By Phil Huff
July 21 2005

Reopened in 1966, after the original oval was cut in two by the construction of an autobahn, Hockenheim was radically changed again in 2002. The legendary sweeping forest straights were removed in place of a tighter, more modern layout that boasts a much larger spectator capacity. The result is a track that is almost unrecognisable from its predecessor with dramatic reductions in both speed and length, but considerable improvements in safety.

Opinion on the new circuit is still very much divided among the drivers and teams.

Honda-powered drivers dominated the German Grand Prix between 1986-1990, Nelson Piquet taking victory in 1986 and 1987 and Ayrton Senna scoring a hat-trick of wins from 1988-1990.

In 2001 Jacques Villeneuve scored Honda's second podium finish of its third generation in Formula One, when he crossed the line in third place at Hockenheim.

Last year Jenson Button fought a dramatic race, fighting back from 13th place to finish second.

Honda was the first Japanese manufacturer to open an office in Europe in 1961. The office was set up in Hamburg, Germany to control all the logistics and sales activity within Europe. When the European head office moved to the UK in 1965, Germany became responsible solely for Austria, Netherlands and Belgium. 350 people currently work at the German head office (now settled in Offenbach, near Frankfurt) and 340 Honda dealers are established in Germany.