What he did today

7920-427: The grandstands. It hosted first ever World RX of Hockenheim , round 2 of FIA World Rallycross Championship in 2015 as supporting event of DTM. WRX also combined with the DTM for an event there in 2017. Official record lap times are only set during the race. The fastest ever lap on the track is 1:11.212 set by Sebastian Vettel in a Ferrari SF71H during qualifying at the 2018 German Grand Prix . As of October 2024,

8040-430: The grid. The race finished in changeable weather conditions, with pouring rain in the stadium sector and almost completely dry forest straights. All the overtaking moves that took place during the race were in the chicanes of the forest sector, meaning hardly any spectators saw most of the best action. Midway through the race, a former Mercedes-Benz employee, who had been dismissed, breached the track's security barriers on

8160-544: The junior categories. That year, he dominated French Formula Renault , winning the title and all but one race. In 1977, he won the Formula Renault European championship. In 1978, he won the French Formula Three championship while simultaneously competing in the European Formula Three category. Finally, in 1979, he won both the European and French Formula Three titles. He also made three guest appearances in European Formula Two in 1977 and 1978. Prost's Formula Three wins drew interest from Formula One teams and sponsors. Before

8280-403: The last two races. By contrast, Prost would automatically become the champion if Senna retired from either race, which was precisely what happened. Prost and Senna collided with seven laps to go, and Prost was widely blamed for causing the collision. (Prost was leading the race at the time and refused to leave a gap on the inside. Senna's normal practice was to line up his car for a crash and dare

8400-461: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, race tracks were designed to suit the nature of powered machines. The earliest tracks were modified horse-racing courses. Racing automobiles in such facilities began in September 1896, at Narragansett Park in Cranston, Rhode Island . The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was opened in August 1909. Beginning in the early 1900s, motorcycle races were run on high, banked, wooden race tracks called board tracks . During

8520-402: The latter , with Prost winning the former championship and Senna taking the following. Amidst a winless 1991 campaign for Ferrari, he was sacked by the team over comments made about the Ferrari 643 . After a year hiatus, Prost returned with Williams in 1993 , breaking several records on the way to his fourth championship and retiring at the end of the season. He returned to Formula One as

8640-417: The lower branch of the flipped Y and in the upper branch, surrounding the top). During Prost's time at Renault, he used more blue details, most notably around the rear of his helmet. Prost's helmet changed in 1985, as his helmet now had the blue detail around the front, surrounding the visor (with also a blue stripe on the side region, making the white area become a P) and a white ring with red lines surrounding

8760-507: The manager of the track in 1954 and promoted the track successfully; Grand Prix motorcycle racing events were held, with the German motorcycle Grand Prix alternating between the Hockenheimring and other tracks. This version of the circuit was just over seven and a half kilometres long and consisted of the original two long straights, with the Ostkurve in the forest and the original hairpin inside Hockenheim joining them together. In 1965, when

8880-406: The new Autobahn A 6 separated the village from the main part of the track, a new version of Hockenheim circuit was built, with the "Motodrom" stadium section, designed by John Hugenholtz , who also designed Suzuka . After Jim Clark was killed on 7 April 1968 in a Formula 2 racing accident, two fast chicanes were added and the track was lined with crash barriers in 1970. A small memorial

9000-449: The new Honda F1 leadership publicly stated that Prost was getting the same equipment as Senna, Prost publicly rejected Honda's reassurances. After Senna outqualified Prost by a mammoth +1.790 seconds, Prost once again complained about Honda to the press. Insulted, Honda threatened to withdraw its engines from Prost's car unless Prost apologized, which he did. Ultimately, Prost won at Monza while Senna retired with an engine issue, giving Prost

9120-422: The next four races, and then won his first Formula One race at his home Grand Prix in France at the fast Dijon circuit, finishing two seconds ahead of his old teammate John Watson. For Prost, his debut victory was memorable mostly for the change it made in his mindset. "Before, you thought you could do it," he said. "Now you know you can." Prost led from the start the next 5 races, and won two more races during

