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(Motorsport-Total.com) – 1976 was the last time a Grand Prix took place at the legendary Nordschleife, and even if a return to Formula 1 seems unrealistic today, the dream lives on. And not just hundreds of thousands of motorsport fans in the Eifel, Germany and around the world, but also the Nürburgring CEOs Mirco Markfort and Max Verstappen.
© Robert Kah / Nürburgring
The Nordschleife is perhaps the most difficult race track in the world. Focus
The Red Bull driver had plenty of time Friday to give interviews as he waited in vain for training to begin. In one of them they asked him if he would like to take a Formula 1 racing car for a spin on the Nordschleife. His bold response: “Better a career!”
“Why not?” Asks Verstappen. The interviewer is amazed. The British Sky reporter thinks this is too dangerous. But the 23-year-old does not accept that: “Come on! Isn’t Monaco dangerous? We drive more than 300 there.”
Indeed, the idea of a return to the Grand Prix on the Nordschleife has long haunted the minds of German motorsport manufacturers. Apparently Hermann Tilke and Norbert Haug were already thinking years ago about how the “Green Hell” could again adapt to Formula 1. Nothing came out in concrete terms.
The mind game is picked up again and again
In the summer of 2017, things resumed. In an online survey conducted by ‘Motorsport-Total.com’, 33.07 per cent of the participants stated that Formula 1 should return to the Nordschleife, “it costs what it wants.” Another 41.57 percent found the idea charming but unrealistic.
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Armed with the survey results, we caught up with Formula 1 sporting director Ross Brawn for an interview, who immediately recognized the charm and described the idea as’ fantastic ‘:’ Maybe it would be worth thinking about. Nordschleife en one of the most cult tracks in the world “.
And contrary to expectations, the Nürburgring did not give a dedicated refusal either. Markfort, already the track’s managing director at the time, let it be known: “A possible return from Formula 1 to the legendary Nordschleife is certainly an interesting mind game.” And only in July 2020 did he emphasize again: “This vision is still haunted in the back of our heads.”
Markfort: Formula 1 currently has other problems …
However, in the discussions around the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, the Nordschleife never played a role because Markfort believes that Formula 1 “has other problems besides dealing with daydreams. A vision like this requires stable conditions.” . […] If you do something like this at some point, it will take a lot longer to wait. “
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But despite all the gloom and pessimism that regard a Nordschleife Grand Prix as insane, Markfort insists in a recent interview with ‘auto motor und sport’: “There is no such thing as impossible.” The cars need “a different configuration, of course. But you also drive in Monaco and Baku. Where there is a will, there is a way,” he believes.
“In the last two years two high-performance vehicles have already proven that it works. On the one hand, it was the Porsche LMP1 with Timo Bernhard in 5:19 minutes and last year also the VW ID.R. Those are two vehicles that were actually built for pure, smooth asphalt Grand Prix tracks. “
“I think the route would be fine”
“It was shown to work with the correct setup and a rider who gets involved on the track. The manufacturers would not have done it if the Nordschleife had had a major safety risk at some point. So I think yes, the route would be good, “Markfort said.
Porsche 919 Evo: on board for the Nürburgring record
Timo Bernhard set a new record at the Nürburgring-Nordschleife in the Porsche 919 Evo on June 29, 2019 – the record lap in the video
The truth is that an update of the Nordschleife to the Formula 1 standard to comply with the necessary safety precautions would cost a lot of money on the one hand, and on the other hand it would presuppose a concession from the FIA and Formula 1. For many it is simply inconceivable that can remove all obstacles.
Not for Markfort: “When it comes to annual modernization measures, the same applies to the Nordschleife as it does to the Grand Prix track. We have put in a lot of effort here in recent years, laying a lot of new asphalt and erecting safety fences. additional. So I can’t compare the Nordschleife to Niki Lauda’s times, “he says.
