Big time Hockenheim! Germany's home race. The real deal. An awesome racing stadium that produces an even greater spectacle for the fans with the dramatic changes made to the circuit layout last year. No more trips to the beer taps while the cars foray into the woods. Now it is all live, right in front of you at the Baden Coliseum!

One part of the old circuit that is missed is the old Jim Clark chicane. Until 2002 this lay on the first long straight heading out to the forest, and just off the track a stone cross marked the place where the Great Scot lost his life racing in F2 in 1968. This was two years before Formula One began using the circuit for the German Grand Prix, in an effort to escape the fatality-ridden old Nürburgring circuit.

The Hockenheim track has seen several configurations for various types of races since 1932, but in its recent 23 year F1 history, the layout remained virtually the same. It was a power circuit through and through. Weather was often hot and engines were frequent casualties. 2002 changed all of that, the new layout now squeezed into about one-third the area of the old. The long straights are gone, a sweeping left hand curve ending in a very tight hairpin has been added, as has an additional complex of slow turns in the expanded stadium area. Hockenheimring is now a high downforce circuit.

One used to delight in discovering which driver could run with the least amount of wing and still get through the Motodrom complex in decent shape. The Schumacher brothers and Fisichella were masters of this. Now it is a contest of aerodynamic design and mechanical grip. Speeds through the once-slow stadium section are now much greater with the new high aero downforce set-ups forced by the amputation of the long straights, and from the softer grippier tyres made possible by the new qualifying regulations. The fans will be dizzy by lap 10!

It is often useful to peruse a driver's history at an F1 venue to attempt to surmise how things may play out at an upcoming race. For Hockenheim, the current slate of drivers have performed as follows:

Driver	Races	Races in Points	Wins
Michael Schumacher	11	7	2
David Coulthard	9	6	0
Ralf Schumacher	6	5	1
Rubens Barrichello	10	4	1
Jacques Villeneuve	7	3	0
Jenson Button	3	2	0
Olivier Panis	7	2	0
Juan Montoya	2	1	0
Nick Heidfeld	3	1	0
Giancarlo Fisichella	6	1	0
Jarno Trulli	6	1	0
Heinz-Harald Frentzen	8	1	0

Not surprising to see the Schu brothers in very good shape, with Michael scoring points in 7 of 11 races, and with one win each at Benetton and Ferrari. Ralf has the best success ratio, scoring in 5 of his 6 races at home, including points in both years with Jordan, plus one win with BMW Williams.

David Coulthard has also seen much success at the German GP, with points in 6 of 9 races and three podiums, though no wins yet. DC even had pole at Hockenheim back in 2000, the year Rubens won it in the rain on dry tyres. Fellow Brit Jenson Button has done quite well too, with points in 2 out of 3 attempts in his young F1 career. And finally, Jacques Villeneuve has points in 3 races, including a podium in the BAR of all things in 2001 when Ralf won it.

How much of these drivers' past successes will translate at the new German circuit is unknown. Last year was a bit of a learning year for the car manufacturers and tyre suppliers. But even last year we saw the predictable guys do well, though the race was riddled with high attrition from the get-go, mainly engine failures, with only 9 cars surviving the conditions.

The 2002 German race was a battle of the hometown favourite brothers, with no one except Michael's Ferrari teammate Barrichello anywhere near the duo in either qualifying or the race. Sadly for the fans, Ralf experienced what had been the theme of 2002 for the young German, unfortunate events on the one hand, and team pit problems on the other.

The 2002 grid (back when qualifying meant something) saw Michael on pole, Ralf just over a tenth behind, and Rubens about three tenths off. No one else was in sight, with Ralf's teammate Montoya 7 tenths down and next man Kimi Raikkonen in the McLaren well over a second off pole. And it got worse from there.

German fans were excited for the race with the brothers not-so-grim on the front row: would Michael chop Ralf? Would Ralf steal the lead? It was a great battle, Michael winning out and leading by a few seconds in the first stint. Michael set 4 fastest laps in a row. Ralf answered with 5! Then Ralf's day started to lose its charm. First Villeneuve's car died in pit lane and blocked Ralf's pit entrance, losing him valuable time. Then Trulli blocked Ralf on track (Trulli was penalized). The win was pretty much out of his sights, but Ralf held second place easily. Michael set one more fastest lap and completed his perfect race weekend.

But to the dismay of the German fans, a Schumacher 1-2 was not to be had. With 4 laps left in the race, Team Williams suspected an air-leak in Ralf's engine but could not confirm it. They brought him in for what might have been an unnecessary extra pit stop. There went Montoya into Ralf's second place. So not a perfect result for the fans, but both brothers on the podium, and another hometown boy, Sauber's Nick Heidfeld triumphed in the war of attrition and took the last point for 6th place.

One must say that Barrichello should have had Montoya's place on the podium, but for a refueling mishap for Rubens at his first pit stop that dropped him back. But the feisty Brazilian still managed 4th, the last guy to finish on the lead lap, DC in the McLaren grabbing 5th a lap down.

What to expect this year in Germany? There are some new players rattling the cage, plus the new qualifying regs will change the picture a bit. Also several teams have upgraded chassis, engines, and tyres for the race, including McLaren, Renault, Toyota, and Jordan. BAR-Honda is also truly on form now, and has two drivers that have done quite well at Hockenheim.

