28.07.2011

The Nurburgring, where Fernando finished second last weekend, has hosted the European Grand Prix and the German Grand Prix for many years, but this track never ceases to seem dull compared to the tremendous circuit at its side from which it takes its name.

The current insipid Nurburgring circuit takes the name of a legend, a legend which is also known as the "green hell". The Nordschleife circuit, as it is called, is the north part of the old and original circuit, is 22.8 km long, and is a compulsory visit when you go to the Nurburgring. I'm certain that today's drivers would not want to do a lap in the current cars at race pace.

It is a hellish track, with blind curves, rises and dips, which you go round within an immense forest, whose trees shed leaves which added to the rain make the track very slippery, making it impossible not to go from one bend to the next in a continuous skid. The temperature, which last Sunday at ten o'clock in the morning was 9 degrees, proves right the person who called it the "green hell".

At this track, which was used as the setting for the GP until 1976, legends such as Caracciola, Nuvolari, and Fangio were forged, as well as the more contemporary Stewart, Moss, Surtees, Elford, Lauda and Stuck. The latter was at the GP as a TV commentator.

Going round the old circuit in a Mercedes driven by the son of the deceased Manfred Winkelhock, skidding continuously on a damp track, was the most exciting thing about the weekend. It was even more exciting than Fernando's second place, which after his victory at Silverstone was something that entered the calculations.

Alonso has already driven the old circuit at the steering wheel of a Megane, but nowadays few young drivers on the grid have made a pilgrimage to the old track or have done a lap, if only in a rental car. It is as if this legendary circuit is reserved for the grand old figures who nostalgically frequent the "green hell" every year. Without a doubt to have been able to see a race on the old circuit at the end of the 1960s would have been exceptional. Back then you couldn't start under the safety car if it rained, and you couldn't interrupt practice. Everyone had to make the most of what they had between their hands, and if fear took over (as happened to Lauda in Japan 1976), they stopped and said goodbye to the race. These were times when safety was less closely examined and what mattered was arriving at the finishing line before your rival.

Our own Carlos Sainz has become a fan of this track and its 24 hour race, since he is at Volkswagen. I'm certain that he appreciates driving there as if he were on a rally stage. Perhaps the young drivers who are on the grid today will within a few years need to experience the old circuit at the wheel of a race car. Certainly they will experience emotions that they have never felt at the wheel of an F1 car on the modern circuit.

I don't know if the German GP will be held again at Nurburgring, as it is in doubt despite alternating with Hockenheim, but you must return there from time to time to do a lap of the circuit, whether it be driving yourself or in one of the cars driven by the circuit monitors. It will make your hair stand on end. Now flying is less expensive a visit there is almost obligatory for true fans, who I'm sure will never regret "flying" over the bumps of the green hell.