European GP Preview: Facts & Stats

The European Grand Prix is one of the more nomadic events on the F1 calendar, having taken place at four different venues as a standalone event, and back when it was merely a name given to an existing event (as it was from 1950 to 1977), another eight circuits across the continent.

One such event was the first ever world championship Grand Prix - the 1950 British Grand Prix at Silverstone was also that year's European Grand Prix. Giuseppe Farina was the victor from pole position, on his way to winning the inaugural world title.

The "European Grand Prix" meant relatively little until 1983, when it first appeared on the calendar as its own event, at Brands Hatch. This meant that Brands Hatch and Silverstone hosted two championship races in the same year, having alternated as hosts of the British GP since 1963.

Nelson Piquet won the 1983 race, but it was a frustrating weekend for Lotus, who gave a Renault engine its first ever pole position in anything other than a Renault chassis, when de Angelis was quickest in qualifying. It was also Pirelli's first pole since Juan Manuel Fangio's last F1 start at Buenos Aires in 1958. While de Angelis' car failed early on, Nigel Mansell's third place and fastest lap provided the team with some consolation.

In 1984, the race moved to the Nurburgring and was held for the first time on the newly-constructed Grand Prix circuit, next door to the mighty Nordschleife, which first held the German GP in 1951 but lost its championship status after Niki Lauda's fiery 1976 crash.

Alain Prost led from start-to-finish, setting up a last-round decider at Estoril. Lauda, the only man ever to lap the Nordschleife in less than seven minutes in an F1 car, scored a gutsy fourth from 15th on the grid on his return to the Eifel mountains.

The Nurburgring and the European Grand Prix were on the '85 calendar separately, as the 'Ring held the German GP for the first time since the notorious 1976 race. Michele Alboreto took his last ever F1 win, in the only race ever to feature a Toleman on pole position - Teo Fabi also giving Brian Hart the first of his two poles as an engine supplier.

Later in the year, Brands Hatch was the venue as Nigel Mansell took his maiden victory at the European GP. Alain Prost's fourth place was enough for him to become France's first and only world champion, a status he retains to this day.

Europe 1985 provides the answer to an obscure trivia question - as Prost's teammate Niki Lauda was forced to miss the race due to a wrist injury, his place was taken by John Watson, who in doing so became the last non-champion to race car # 1 in a Formula One race.

After 1985, it would be eight years before the European GP tag reappeared, this time as a late replacement for Autopolis, the Japanese circuit having gone bankrupt before it could hold the 1993 Asian GP. In stepped Donington Park, becoming one of only nine circuits to host a single championship event (although Istanbul will disappear from the list after it hosts the Turkish GP this August).

Of course, the damp Donington race is best remembered for Ayrton Senna's total dominance, especially on the opening lap. The Brazilian was only fifth into turn one, but he picked off Michael Schumacher and Karl Wendlinger by the Old Hairpin, passed Damon Hill at McLean's corner, before outbraking Alain Prost for the lead at the Melbourne Hairpin.

In dry qualifying, the Brazilian couldn't get within 1.345 seconds of the Williams-Renault duo, but Senna turned the tables on race day in a bizarre manner.

He set the fastest lap of the race when he pitted on lap 57 to change tyres. Because his mechanics weren't ready, Senna ran straight through the pitlane (in the days when there was no speed limit) and set a lap 1.350 seconds quicker than anything Williams could do all afternoon!

Jean Alesi (Ferrari 412T2) followed by Johnny Herbert (Benetton B195 Renault), Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Sauber C14 Ford), Mika Hakkinen, Mark Blundell (both McLaren MP4/10C Mercedes), Rubens Barrichello (Jordan 195 Peugeot) and Martin Brundle (Ligier JS41 Mugen Honda) early on in the race © LAT

By the end of the day, Senna was more than 80 seconds clear of Damon Hill, one lap ahead of Prost, and even Schumacher had long since spun out of contention.

The European Grand Prix title came to the rescue again in 1994, as it replaced the cancelled Argentinean GP. This time Jerez was the venue, hosting its first race in four years on a revised circuit.

