Four drivers have out-qualified their team-mate on every appearance at Hockenheim, nine drivers have a 100% finish rate and four have a 100% points-scoring record at the track. Here’s everything you need to know about each driver’s history at the German Grand Prix!
?? Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton has won at half of his six appearances at Hockenheim. He won here on his first visit in 2008 and has won on each of his last two appearances – including his impressive win from fourteenth on the grid last season. Aside from his wins, Hamilton has one further podium appearance at the circuit, with a third place finish in 2014. He’s only failed to score here once, in 2012 when he retired. Hamilton has failed to reach Q3 at Hockenheim twice. He suffered a brake failure in 2014 and was eliminated in Q2 last year having suffered a hydraulic issue after setting a lap time in Q1. Hamilton has only one pole at the track from his first visit. The only other time he has started on the front row was in 2016. Unusually for the five-time World Champion, he hasn’t beaten a team-mate in Qualifying at this track since his first visit in 2008. Hamilton has never lost a position on his starting place in every race he’s competed in at Hockenheim – he gained seventeen positions in 2014 and thirteen in 2018.
?? Valtteri Bottas
From his three appearances at Hockenheim, Valtteri Bottas’ best finish at the German Grand Prix is second place, which he scored in 2014 with Williams and in 2018 with Mercedes. The Finn has a 100% points scoring record at the track, having also finished ninth in 2016. Bottas has never failed to reach Q3 at the track and has qualified on the front row twice, in 2014 and 2018. He’s yet to be beaten by a team-mate in qualifying at the track. He’s also yet to finish the German Grand Prix in a better position than where he started it from.
?? Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel’s 100% finish record at Hockenheim came to an end last season as he crashed out from the lead in slippery conditions. He’s had only one podium here – a third place in 2010. On the five occasions that Vettel has reached the end of the race, he’s never failed to score, finishing in the top five in every season except 2008, when he finished eighth. Though Vettel has won his home Grand Prix, his victory did not come at this track – he won at the Nurburgring in 2013. Vettel has taken two pole positions at Hockenheim – in 2010 and 2018. He also started from the front row in 2012. Vettel holds a 100% Q3 appearance rate at this track, with a worst qualifying position of ninth for Toro Rosso in 2008. 2014 and 2016 are the only seasons that Vettel has been beaten by his team-mate in qualifying at the circuit.
?? Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc took three podiums at Hockenheim in F3 in 2015, including a win in the third race. The following year he competed here in GP3, finishing fifth in the Feature Race and third in the Sprint Race. Leclerc drove for Haas in Free Practice for the 2016 German Grand Prix before appearing with Sauber at the track in 2018. Last year, he beat his team-mate in qualifying, reaching Q3 and lining up ninth on the grid. He lost six positions in the Grand Prix and finished only fifteenth.
?? Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen has raced twice at Hockenheim in F1. After recording a podium finish on his first visit here in 2016, he finished fourth in last year’s race. He’s qualified fourth in both of his German Grand Prix starts so far. He failed to beat Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying at the track in 2016, but was faster than the Australian in 2018. Verstappen is yet to lose a position from where he’s started at the German Grand Prix.
?? Pierre Gasly
Before F1, Pierre Gasly competed here in GP2 in his title-winning year. He was disqualified from a podium finish in the Feature Race and fought back valiantly in the Sprint Race to finish sixth. Last season, Gasly qualified seventeenth, beating his team-mate despite being out in Q1. He received a 30-place grid penalty for engine component changes, which relegated him to the back of the grid. He gained six positions in the race and finished fourteenth.
?? Daniel Ricciardo
Daniel Ricciardo recorded his first DNF from four appearances at Hockenheim in 2018. His best result at the track is second place in 2016, while his sixth place finish in 2014 is the only other time he’s scored at the circuit. 2014 and 2016 are also the only seasons where Ricciardo has qualified in the top ten at Hockenheim, with third place in 2016 being his best starting position so far. Last season marked the first time Ricciardo has been beaten in qualifying by a team-mate at the track. 2016 is the only time that the Australian has finished a race at this track in a better position than where he started it from. Ricciardo performed his first podium Shoey at the 2016 German Grand Prix.
?? Nico Hulkenberg
Nico Hulkenberg has scored in all of his last four appearances at Hockenheim, finishing a best of fifth last year. His first home Grand Prix, with Williams in 2010, marks the only time the German has failed to score at this track. Hulkenberg has a 100% finish rate here. He also has a 100% Q3 appearance rate, with a best qualifying position of fifth in 2012 – which became fourth on the final grid. 2010 is the only time Hulkenberg has been out-qualified by a team-mate at the circuit. In each of the last three races at this track, Hulkenberg has gained places on his starting position.
