The tenth race of the Formula One season will be held at the NÃ?rburgring in Nurburg, Germany. This will be the only race that will be held in Germany this year, something which has not happened since 1994 when the European Grand Prix was held in Spain.
Since the race will be the only one that will be held in Germany this year, German Formula One drivers would have one shot of winning a race in front of his countrymen. Five German drivers are slated to participate at the event but those five do not include the German Formula One superstar Michael Schumacher who retired at the end of last year's season. Before he retired though, Schumi took seven world championships with him.
There is no doubt that Schumi's presence in the tracks will be missed by German Formula One fans. But the five German drivers and the rest of the drivers is expected to put on a show for the German fans.
One of the Germans who will participate in this year's European Grand Prix will be Michael's brother, Ralf Schumacher. The younger Schumacher is driving for Toyota and is in the middle of resurgence after a dismal start to the season. No doubt, the younger Schumacher will make up for his retirement at the British Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld is also looking for a good performance at 'the Ring'. The German is currently fifth in the drivers' championship standings and his team is sitting comfortably in third position in the constructors' championship standings. Heidfeld will be looking to extend their lead over fourth place Renault on board his F1.07 with BMW engine and racing parts as reliable as BMW auto parts.
Nico Rosberg will be the third German that will be participating at the upcoming European Grand Prix. The young Formula One driver is the son of Finnish Formula One legend Keke Rosberg. The younger Rosberg is actually a German-Finnish driver but races with a German racing license because of his mother's nationality. Rosberg will be making his driving duties for Williams.
The fourth German is Markus Winkelhock which was recently announced to be the replacement for Christjan Albers. The latter was recently sent packing by Spyker after the British Grand Prix. The reason is sponsorship problems according to Spyker. Winkelhock will be driving alongside Adrian Sutil.
Adrian Sutil is the fifth German that will participate on the weekend Formula One event. The rookie will be participating in his tenth race in Formula One and is looking for his first point/s of his career.
As for Schumi's absence, Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella has this to say: "Racing in Germany without Michael will be very different, but there are a lot of racing fans there - and the NÃ?rburgring is an historic venue."
The five German drivers though would have to battle the four drivers in front of the standings in order to give German fans a German winning driver. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso sit on top of the standings while Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa are third and fourth respectively. So far this season, no driver other than these four has won a Grand Prix.
Meanwhile, McLaren will be looking to fend off the challenge being posed by Ferrari while BMW is looking to do the same to Renault. The race will be held on Sunday while qualifying sessions are on Saturday.
