page_title: Formula One drivers from Germany
section_title: Notable former drivers
hierarchical_section_title: Formula One drivers from Germany / Former drivers / Notable former drivers
caption_attribution_description: Stefan Bellof, #4 Tyrrell-Ford was disqualified on Lap 9, don't know why. Bellof had a short Formula 1 career of only 20 starts before he was killed in the crash of a Porsche 956 at the 1000 km Spa event in Belgium. He was highly regarded as a future Formula 1 champion and was the idol of a young Michael Schumacher. His death shortly after Manfred Winkelhock's, caused all F1 teams to tighten their contracts with their expensive drivers to preclude running any events that were not part of the Formula 1 chase.
context_page_description: There have been 53 Formula One drivers from Germany including three world champions, one of whom is currently racing in the sport. Michael Schumacher holds many records in F1 including the most world championship titles and the most consecutive titles. In 2008 Sebastian Vettel became the youngest ever driver to win a race and, in 2010, became the youngest world championship winner. In 2016, Nico Rosberg became the third driver from Germany to win the F1 World Drivers' Championship. There are currently two German race drivers in Formula One.
context_section_description: Michael Schumacher has often been listed as one of the greatest drivers in the history of Formula One and the "most dominant driver in the history of the sport". He is statistically the best driver, holding many records including the most world championships, most wins, most fastest laps, most points, and formerly held the record for most pole positions (surpassed by Lewis Hamilton during the 2017 season). He won an unprecedented seven world championship titles, firstly in 1994 and then his second in 1995. Those titles came while Schumacher was a driver for Benetton but in 1996 he left to join Ferrari, a team who were, at the time, in disarray and without a champion driver since 1979. Over the next few seasons Schumacher and Ferrari saw some success and some controversy, including his disqualification from the 1997 season. However, the combination eventually proved highly successfully and Schumacher won five consecutive championships between 2000 and 2004. Many of Schumacher's records are believed unlikely to ever be surpassed.
  2016 World Champion Nico Rosberg, the son of 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg, drove for Germany even though his father represented Finland. He joined Formula One as a driver with Williams before moving to Mercedes in 2010.  He scored his first pole position at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix and held on to win the race. He became the second son of a former champion to win a title.
  Stefan Bellof has been described as the "ultimate 'what-might-have-been' driver". He joined Formula One in 1984, the same year that saw Ayrton Senna join the sport. Senna's performance at the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix marked him out as an immensely talented driver, but Bellof's race had shown what potential the German had as well. Starting last on a very wet grid, Bellof quickly rose through the order, passing seven cars by the end of the first lap. He was in fourth place when the race was stopped due to safety concerns brought on by the weather. It would prove to be his best result in Formula One and, in 1985, Bellof died at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps while competing in the World Sportscar Championship. Former team mate Martin Brundle later said of Bellof "as it is with Ayrton, the good ones are taken from us far too young".
  Ralf Schumacher, younger brother of Michael, won six Grands Prix in a career that spanned eleven F1 seasons starting in 1997. All six wins came in the middle of his F1 career as a driver for Williams. Heinz-Harald Frentzen won three Grands Prix over ten seasons, twice finishing in third place in the drivers' championship. Nick Heidfeld has the most podium finishes without a win (13) and holds the record for the most consecutive race classifications with a tally of 41.
  Timo Glock was the third driver for Jordan in 2004 and was called up for racing duty when Giorgio Pantano was unable to drive due to a sponsorship dispute. Glock finished 7th, becoming one of only a handful of drivers who have scored championship points on their debut. It would prove to be Glock's only race in that season and he would not return to F1 until 2008.
  Adrian Sutil entered Formula One in 2007 with Spyker. He stayed with the team (which was renamed Force India for 2008) for the next four seasons, before a year out of the sport, and then returning to Force India in 2013. For 2014, Sutil moved to Sauber but was not retained for 2015.
caption: Stefan Bellof in a Tyrrell 012 at the 1984 Dallas Grand Prix
exif: {"Image Make": "Nikon", "Image Model": "Nikon COOLSCAN V ED", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "481", "Image YResolution": "481", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.8.16", "Image DateTime": "2016:05:14 15:02:18", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "208", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "380", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5711", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "844", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "546"}