By Gustavo Castilho
The 11th round of the Formula 1 championship will take place this Sunday, with a live audience present.
With the presence of 20 thousand people, Formula 1 returns, after seven years, to the Eifel GP, the name given to the mountain region located in the western part of Germany, that advances through the Belgium and Luxembourg territories. Since 2013 this track did not receive the event, but due to the pandemic, it was integrated into the F1 race calendar.
The Eifel GP has a distance of 5,148 meters and will have 60 laps. The track fastest lap record belongs to Michael Schumacher, with a Ferrari, who in 2004 completed a lap with a time of 1min 29s and 486 thousandths. The main overtaking point is the first corner, and through it Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton can get a second chance to even a historic record of 91 victories in the category, who also belongs to Schumacher. On the other hand, there is a certainty for this race. Finnish racer Kimi Raikkonen, from Alfa Romeo, will complete his 323rd grand Prix, surpassing the Rubens Barrichello’s mark.
The climate in the region is one of the biggest problems for teams and drivers. Of the 40 races staged there, 11 were under the rain. The Nürburgring region is usually rainy and colder than the rest of the country, and as we are in European autumn, the temperature promises to cold this weekend.
Hamilton won at the Nürburgring with McLaren in 2011. It was his 16th win at the time. If he does not win Sunday, the Britain racer can still increase his record for pole positions (96) and podiums (159). He leads the World Championship with 205 points, against 161 from his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Dutchman Max Verstappen, from Red Bull, has 128 points, while British Lando Norris (McLaren) has 65, one more from the Thai Alexander Albon (Red Bull), and two from Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Renault). The race will happen next Sunday (11/10), starting at 9:10 am Brasília time.