?? Romain Grosjean
In 2018, Romain Grosjean scored points at Hockenheim for the first time from his four appearances at the track. He finished sixth with Haas last year. The Frenchman has had one DNF, in 2014. In all of his first three visits to the circuit, Grosjean qualified in fifteenth – but he never started fifteenth on the grid. He reached Q3 here for the first time last season, qualifying in sixth position. 2014 is the only season where Grosjean has beaten his team-mate in qualifying at Hockenheim. In the three races he’s finished at the track, Grosjean has never finished in a worse position than where he started.
?? Kevin Magnussen
Kevin Magnussen has scored only once at the German Grand Prix, on his first appearance with McLaren in 2014. He failed to score in both 2016 and 2018. He finished eleventh in last year’s race. Last season marked Magnussen’s first Q3 appearance at the circuit since 2014. He qualified an impressive fifth for Haas, one away from his best of fourth at the track in 2014. He was eliminated in Q1 in 2016, which is also the only year that the Dane has failed to beat his team-mate in qualifying at the track. Magnussen is yet to gain a position from where he started in the German Grand Prix. He lost five places from his starting spot in 2014 and six in 2018.
?? Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz is yet to score a point at the German Grand Prix. He finished fourteenth here with Toro Rosso in 2016 and twelfth with Renault last year. After qualifying thirteenth in 2016, Sainz made his first Q3 appearance at the track last season, qualifying in eighth place.
?? Lando Norris
Lando Norris raced at Hockenheim in Formula 3 in 2016 and 2017. He secured the title here in 2017 after finishing second in the first race of the meeting.
?? Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez has a 100% points scoring record from the four Grands Prix he’s competed in at Hockenheim. He had a best finish of sixth when driving for Sauber in 2012 – a race in which he gained eleven places from his starting position. Until 2018, that season was also the only time he’s beaten a team-mate in Qualifying at the track. 2012 is the only occasion that Perez has failed to reach Q3 at the circuit, though he’s yet to qualify better than ninth at the track.
?? Lance Stroll
Lance Stroll previously raced at Hockenheim in European Formula 3 in 2016. Impressively, the Canadian won all three races that weekend. On his first visit here in F1 last year, Stroll retired from the race with brake issues. He qualified on the back row, failing to beat team-mate Sergey Sirotkin in qualifying.
?? Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen retired from all five of his first appearances at Hockenheim, including two hefty shunts at the first turn. Since his streak of bad luck ended in 2005, he hasn’t retired from a race at the track. The Finn has never finished better than third at the track, but he’s had three podium finishes, in 2006, 2012 and 2018. 2014 is the only season where Raikkonen has failed to score points in a race which he’s finished at the track, finishing just outside the points in eleventh. 2014 is the only occasion where Raikkonen has failed to qualify in the top ten at Hockenheim. He qualified twelfth that year. Raikkonen has taken two pole positions at this circuit, in 2005 and 2006. He’s led 55 laps at the track – the second most of any driver on the 2019 grid.
?? Antonio Giovinazzi
Antonio Giovinazzi has previously competed here in F3 and GP2. He raced here for three seasons in F3, in 2013, 2014 and 2015, taking podium finishes in all three of the 2015 races and winning the first event. In 2016, the Italian raced here in GP2, finishing eighth in the Feature Race and retiring from the Sprint Race. He made a practice appearance for Sauber in Free Practice 1 for last year’s German Grand Prix.
?? Daniil Kvyat
Daniil Kvyat has previously raced at Hockenheim twice, appearing with Toro Rosso on both occasions. He’s yet to score a point at the track, having retired in 2014 and finishing fifteenth in 2016. Kvyat reached Q3 on his first appearance here, but qualified only nineteenth in 2016. He moved up to eighteenth on the grid.
?? Alexander Albon
Alexander Albon has previously competed at Hockenheim in Formula 3 and the GP3 series. His best finish here was in Formula 3, finishing as runner-up in the last F3 race he contested here. In GP3 in 2016, he finished fourth in the first race but failed to finish the second race.
?? Robert Kubica
This will be Robert Kubica’s first visit to Hockenheim since 2010. In both of his previous appearances at the track, the Polish driver has finished seventh and qualified seventh. He beat his team-mate in qualifying on both occasions.
?? George Russell
George Russell has previously contested at the Hockenheim circuit in F3 in 2015 and 2016, finishing a best of runner-up in the second of the three 2016 races.
