The Nurburgring, the Green Hell, the most intrepid purpose-built racetrack in the world and after a year’s sabbatical, the Formula One circus makes a welcome return to the forest this weekend.  With Sebastian Vettel making a run on Button’s dominance of this season’s championship, the German Grand Prix is a prime venue to see the points battle blown wide open.

With two home drivers poised to make an impact at the circuit, it will undoubtedly be a fantastic weekend to witness the well-known German ability to party hard.  Following his achievements in Silverstone last month, Sebastian has had a grandstand named in his honour, something that has previously only been bestowed upon the legendary Schumacher.  We obviously mean Michael.

Designed and built in the 1920s by Architect Gustav Eichler, the track first played host to the inaugural World Cycling Championship before the first-ever German Grand Prix one year later.  But it wasn’t until 1947 and after the war (are we still allowed to mention that?) that the track returned in its first iteration as the Nordschleife or Green Hell as Stewart famously coined.  As one of the longest circuits in the world, it was not until 1961 that lap times dipped below the nine-minute mark as Phil Hill averaging 153.4km/h in the Ferrari 156 squeezed 8.52:2.

Now racing in the iteration known as GP-Strenke, the Formula One course follows over 5km of twisting chicanes on a clearance just south of the original Nordschleife.
Whilst not as challenging as its parent track, the high-speed Schumacher “S” and first complex provide excellent opportunities to put a contemporary Formula One car through its paces.

As with every grand prix weekend, if you read each of the F1 team’s press releases you’d believe that each and every one of them is going to win this weekend.  Many of the teams have new parts and pieces that they’ve been drawing on the computer during the last three week break.  Whether they work on the track or not is another story.  At Silverstone, Red Bull’s new nose and wing made a massive difference and gave them quite an edge over the BrawnGP motors.  BrawnGP have confidently stated that they’ll be turning the the tables again this weekend.

The weather itself could play a factor this weekend, because as with many of the German grand prix, it’s looking likely that there may be a spot of rain or three.  Judging from races earlier in the season, such conditions could only add to the Red Bull momentum gained at Silverstone.

Looking beyond the race for the title – Kimi Raikkonen is still in a bad mood, saying how he and the rest of Ferrari will struggle at the Nurburgring – now that’s hardly the fight-back attitude they’re looking for back at Maranello.  Homeboy (Timo) Glockdog is looking for good weekend in Germany and hopes Toyota can have a more convincing weekend.  The red and white car has been a cracker at most of the races, but failed to have glimpse of victory…yet.

Williams are making steady improvements at each race, with Silverstone being Nico Rosberg’s most convincing result of the year.  Piquet is still doing his best at Renault, while Alonso is now relying on ‘magic’ to turn his season around.  Force India chief Vijay Mallya is still convinced his patriotic team can score a podium – we certainly hope they can live up to this at some point in 2009.  BMW and McLaren are both having pretty shoddy years so far, so it will be interesting to see if this recent three-week break can do anything for their recent fortunes.

As for Bernie – he’s not even going to make it to Germany this weekend – more on that here.  If you need a reminder of how the 2009 season has been so far you should have a read of Badger’s almanac here where you can see all the results at a glance and get a quick review of each and every grand prix.