9240-526: The old course either for future F1 events or for historic car events. There was and still remains a great deal of criticism of the track redesign, in terms of ruining the previous unique technical challenges of the old Hockenheim circuit and delivering a new homogenised "assembly line" circuit without the character of the previous layout, whilst being beset by the perceived problems of other Tilke circuits. Several drivers and team principals, including Ron Dennis , Jarno Trulli and Juan Pablo Montoya , criticised

9360-447: The opening round in Brazil as his best and most rewarding race ever. The Williams-Hondas had been dominant during qualifying, and Prost started fifth on the grid with a time three seconds slower than Mansell's pole time. Knowing he didn't have the qualifying speed, he instead worked on his race set-up, and with everyone else going for a high-downforce set-up, he went the other way. The set-up meant less tyre wear, thanks to slower speeds in

9480-604: The other driver to back off, and as expected, Senna refused to yield and collided with Prost's car. ) Senna managed to restart his car and win the race, but the FIA (led by Prost's countryman Jean-Marie Balestre , whom Senna disliked) disqualified him for missing the chicane, fined him US$ 100,000 for "dangerous driving," and handed him a suspended six-month ban. Following the race, Prost admitted that "I know everybody thinks I did it on purpose," but rationalized that "Senna came behind me, I didn't see him come and I couldn't do anything to avoid him. I am very sorry to have to finish[ed]

9600-454: The owner of Prost Grand Prix from 1997 to 2001 , having purchased Ligier . Prost held an advisory role at Renault—later re-branded as Alpine —from 2017 to 2021 . Outside of Formula One, Prost was a race-winner in the 2005 FFSA GT Championship , and entered the Race of Champions in 2010 , representing France alongside Sébastien Loeb . In ice racing , Prost is a three-time champion of

9720-418: The potential of the Williams car and began negotiating with Frank Williams for a 1993 ride no later than the second race of the 1992 season. He ultimately signed a two-year contract for 1993 and 1994. Prost had expected to race alongside Mansell, but Mansell's contract negotiations fell through over financial terms. As insurance, Prost had negotiated a clause in his contract which prevented Senna from joining

9840-506: The race after starting in 13th position. In both the Mexican and Spanish races, he led Mansell to Ferrari 1–2 finishes. The championship once again came to the penultimate round of the season in Japan , but this time the roles were reversed, with Prost trailing McLaren-Honda's Senna by nine points. As in 1989, a controversial collision between the two settled the race. At the first corner of

9960-402: The race to only that many passes through the stadium. During the mid-1980s "turbo era" of Formula One where fuel was restricted to either 220 (1984–1985), 195 (1986–1987) or 150 (1988) litres for races for the turbo powered cars, Hockenheim also saw drivers, including World Champion Alain Prost , at times fail to finish due to simply running out of fuel near the end of the race. Prost ran out at

10080-405: The race, went back on a pre-race agreement to support Prost during the race. His relationship with the French media was also poor. He has since commented that "When I went to Renault the journalists wrote good things about me, but by 1982 I had become the bad guy. I think, to be honest, I had made the mistake of winning! The French don't really like winners." He added that "It's hard to explain, but

10200-477: The rare achievement of scoring in his first race, earning one point for finishing sixth. From 1973 to 1993, only two other drivers earned points in their maiden race ( Johnny Herbert and Jean Alesi ). However, Prost finished 15th in the Drivers' Championship with five points (one point behind the veteran Watson), scoring at Buenos Aires, Interlagos , Brands Hatch and Zandvoort . He had several accidents, breaking his wrist during practice at Kyalami and suffering

10320-428: The record for the highest percentage of races started from the front row in a single season (16 for 16 in 1993 ) with Ayrton Senna ( 1989 ) and Damon Hill ( 1996 ). As of November 2024 , he is the last Frenchman to have won his home Grand Prix . During his career, Prost was nicknamed "The Professor" for his intellectual approach to competition. Though it was not a name he particularly cared for, he later admitted that

10440-411: The red flag without consulting the race officials. Under Formula One regulations, Prost received only half of the nine points normally awarded for a victory. Prost's seven wins in 1984 equalled the record set by Jim Clark in 1963 . Lauda's 0.5-point margin of victory is the closest title race in Formula One history. In 1985 Prost became the first French Formula One World Champion . He won five of