Renault would seem to have a rather well-suited package for Hockenheim. With another upgrade to the engine this week, they could be chasing top points if they get the tyres and strategy right. Their form in Britain was surprising, with Renault joining BMW Williams and Ferrari in the "mid-season chassis and tyre overhaul" club.

This week it is McLaren-Mercedes' turn, with a major upgrade to the "old" car coming on line. The new Hockenheim layout is not unlike the new Nürburgring track, and Kimi was running away with that one all weekend until an ugly engine failure robbed him of the glory. If the Mac upgrade is substantial, they could surprise everyone and snatch the home triumph for Mercedes.

We should expect a tight battle between Bridgestone (at least the ones on the Ferraris) and Michelin, with both suppliers stepping it up recently. Learning about the evolution of the track surface Friday should finalize strategies at either 2 or 3 stops. The new track was very abrasive last year, as expected of a new surface, and Friday will tell how much it has smoothed out. Tyre temperatures also skyrocket at Hockenheim. If the track has remained abrasive, we will see 3-stops, and it will be a circus on pit row! This will also translate into a lot of backmarker traffic, so the teams must time everything perfectly.

Choosing a harder compound and a 2-stop strategy seems to no longer be a viable option in situations like this since the advent of qualifying with race fuel. The grid position penalty is just too high on tracks with little overtaking, such as most are. It is really too bad, because it was fascinating to watch some of the Michelin-shod cars run the whole race without a tyre change! It was almost the return to slicks we have all been dreaming of.

On another note, this weekend we welcome a new driver to Formula One. Dane Nicolas Kiesa got the nod at Minardi after Paul Stoddart exchanged driver Justin Wilson for coupons for free engines from Ford/Jaguar/Cosworth. Wilson is replacing Antonio Pizzonia who was shamelessly sacked late-season by Jaguar. It was a bit of a shock to see the young Brazilian axed in such a manner, as he was just publicly confirmed in his Jaguar seat a short time ago. Pizzonia had also just outqualified, outraced, and aggressively overtaken in the race at Silverstone his much lauded teammate Mark Webber. Not surprising to those watching carefully as Pizzonia had often out-shone Webber in testing, and had even beaten the Ferraris at Barcelona in November testing the first time he ever sat in the old Jaguar R3. Pizzonia still holds the track record at Valencia this year.

Jaguar has been and largely remains a one-car team, Antonio's frequent mechanical failures a testament to the team's problem in this area. And he is so, so young, but oh so promising. One must be concerned for Justin Wilson now that he is in that seat. Jaguar's explanation for the driver change was a desire to achieve one more place, 5th, in the Constructor's Championship. With support for only one car it is tough to imagine any driver making the grade.

Interestingly, if the FIA had not changed the points system this year, Jaguar would be sitting in 8th place right now with a mere 2 points. Jordan and Sauber, in addition to the top 4 teams and BAR, would all be ahead of Jaguar in the standings in the traditional F1 point system. One must wonder how different Webber's performance would seem versus Pizzonia's if he had only the 2 points that the old system would have yielded him. Something is rotten in Denmark.

Speaking of which, it is wonderful to see a new face on the grid, and the Danish fans must be ecstatic. Nicolas Kiesa planted his roots in Scandinavian karting and was racing in the F3000 series this year. He just achieved his first victory at Monaco and was doing well in the standings, as high as third. He is 25 years of age and hails from Copenhagen. For more about Nicolas, see: www.kiesa.com.

Finally, the German race weekend is usually the time we find out which drivers are playing musical chairs. Once again it appears that not too much will change on this front for next year. There are plenty of rumors typically generated more by drivers' managers trying to create leverage than by any underlying truths.

It does seem that there might be an opening of some kind in Montoya's 2004 contract at BMW Williams which may let him loophole out of his commitment if the right deal came along. But with all of the top teams including McLaren-Mercedes looking stable for 2004, there is nowhere to go that would constitute "up". One possibility is the long-rumored Toyota move which derives from their relationship with the Colombian from his champ car days. If technical wizard Mike Gascoyne makes his rumored move from Renault to Toyota, it might be a great place to be!

Look for Villeneuve to take a big salary cut no matter where he drives, if he drives. Sato is already contracted to race at BAR in '04, as is Button. Felipe Massa is another one to watch. He has become lightning fast in the Ferrari as a test driver, within a few tenths of Michael at recent tests since being allowed to drive the F2003-GA. Ferrari is not ready to race him yet, but they could shoot him back out to Sauber if Frentzen calls it a day.

Alonso seems to have had only a one-year deal at Renault, though team manager Flavio Briatore is also his personal manager so he is likely going nowhere. Hopefully the brilliant Spaniard has negotiated some cash out of the deal at least.

Panis must be close to calling it a career. The oldest guy in F1, he cannot be having much fun with rookie da Matta showing him up as he has been doing. Da Matta also had only a one-year deal with Toyota - he would be on the move if there was anywhere to go. A swap with Montoya sounds like a lovely idea!

One final question: where on planet earth is Enrique Bernoldi hiding? With several teams needing stop-gap drivers and testers, this promising and now experienced driver would seem like a natural.

On to Hockenheim - let the games begin!