The topsy-turvy calendar continues to buck and weave its way towards the halfway point, and this time we have the German Grand Prix, a back to back with last weekend's Silverstone outing. The fallout from that race continues, but we've got another one to attend to - a real chance for the championship to be shaken up, and a very exciting opportunity to see which cars are fast when they're doing things properly.

Event schedule

Sebastian Vettel had an unusual bout of bad luck at Silverstone, and he'll want to turn things around for his home race in Germany but it's worth noting that the defending champion has never won in front of the home fans. Meanwhile, Mercedes made great strides in the team standings and secured another race victory to add to their collection - they will also want to go well at their home weekend.

The two Toro Rosso boys will be looking to capitalise on their good performance and show the Red Bull bosses they are worthy of Webber's seat, whilst there are rumours that Giedo van der Garde is hanging to his F1 career by a thread, so he'll need to impress as well.

Support racing for this event includes GP2, GP3 and Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup.

The weather

From this distance, the forecasts for the weekend look very similar to what we saw in the UK, with a damp start to proceedings and things gradually drying up. Friday may not be the washout that FP1 was at Silverstone, but there is certainly rain in the air. Sunday looks set to be a nice sunny day, however!

Circuit map

Just like last weekend, we've got two distinct DRS zones waiting for us at the Nürburgring, although this time they are a little closer together. The circuit only has a couple of straights worth their name, so the FIA have had to think creatively to squeeze in two zones.

The first takes place just as sector two begins, with the detection before turn ten, and the activation right before the sector marker. The second zone is before the final corner, with activation ready for the long home straight.

The circuit

The F1 layout of the Nürburgring nestles in the heart of the 22 kilometre full version, and although many are disappointed that the racing is too dangerous on the full-length track, the current circuit offers plenty of challenges of its own. With several overtaking areas, and the addition of DRS, we're unlikely to see a procession from start to finish.

The focus is on aerodynamic efficiency at the Nürburgring as the cars run with maximum downforce, it's easy on the brakes but requires a lot of compromises in the setup. With just a few straights and a lot of winding corners, making sure the drivers are comfortable and the cars are still fast is a difficult prospect. Plus it is always worth keeping an eye on the weather to spice things up.

Tyre compounds

Tyres are one of the huge topics of conversation this weekend - even bigger than they were before - and this time it is for safety reasons, rather than any kind of sporting influence. Pirelli have highlighted some of the issues that caused the four/five blowouts at Silverstone, and there will be more testing at the British track later this month. Hopefully we're on the path to recovery, so that the tyre talk can be reduced to it's normal orange alert level.

The Nurburgring is one of the circuits that we have the least experience of, having only raced there once before in Formula One, but we’re certain that we have chosen the correct compromise between performance and durability by bringing the medium and soft compounds. These were actually the same compounds that we chose for this track in 2011, but since then the tyres have got softer and faster, so we would expect a quicker race time with an average of three pit stops for most drivers.

- Paul Hembery

Press conference schedule

Official press conferences are organised by the FIA and happen four times during the weekend. The qualifying and post race press conferences will take place after the television unilateral interviews.

Race stewards

The FIA stewarding process was changed recently to include a former F1 driver to offer added insight. These are the stewards overseeing this weekend's action.