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By Alex Yoong
Since 2007, the German Grand Prix (GP) has been shared between circuits at Hockenheim and Nurburgring.
This year, the race returns to Hockenheim.
In its current configuration, the track is not the high-speed challenge it used to be.
It was shortened for safety and crowd reasons, and the track was condensed into a smaller area in 2002.
Unfortunately, by doing so, the track lost all of its character and is more or less like any other modern Formula circuit: Wide and smooth surfaced, with lots of run-off area and mostly slow to medium-speed corners.
Having said that, it is still difficult to be quick at Hockenheim, as the wide corners make it tricky to know where to place a car, especially as car and track conditions and the car line change.
Drivers have to be very precise and not overcook the slow technical corners, or risk losing time down the long straights.
The German GP is also the halfway point in what has become Formula One's longest season.
This makes it a good time to have a half-term report on the drivers and teams, so let's take a closer look at the standout performers of this year so far.
Fernando Alonso is leading the championship with Ferrari, and rightly so.
His wins in Malaysia and Valencia in a car that was not the quickest on the field were bold, as well as brilliant.
More impressive has been his ability to acquire points, even when his car was one of the slowest on the grid at the beginning of the year.
He has been very measured in not trying to be too clever and his target has always been to rack up points in the championship.
Red Bull's Mark Webber is the only other driver, apart from Alonso, who has won more than twice this season, and his "softly, softly" approach to racing has left him second in the championship.
There have been a couple of races, though, where I think he did not get the most of the machinery under him.
 
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