For British Drivers Nurburgring's a Nightmare

British drivers’ records at the Nurburgring are shockingly poor- there has only been one victor at the track since it replaced the legendary Nordschleife. This was Johnny Herbert in his Stewart (a team which has morphed into Red Bull) back in 1999, which was a crazy wet-dry race. Therefore, top F1 stars and champs including Damon Hill, David Coulthard, Eddie Irvine, Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton have all failed to win at this track.

There seems to be more than a fair share of British bad luck at the Nurburgring. Probably the most memorable misfortune was in the chaotic wet race in 2007. When the heavens opened, a fast-starting Button slid off into the barriers from 4th and he was followed into the gravel moments later by Hamilton. This prompted the infamous scene where Lewis persuaded the marshals to get him back on track. But with a puncture late on in the race ending his incredible podium streak, he probably wished he hadn’t bothered! This means that Hamilton has had a puncture in both of his races at the Nurburgring, whilst Button has only one podium to write home about. Even Paul di Resta and his success in the DTM has failed to land him a win at the Nurburgring. And given McLaren’s current form, this British win drought looks like continuing!

For more see: http://allsortsofmotorsports.wordpress.com/

 

History and numbers are meant to be broken.

 

Wow thats a really interesting fact. I remember that race Herbert won. It was the european GP or maybe Luxemburg GP. There was about 10+ leaders!! I may still have it recorded on VCR lol

 

VC what?

;-)

 

Even when Di Resta won the 2006 F3 Euroseries he only came 2nd and 13th at the Nurburgring. Sebastian Vettel, Di Resta's team-mate got two wins. That was the only time during the season that somebody scored two wins at the same track. Di Resta must be a hell of a driver to hand Vettel's arse to him over a season, seeing as so many people are dribbling about how good Vettel is.

 

I wrote a long post regarding Lewis vs Vettel vs Di Resta... different subject so don't get too flustered on what you read.

 

Nice article Stephen.

I did not realise we Brits had such a poor track record there. Perhaps we're due for a change eh? - Although I agree it is difficult to see it this year…

 

I rate both drivers, but prefer Vettel, because he isn't a self centered egotist (yet)

 

Great article. Strange though that Brit's cannot race well at the Nurburgring. Are there any other tracks where british drivers struggle?

 

Don't generally approve of people using the site to plug their blog, but you write some great stuff. Keep it up.

 

I've not read Stephen's link but I believe cross-pollination can be a healthy thing, especially if it generates interest both ways.

He presents his point well, rather than some who might come up with a one-liner as an excuse for the link. One would hope that there may be a similar link to direct people here when he sees interesting discussions within the forum.

 

AbsolutelyGlorious, if you would prefer I didn't post links to my blog that's fine with me. Anyway, back to this thread, and Cowboyfromhell there aren't any other established venues that the Brits particularly struggle at, but the next race at Hungary is a rather happier hunting ground with three of the last five winners being British- so if McLaren are going to return to form anywhere that could be the place!

 

Cool, thanks for the reply. I'm going to do some research, to see what nationalities struggle at what tracks, e.g. Brazilians in Brazil

 

Stephen Lickorish,

Please keep posting links to your blog. I'm fine with it and the content is not only fantastic, but also makes for interesting debate.

 

Whoa, that's not what I said! I like the contribution you've made, like Cosi said, you present the point well. Most people (in my experience) who plug their blogs on forums usually do a poor job, but your's is an exception, it's a good read.

 

Good post.

It just goes to show you how close these top drivers are. Nobody really stands out. If you want to compare drivers the best way to do it is to compare team-mates, and the rest is just "yeah, but"s. My contention remains that you could put any one of half the grid in a Red Bull and they would do just as good a job as Sebastian Vettel. Obviously Mark Webber does not belong in the half that I am talking about. Not since he's had his balls chopped off for THE TEAM, anyway.

I agree with your views on Hamilton, and I think it is astute of you to connect him to Tiger Woods. Both Hamilton and Woods were dreams come true to those that wanted their ****-arse products endorsed because they dominated (or were perceived to dominate) their sports. No longer.

 

Stephen Lickorish:

I've read your blog now and would like to congratulate you for writing some good quality stuff. Thanks for providing the link. It saves you having to repeat the identical thing here and is well-written.

I think AG was happy about your link. Maybe he just chose words which gave the wrong impression.

 

Im cool with sharing views from external pages but poaching members to join is the no no.

Good read though stephen, hope to see more in the future

 

There's only one site I've known to actively set about poaching members and discrediting other fora. Oddly enough, this concerns a site run by someone who considers his site to be 'professional'. I ask that I be forgiven for not stooping to his level by mentioning the site concerned, here.

What matters is that we all keep talking, without feeling threatened by other people or other sites; and if every site did the same, everyone would be happier!

 

So does this person actually get money for blogging, or does he consider that he should get money for blogging? Surely it has to be the latter.