European Grand Prix
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Template:F1 race The European Grand Prix is a Formula One event that was held during the mid-1980s and has been held mostly regularly since 1993.
First Incarnation
The event was initially created as stopgap. In 1983, the Formula One schedule originally featured a race near Flushing Meadows Park in New York. When the race was cancelled three months before the event, track organizers at Brands Hatch were able to create a European Grand Prix at the track in its place. The success of the event, buoyed by a spirited battle for the World Championship, led to the event returning on the schedule the following year.
Brands Hatch was unable to host the European Grand Prix in 1984, as it was hosting the British Grand Prix in even numbered years (alternating with Silverstone) so the European GP went to a redesigned and shorter Nürburgring circuit in 1984. It was a far cry from the 14 mile Nürburgring that most were used to seeing, and was initially unpopular during Formula One's return. Brands Hatch returned to host the European Grand Prix in 1985, but the race was replaced in 1986 by the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Second Incarnation
In 1990, a wealthy Japanese businessman, Tomonori Tsurumaki, built an extravagant (and remote) race track called Nippon Autopolis with the idea of hosting a Formula One race. In 1992, plans were made to have an Asian Grand Prix in 1993 to replace the Mexican Grand Prix on the schedule. However, these plans failed to materialize. Instead, Bernie Ecclestone added a race at Donington Park to the schedule, which brought back the European Grand Prix moniker. The race was the brainchild of Tom Wheatcroft, who had been trying to bring F1 to the track since an abortive attempt to host the British Grand Prix in 1988. The first (and only) race at Donington Park resulted in Ayrton Senna's famous victory in wet/dry conditions where he essentially lapped the field.
The European race would go to Jerez the following season, and then returned to Nürburgring, which was now popular again with drivers. Because of this it hosted the race again in 1996, but after complaints that no other countries were to get the race, the Nürburgring race was renamed the Luxembourg Grand Prix and Jerez got the race back in 1997. Jerez hosted the season finale that year, and it was the site of the famous incident between Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve which saw Schumacher get disqualified from the championship.
In 1998, the European Grand Prix was dropped from the schedule, but returned in 1999 when the race at Nürburgring re-adopted the European Grand Prix name. The race has remained there since.
Winners of the European Grands Prix
| Races in the Formula One championship: |
| 2005 championship Grand Prix events: Australian |
Malaysian |
Bahrain |
San Marino |
Spanish |
Monaco |
European |
Canadian |
U.S. |
| Past championship Grand Prix events: Argentine |
Austrian |
Czechoslovakian |
Dutch |
Indy 500 |
Las Vegas |
Luxembourg |
Mexican |
Morocco |
es:Gran Premio de Europa it:Gran Premio d'Europa pl:Grand Prix Europy pt:Grande Prémio da Europa sv:Europas Grand Prix