10560-401: The rest was connected with a new long straight called the "Parabolika", with a small kink being added between the first straight and the new one. A small right-left-right complex was added to the remaining part of the final straight, with a new grandstand overlooking it. In an extremely controversial move, the old forest section was torn up and replanted with trees, eliminating any chance of using

10680-517: The run off was cut in half it remains one of the longest in drag racing. The NitrolympX usually host most European Drag Racing Championship , sanctioned by FIA or FIM, plus jet dragsters and other entertaining events on the Saturday night show that draws 40,000 spectators. The drag strip in 2008 was christened Rico Anthes Quartermile after the German former Top Fuel driver and long-time organizer of

10800-456: The same number of wins as Piquet, but he had four second places to Piquet's three, thus placing him second before the final race. While running third behind Piquet, and directly behind Prost on the road (3rd was all he needed to win the title), Mansell suffered a rear tyre failure at 180 mph (290 km/h) and crashed out. The Williams team then pitted Piquet to change tyres as a safety precaution, while Prost had already pitted earlier due to

10920-426: The same track, or incorporating many tracks in one venue. Commonly, running tracks are incorporated within general use or soccer stadiums, either permanently visible or covered by stands or pitches. Many horse and motorsport tracks are configurable, allowing different routes or sections. Some venues contain smaller tracks inside larger ones, with access tunnels and bridges for spectators. Some racetracks incorporate

11040-466: The scapegoat for failing to win a championship. In addition to that, the French fans recalled the bitter fight that had caused their favourite, Arnoux, to leave the team. Prost said in an interview with ESPN during the final race that his car was "not competitive" and that he "didn't lose by my own fault" Renault fired Prost only two days after the South African race. He re-signed for McLaren for

11160-618: The season in Portugal by half a point, despite winning seven races to Lauda's five, including winning in Portugal. The half point came from the Monaco Grand Prix , where Prost had been leading, albeit with Ayrton Senna ( Toleman ) and Stefan Bellof ( Tyrrell ) closing on him rapidly, when Clerk of the Course Jacky Ickx stopped the race at half distance due to heavy rain, which was controversial, for Ickx displayed

11280-520: The season's 15 races were on the North American continent). Prost earned a further four victories for Renault during the season and finished second in the Drivers' Championship, two points behind Nelson Piquet. Piquet and the Brabham team overhauled Prost and Renault in the last few races of the season. Prost, who felt the team had been too conservative in developing the car, found himself increasingly at odds with Renault's management, who made him

11400-585: The season, took his first pole position in Germany and finished on the podium every time he completed a race distance. He won again in Holland and Italy, and finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship, seven points behind champion Nelson Piquet . Prost won the first two Grands Prix of the 1982 season in South Africa , where Prost recovered from losing a wheel, and Brazil , where he finished 3rd but

11520-630: The season, winning 15 out of 16 races – a record that stood until the 2023 season, when Red Bull -Honda won 21 out of 22 races. McLaren scored three times as many points as second-placed Ferrari. Reflecting the dominance of Honda power, Williams finished a distant seventh in the Constructors' Championship just one year after winning the title by 61 points. Prost finished first or second in every race other than his two retirements at Silverstone and Monza . He won seven races and outscored his new teammate Senna by 11 points, despite Senna winning one more race than him. Although Prost would have been champion under

11640-463: The season. At the time, he stated that under the terms of his Williams contract, while he could block Senna from joining Williams in 1993, he could not do so for 1994. However, in an interview for Asif Kapadia 's 2010 documentary Senna , Prost revealed that the Senna clause did in fact extend to 1994, but Renault (Williams' engine supplier) pressured Frank Williams to ask Prost to waive the clause. As

11760-506: The season. Cooler heads prevailed, and McLaren allowed Prost to finish the season with the team in exchange for a public, written apology. This concession eliminated the possibility that Prost would clinch the 1989 title in a Ferrari car. Prost clinched his third Drivers' Championship at the Japanese Grand Prix , the penultimate race of the season. Prost was 16 points ahead of Senna at the time, meaning that Senna needed to win

