2011 German Grand Prix programme

Have all the important information for this weekend’s German Grand Prix at your fingertips with the F1 Fanatic race programme:

The race weekend

2011 German Grand Prix preview – Can Vettel score his first win on home ground?

2011 F1 championship points – Full drivers and teams points standings heading into this weekend’s race.

Drivers

Karun Chandhok will take Jarno Trulli’s place at Lotus this weekend:

• Chandhok returns to F1 in Trulli’s place in Germany

The following changes to the usual driver line-up will be made for first practice only:

Nico Hulkenberg will drive Paul di Resta’s car.

There have been reports that Narain Karthikeyan will drive Vitantonio Liuzzi’s car but I have yet to get confirmation of this from HRT.

Tyres

Here is a look at the Nurburgring circuit from Pirelli, with voiceover by Dan Selby:

Drivers will have the medium tyres (white lettering) and soft tyres (yellow lettering) available this weekend.

In addition to that, Pirelli will bring a new version of the soft tyre for teams to test on Friday only. They say the tyre offers “increased durability and less degradation”.

Stewards

Tom Kristensen, the man who has won the Le Mans 24 Hours more than any other driver in history, is the drivers’ adviser to the stewards this weekend.

He joins FIA World Motor Sport Council member Garry Connelly and Fahran Vohra, a member of India’s Federation of Motor Sports Clubs.

The track

Nurburgring circuit preview from Williams:

The original Nurburgring Nordschleife needs no introduction to F1 fans. The modern Nurburgring was built after the 22.8km (14 mile) Nordschleife was dropped from the calendar for safety reasons in 1976.

The first appearance of the new circuit on the calendar in the mid-eighties drew a lukewarm response and it only held two races before being dropped again. But it found a place in the championship as a second German round from 1995 as Michael Schumacher drove the sport to new heights of popularity in Germany.

Today the track co-hosts the German Grand Prix with the Hockenheimring, which holds the race in even-numbered years.

The chicane at the end of the circuit was tightened and the opening sequence of corners has been heavily revised. The track retains a mixture of slow and fast corners but the real challenge often comes from the unpredictable local weather.

Nurburgring circuit information – Full track data

Single DRS zone again at the Nurburgring – DRS zone diagram

The weather

Rain is expected at various stages of the race weekend:

• 2011 German Grand Prix weather forecast

Following the race live

F1 Fanatic Live will be open for your comments during every session.

Join us for every lap of the race, qualifying and practice at these times:

Friday 22nd July 2011

German Grand Prix Free Practice 1: 10:00-11:30 (UK time: 9:00-10:30)
German Grand Prix Free Practice 2: 14:00-15:30 (UK time: 13:00-14:30)

Saturday 23rd July 2011

German Grand Prix Free Practice 3: 11:00-12:00 (UK time: 10:00-11:00)
German Grand Prix Qualifying: 14:00 (UK time: 13:00)

Sunday 24th July 2011

German Grand Prix: 14:00 (UK time: 13:00)

More session times and live coverage details here: 2011 German Grand Prix TV Times

You can follow F1 Fanatic on Twitter for updates throughout the race weekend:

• Follow F1 Fanatic on Twitter for news, comment and more
• Follow F1 Fanatic Live for updates during every session
• Follow F1 Fanatic Update so you never miss an article

And you can use the F1 Fanatic Live Twitter app to get updates from the drivers, teams and media at the circuit:

• F1 Fanatic Live Twitter app

2010 German Grand Prix highlights

Last year’s race at the Hockenheimring was marred by controversy. Felipe Massa was on course for victory, one year to the day since his dreadful crash at the Hungaroring in 2009.

But he was ordered to hand the win to team mate Fernando Alonso – despite the rules forbidding team orders at the time.

Alonso led home a Ferrari one-two with Sebastian Vettel third having started from pole position.

2011 German Grand Prix review – Controversy as Alonso wins manipulated race

Massa ordered to hand win to Alonso – “”

F1 fans slam rigged German Grand Prix – The race remains the lowest-rated of any in our “Rate the race” polls.

Previous German Grands Prix

2009 German Grand Prix: Webber shrugs off penalty to grab maiden win
2008 German Grand Prix: Hamilton first despite strategy blunder
2006 German Grand Prix: Schumacher storms to Hockenheim win
2005 German Grand Prix: Alonso wins after another Raikkonen retirement

Join in the 2011 F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship

There’s F1 races tickets DVDs and more to be won. Play for free by guessing the top five in each race.

You can enter and edit your predictions up to the start of qualifying on Saturday:

• F1 Fanatic Predictions Championship

Image design by PJ Tierney