Hockenheim

Hockenheim ( pronunciation ) is a German town in northwest Baden-Württemberg, about 20 km south of Mannheim and 10 km west of Walldorf. It is located in the Upper Rhine valley on the touristical theme routes Baden Asparagus Route ("Badische Spargelstraße") and Bertha Benz Memorial Route. The town is widely known for its Hockenheimring, a motor racing course, which hosted over 30 Formula One German Grand Prix races since 1970.

Hockenheim is one of the six largest towns in the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district; since 1999 the number of inhabitants exceeded the 20,000 threshold, thus the town received the status of a regional central town ("Große Kreisstadt") in 2001. It is twinned with the French town of Commercy, the German town of Hohenstein-Ernstthal in Saxony and the American town of Mooresville, North Carolina.

Geography

Location and environment

Hockenheim is located in the Upper Rhine valley on an old trade route from Frankfurt to Basel. The brook Kraichbach divides the town in an eastern and a smaller western area, and flows into the Rhine to the north near Ketsch. Hockenheim's total municipal area covers 3,484 ha, with ca. 28.8 percent used for settlement and transportation and ca. 45.9 percent for agriculture. The remaining area consists of ca. 22 percent forests and ca. 2.4 percent rivers and seas.

2008 German Grand Prix

The 2008 German Grand Prix (formally the LXIX Großer Preis Santander von Deutschland) was a Formula One motor race held on July 20, 2008 at the Hockenheimring, Hockenheim, Germany. It was the 10th race of the 2008 Formula One season and was contested over 67 laps. It was won by Lewis Hamilton for the McLaren team after starting from pole position. Nelson Piquet Jr. finished second for Renault, with Felipe Massa third for Ferrari.

Hamilton maintained his startline advantage and led until he made his first pit stop on lap 18. As other cars made their pit stops, Hamilton regained the lead on lap 22. On lap 36, Timo Glock crashed, and the race was neutralized by the deployment of the safety car. Hamilton, on a two-stop strategy, did not stop to get more fuel during this period, while all the cars around him did. Thus, when he did eventually stop on lap 50, he rejoined the race in fifth position. In the closing stages of the race, Hamilton first overtook his teammate Heikki Kovalainen, then Massa, and finally Piquet, whilst also gaining a position due to Nick Heidfeld's late pit stop. This allowed him to take the lead again on lap 60, which he maintained to win the race.