11880-421: The setting up of racing cars difficult, since a choice had to be made – whether to run low downforce to optimize speed through the straights and compromise grip in the stadium section, or, run more downforce to optimize grip through the stadium section and compromise speed on the straights. The long track length also meant that a typical Formula One race had only 45 laps, limiting the spectators' experience of

12000-686: The sixteen Grands Prix during the season. He had also won the San Marino Grand Prix , but was disqualified after his car was found to be 2 kg underweight in post-race scrutineering . Prost finished 20 points ahead of his closest rival, Michele Alboreto . Prost's performance in 1985 earned him the Légion d'honneur distinction in France. At the end of the season, Lauda retired; he would later credit Prost with sending him into retirement, explaining that "I had this perfect car, and then this French pain-in-the-ass arrives and blows me away. If he hadn't turned up I'd have gone on for another few years." Lauda

12120-519: The start–finish straight was used for 1/8 mile drag racing. In 1989, a proper drag strip was built by connecting the Opel-Kurve and the first turn entering the Motodrom section. The finish line was at the beginning of the forest, with a very long run-off on the straight in the forest. Competitors had to travel around the full race track in opposite direction to return to the paddock. The drag strip

12240-555: The team. Prost was partnered with fellow Frenchman René Arnoux for 1981 . Motor sports author Nigel Roebuck reports that there were problems between Prost and Arnoux from the start of the season, Prost being immediately quicker than his more experienced teammate He did not finish the first two Grands Prix, due to collisions with Andrea de Cesaris in Long Beach and Didier Pironi at Jacarepaguá , but scored his first podium finish at Buenos Aires . He also did not finish in

12360-442: The team. Although Senna furiously accused Prost of cowardice, there was nothing he could do about it. Prost won his fourth and final title in 1993. That year, Williams-Renault fielded another dominant car and handily defended the Constructors' Championship, finishing with twice as many points as second-placed McLaren. Prost led the way, winning seven of the first ten races and taking pole in thirteen out of sixteen races. Although he

12480-439: The term appropriately characterized his driving style. Skilled at setting up his car for race conditions, Prost would often conserve his brakes and tyres early in a race, leaving them fresher for a challenge at the end. His mantra was to "win as slowly as possible," a phrase he may have picked up from his teammate Niki Lauda , or Juan Manuel Fangio . Honda F1 boss Nobuhiko Kawamoto once told Prost that Ayrton Senna "was more

12600-400: The top (forming a white circle with a blue half in the rear of the top). Prost kept a similar design for his entry at Ferrari and Williams. Sometimes Prost used variants of his helmet design. In 2007 he used his original design, but with the circle top all red and a red line in the lower chin area. In 2010, he used a pearl white helmet with silver flames and a blue-white-red-white-blue stripe on

12720-574: The track into time sectors. A racetrack for cars (i.e. a car track) is a closed circuit, instead of a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads . Race tracks can host individual or team sports. Racetracks can feature rolling starts , or fixed starts, with associated equipment (starting blocks, cages, wheel traps etc.) They invariably feature a pit lane , and usually timing equipment. Some car tracks are of an oval shape, and can be banked, which allows almost universal spectator views or high speed racing (cycling, stock cars). A famous one

12840-501: The track; others incorporate spectator facilities such as grandstands , hospitality or facilities for competitors, such as pit lanes and garages, paddocks and stables. Several racetracks are incorporated into larger venues or complexes, incorporating golf courses, museums, hotels, and conference centres. Some racetracks are small enough to be contained indoors, for sports such as motocross , track cycling , and athletics . Many racetracks are multi-use, allowing different types of sport on

12960-487: The visor, designed by Kaos Design. Prost is widely regarded as one of Formula One's greatest-ever drivers. He has the fourth-most Drivers' Championships of all time, behind only Lewis Hamilton , Michael Schumacher, and Juan Manuel Fangio . In addition, he was just 12.5 points away from an eight-title career. At his retirement, Prost held the record for most career Grand Prix victories (51), which stood for fourteen years. ( Michael Schumacher broke Prost's record during

13080-656: The world, but especially in Europe. Flatter meandering motorsport courses are sometimes called 'road circuits', originating in the fact that the earliest road racing circuits were simply closed-off public roads. Some car racetracks are specifically configured in a long straight, namely drag racing . True road circuits are still in use, e.g. the Australian GP has been run in Adelaide and continues to be in Melbourne on regular city streets. The most famous of these are

