Which driver seems to better suit the Hockenheim circuit? What are the chances that the pole setter would also win the German Grand Prix? Marcel Schot brings the answers and more anecdotes on the twelfth round of 2003

The British Grand Prix was a memorable race. It was by far the most spectacular one of the season and with a madman walking on the track it was one of those races that will be easily remembered. However, something that caught less attention was even more memorable. With only three drivers retiring, there are only two Grands Prix in World Championship history that had less retirements. One of those was the 1958 Argentinean Grand Prix, where nine out of ten starters reached the finish. The other one was the 1961 Dutch Grand Prix, where all of the 15 starters reached the finish.

Last race might have been a very good affair to watch, one driver must have been particularly sad with its ending. Ralf Schumacher saw his string of ten straight point finishes, the seventh longest in World Championship history, ended as a result of a guidance vane breaking and blocking the airflows into the sidepod, which caused an unplanned pitstop. Even though Ferrari might not be as dominant as in 2002, this makes both Ferrari drivers now the only drivers to have scored points in each of the last eight races. Longest running point scoring sequence behind them is that of Juan Pablo Montoya, who scored in the last five.

Looking towards the next race, the new Hockenheim circuit has been one of the more positive changes to existing circuits. Even though it was shortened by a considerable about, just like Spa, the Nurburgring and Paul Ricard before it, the new version didn't look pale in comparison to its past rendition. Where the new Nurburgring is almost a disgrace to the name, the new Hockenheim has a modern, exciting character despite using much of the old somewhat boring high speed circuit. The drivers mostly were pleased with the changes. Jacques Villeneuve was one of the more critical drivers as usual, saying "Generally, it's a typical modern circuit and not as interesting to drive, but there should be a couple of good overtaking opportunities."

Hockenheim is not a circuit that seems to suit one particular driver. The last driver to have won there twice in a row was Nigel Mansell in 1991 and 1992, driving the very dominant Williams of that era. Since then only Gerhard Berger (1994 and 1997) and Michael Schumacher (1995 and 2002) have won more than once. However, in recent years, Ferrari have done well, claiming three victories in the last four years, all by different drivers. First it was Eddie Irvine in 1999, then Rubens Barrichello scored his memorable maiden victory in 2000 and then the aforementioned Michael Schumacher last season.

In last year's German Grand Prix, the first one on the new and shorter circuit, Ferrari and Williams outclassed the rest of the field by a long shot. How much faster they were became clearly visible after 10 laps, when Juan Pablo Montoya passed Kimi Raikkonen. The Colombian immediately went two seconds per lap faster. The end result was that only the Ferraris and Williamses ended the race on the lead lap, with David Coulthard a lap down closely behind winner Michael Schumacher, but over 30 seconds ahead of Sauber's Nick Heidfeld.

Over the years Hockenheim has been a circuit where the driver on pole position has a large chance to win the race. In 13 of the 26 races held at the circuit, the polesitter also crossed the line in first. If we compare that to Monaco, where the story is that it's very hard to overtake, this percentage is enormous. In the Mediterranean principality only 18 out of 50 polesitters have won.

Quit the contrary to this year's British Grand Prix, last year's German Grand Prix saw more than half the field retiring, all but two with mechanical failures. In no less than four occasions engine failures were cited as the cause of retirement, while hydraulic problems were also quite common in last year's race.

Two of those retirements were more definitive than others. They were the last times Arrows cars retired from a Formula One race. After having done a pro forma qualification attempt during the previous race at Magny Cours, the orange vehicles of Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Enrique Bernoldi made it a regular weekend in Germany, qualifying respectively 15th and 18th. Shortly after the German Grand Prix, Frentzen was released on his request and the team failed to show up for the Hungarian Grand Prix three weeks later. For the following races Arrows' participation always seemed to be around the corner, but they never drove another mile.

While last year's German Grand Prix meant the end for a team, this year's race means the beginning of a driver. Dane Nicolas Kiesa will make his Formula One debut with Minardi this weekend. Nicolas is only the fourth driver from Denmark to make it into Formula One. Tom Belso was the first one thirty years ago, driving for Frank Williams' Iso-Marlboro team. In 1976 he was followed by a one time attempt of Jac Nelleman in an RAM Brabham, who didn't qualify for the Swedish Grand Prix. The third Dane in Formula One was the most successful one until now. In 1995 Jan Magnussen stepped in the McLaren for the Pacific Grand Prix, when Mika Hakkinen was sidelined after having his appendix removed. Later Magnussen returned to drive for Stewart for one and a half season, where he scored his first point in his final race before being replaced by Jos Verstappen.