Starting his 50th Grand Prix, Schumacher was the winner from pole position, taking the last win for a V8 engine until they became mandatory in 2006. Further down the field, Johnny Herbert raced for Ligier, having started the previous event for Lotus. By the next race, he was in a Benetton!

In 1995, the Nurburgring hosted the race once more, and it lived up to its reputation for unpredictable weather. The Sunday morning warm-up was delayed due to heavy fog, and the race started in wet/dry conditions.

Jean Alesi's decision to start on slicks almost paid dividends, and after everyone else had pitted to change from wet tyres, he found himself over 43 seconds in the lead, with just 38 laps remaining. Michael Schumacher produced one of his greatest drives to close the gap. The German was sometimes as much as three seconds a lap quicker than the Ferrari driver, before passing him in a daring move around the outside at the chicane, with three laps to go.

Schumacher nearly repeated the success at the '96 event, this time driving for Ferrari, the team he beat so dramatically in 1995. He was thwarted by Jacques Villeneuve, who took his first career win in just his fourth start, and the first by a North American driver since his father won the 1981 Spanish GP.

1997 saw the Nurburgring and the European GP go their separate ways once more. Once again, Jerez was the European host, while the Nurburgring created a little bit of history by hosting the first Luxembourg Grand Prix, thus becoming the only race track ever to host three different F1 events.

Mika Hakkinen took his maiden pole position in the Luxembourg event and looked set to follow it with a maiden win. The Finn was leading David Coulthard to what looked like McLaren's first 1-2 finish for six years, until unbelievably both cars' engines failed within a lap of each other, at the same point on the start-finish straight.

Villeneuve was left to pick up the pieces, winning his last Grand Prix to date and leading a Renault-powered 1-2-3-4 - the last time any engine manufacturer managed this feat.

A few weeks later, the European Grand Prix saw the closest qualifying session ever, when Villeneuve, his Williams teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen and his championship rival Schumacher all stopped the clock at 1:21.072. Because Villeneuve set his time first, he clinched his 13th and last pole position to date.

In a dramatic title decider, Schumacher attempted to crash into Villeneuve at the Dry Sack corner, which not only failed, but led to him being excluded from the final championship standings in a subsequent FIA hearing.

Johnny Herbert, Sir Jackie Stewart, Rubens Barrichello © LAT

Lost in the mix was the achievement of Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard finally scoring the Mclaren 1-2 that had been theirs for the taking at the Nurburgring. Jenson Button should take note - Mansell took his first win on his 73rd start, while Hakkinen did the same at his 96th start, both in a European Grand Prix.

If there were ever to be an award for "Wackiest F1 Race", then the 1999 European GP would certainly be a contender. The uniqueness of the weekend began on Saturday, when Frentzen took pole position for Jordan - something both parties never managed again.

The German led the opening 32 laps of the race, until the electrics in his car died. As rain began to fall, Coulthard spun off while leading. Giancarlo Fisichella emerged at the front, until he also spun off, handing the advantage to Ralf Schumacher, who led for just one lap until getting a puncture!

This left Johnny Herbert in the lead, and he negotiated the final 17 laps safely to take the only ever F1 win for the Stewart team - 26 years after Sir Jackie Stewart took his last win as a driver at the same race track.

Jarno Trulli scored his first podium finish in second place, and it would be four years until he achieved another one. Rubens Barrichello was third in the other Stewart, while Marc Gene's point for sixth was Minardi's only points-finish between 1995 and 2002.

Minardi could have had an even better day - Luca Badoer was in fourth place with just 13 laps remaining, until mechanical failure left the Italian virtually in tears beside his car. He remains the holder of the unwanted record for most starts without a point, with 49 Grands Prix.

Things have calmed down a bit in recent years, although Takuma Sato became the first Japanese driver ever to qualify on the front row at the Nurburgring in 2004, while Kimi Raikkonen lost the race on the final lap last season, when a tire vibration caused suspension failure.

As it was Fernando Alonso who was promoted to victory, it created a crucial 12-point swing that Raikkonen never recovered from - he was only 22 points behind the Spaniard at the end of the season.