German Drivers

[Whyzars]

5 of the top 10 drivers in Valencia are from Germany. That is a pretty impressive achievement.

What is Germany doing right that see's so many of its drivers succeed in F1?

[AndyRAC]

Plenty of Manufacturers that love Motorsport......and support the junior formulae - it's not just F1 though.

[wedge]

Vettel - RB driver

Rosberg - well, Keke was from Finland...

Sutil - Colin Kolles helped him into F3 and F1.

Schumi - pioneer

[Kevincal]

Superior genetics and culture.

[CaptainRaiden]

Wealthy country, wealthy drivers. Lots of FIA certified circuits holding many cups and championships. Almost all major car manufacturers pumping silly money into junior formulaes (ex. Formula BMW, Porsche Supercup), German DTM series, Audi's racing program, racing series pumped by Mercedes during Schumi's time to find German talent. Now, a sports drink pumping silly money as well, eg. Red Bull junior program. When you have these many amazing opportunities available, it's hard for youngsters not to want to take up motorsports and have loads of experience before they reach a higher level.

Unfortunately other countries are not so wealthy, don't have proper circuits or enough manufacturers or simply do not care about motorsports that much in general.

This is not saying they don't have talent though. They just have better opportunities than others.

[CaptainRaiden]

Same way Italians and Spanish riders dominate motorcycle racing. Lots of junior championships funding and fueling champions of tomorrow. If only other countries had this luxury, we'd have a more mixed grid.

[555-04Q2]

Autobahn...

[ioan]

Superior genetics and culture.

Hope you are joking.

[D28]

Hard to remember that prior to 1994, Germany had no World Drivers Champions, under the current F1 system. They are about to have 9 this year if Vettel hangs on to win.
Germany lagged behind most European countires, USA and S. America in this regard.
These things tend to go in cycles, but all the money poured into motorsport by manufacturers certainly helps, as does the example of M. Schumacher and Vettel.

[airshifter]

I reject all the above logic based opinions.

It's the beer and women. Everyone knows winning in F1 gives you plenty of money for both. Who needs a feeder series to understand that? ;)

[ShiftingGears]

If you have manufacturers and sponsors from a certain country more willing to invest in motorsport (specifically, open wheelers), as well as various championships which to hone skills (ie, European championships), then there is a greater likelihood that drivers from that country will make it higher up the ladder, because there's more of them that get given that opportunity.

It's exactly the same as French drivers in the late 60's and 70's. They were invested in heavily by French oil companies (much much more than other companies invested in their own nations drivers), and the outcome was French drivers like Jabouille, Arnoux, Prost, Beltoise, Depailler, Laffite, Pironi, Cervert and Tambay all winning grands prix in that time period.

That's basically what it comes down to.

[555-04Q2]

Maybe Hitler was right :s hock:

[nigelred5]

I don't know if he was right, but he certainly wasn't wrong about EVERYTHING. He certainly screwed the pooch bigtime on the race thing though.......

[ioan]

Maybe Hitler was right :s hock:

Believe me, he wasn't. That's why they lost.

[Malbec]

If you have manufacturers and sponsors from a certain country more willing to invest in motorsport (specifically, open wheelers), as well as various championships which to hone skills (ie, European championships), then there is a greater likelihood that drivers from that country will make it higher up the ladder, because there's more of them that get given that opportunity.

It's exactly the same as French drivers in the late 60's and 70's. They were invested in heavily by French oil companies (much much more than other companies invested in their own nations drivers), and the outcome was French drivers like Jabouille, Arnoux, Prost, Beltoise, Depailler, Laffite, Pironi, Cervert and Tambay all winning grands prix in that time period.

That's basically what it comes down to.

Its all that plus public interest.

Looking at Britain interest at grassroots level shot up when Lewis Hamilton hit the scene and grabbed public imagination. Karting got loads more kids applying. I'd have thought exactly the same happened in Germany when Schumacher started winning. After all a lot of the German drivers now are in their mid-twenties, back in the mid-90s when he started winning they'd have been about 10.

Its not just motorsport, a Greek football fanatic friend of mine told me that loads more Greek kids got into football training after Greece won the European cup, in a few years time these kids will be of an age where they'll get into proper football teams and raise the national team higher (or so he says).

[ioan]

Its not just motorsport, a Greek football fanatic friend of mine told me that loads more Greek kids got into football training after Greece won the European cup, in a few years time these kids will be of an age where they'll get into proper football teams and raise the national team higher (or so he says).

That is if Greece will be able to have a national football team. :D

[Firstgear]

Its all that plus public interest.

Looking at Britain interest at grassroots level shot up when Lewis Hamilton hit the scene and grabbed public imagination. Karting got loads more kids applying. I'd have thought exactly the same happened in Germany when Schumacher started winning. After all a lot of the German drivers now are in their mid-twenties, back in the mid-90s when he started winning they'd have been about 10.

Its not just motorsport, a Greek football fanatic friend of mine told me that loads more Greek kids got into football training after Greece won the European cup, in a few years time these kids will be of an age where they'll get into proper football teams and raise the national team higher (or so he says).
I agree with this...I think the saying goes "Success breeds success"