13200-444: Was a decision he would come to regret. Upon signing Senna, McLaren announced that Prost and Senna would compete on equal terms. According to Dennis, "Alain was fine with the competition, but deeply suspicious." The McLaren-Honda partnership delivered Prost a legendarily fast car and two golden opportunities for a third Drivers' Championship, but it also kicked off one of Formula One's most famous rivalries . McLaren-Honda dominated

13320-432: Was a memorable year for Prost. His win at Estoril was exceptional." In 1985, the Autocourse editor wrote of Prost: "In the long run, Ayrton Senna may be the better driver, but in 1985 for speed and consistency Prost had no equal", while in 1986, the Autocourse editor commented on Prost's season "Alain had an almost faultless year. 1986 was a year of Prost's outstanding all round ability." The 1988 season proved to be

13440-407: Was absolutely disgusting. ... He has no value [as a person]," Senna was not penalized. Prost finished the season seven points behind Senna, and his Ferrari team were runners-up to McLaren in the Constructors' Championship. At the end of the season, Mansell left the Scuderia to rejoin a resurgent Williams team, citing his unstable relationship with Prost. Although Mansell had supported Prost during

13560-436: Was awarded the win after Piquet (1st) and Keke Rosberg (2nd) were disqualified. He finished in the points on four other occasions, but did not win again. Despite retiring from seven races, Prost improved on his Drivers' Championship position, finishing in fourth, but with nine fewer points than the previous year. His relationship with Arnoux deteriorated further after the French Grand Prix . Prost believes that Arnoux, who won

13680-411: Was in the last year of his contract with McLaren) threatened to join a rival team at the end of the season, Ron Dennis publicly backed Prost against Honda, "declar[ing] that the team had found consistent differences" between the engines that Honda assigned to Senna and Prost. To accommodate Prost's concerns, Dennis attempted to allocate engines on a random basis, such as a coin flip or drawing numbers from

13800-488: Was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient V10s of its competitors, and the Ferrari chassis was likewise uncompetitive. (Barnard had left Ferrari in 1990, early enough to have input on the 1990 car but too late to help with the 1991 cars. ) Although Ferrari upgraded the car to the Ferrari 643 in time for Prost's home race at Magny-Cours , in which Prost and Alesi finished second and fourth,

13920-459: Was placed near the first chicane (which was named after him), at the site of his accident. In 1982, another chicane was added at the Ostkurve ( east curve ), after Patrick Depailler was killed there in 1980, and the first chicane was made slower as well. For the 1992 German Grand Prix , the Ostkurve was changed yet again, from a quick left turn into a more complex right-left-right chicane, after Érik Comas crashed there in 1991 . The second chicane

14040-514: Was regularly challenged on track by teammate Hill and rival Senna, he finished 26 points ahead of the second-placed Senna and clinched the title in Portugal with two races to go. At season's end, the British government awarded Prost an OBE for his performances; he had won all four of his titles with British teams. Shortly before securing the title, Prost announced he would retire at the end of

14160-439: Was renamed after Ayrton Senna , after his death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix . This version used to be quite large, with a very long and very fast section going through forests essentially consisting of four straights of roughly 1.3 km (0.81 mi), separated by a chicane sequence, followed by a more tight and twisty "stadium" section (so called because of all the grandstands situated there) named Motodrom . This made

14280-525: Was replaced at McLaren by 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg for 1986 . Prost successfully defended his title, despite his car struggling against the Honda -powered Williams cars driven by Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell . Until the latter stages of the final race of the 1986 season, the Australian Grand Prix , Prost appeared set to finish second in the Championship, behind Mansell. Prost had

14400-459: Was set by Garry Bowe (GB) with 7.04s 340.69 km/h (211.69 mph). The DTM ( Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters ) series has regularly raced at the Hockenheimring since its revival in 2000. In most years, the DTM has competed there twice during a season. Located in the stadia section of the track, the rallycross track uses a section of track from turns 11 to 16, combined with a dirt section in front of

#217782