The new Nurburgring first held the European Grand Prix in 1984 and in 1985 it held the German Grand Prix for the first time in ten years, but the circuit was never seen as challenging by drivers and the next season
F1 returned to Hockenheim and would not return to the Nurburgring until 1995.
The presence of two Grands Prix, and two relatively permanent fixtures on the calendar at that, has always raised eyebrows in other nations. Germany's hosting of the European Grand Prix came about through the motive force of the raise of popularity of
Michael Schumacher, Germany's first
Formula 1 world champion, allied to the political force of German chancellor, Helmut Kohl.
Schumacher's excellence, however, can also be seen as something of a casual factor in the decline of popularity of the events in Germany, as his domination went to such extents, and also support for sports such as Formula 1 certainly appears in many cases to be cyclical in nature.
Should Germany lose on of its Grand Prix in the future, there is no shortage of willing suitors to step into the breach, with Austria the nearest geographically should
Red Bull's plans for the A1 Ring kick back into action if government environmental concerns can be eased there.
