I have always thought the Hockenheimring circuit is weird... When I was young, the layout looked like a woman's boot designed by some kid who clearly knows how to design his mom's winter boot. Now, it's a heck of a fun to drive!
One of the reasons why Hockenheim was shortened was that there was no immediate access to large parts of the circuit, particularly at its fastest points. In the event of an accident, marshalls and medical crews would need to drive around the circuit to them, which can take a lot of time (particularly depending on where all of the racing cars are). When four cars wiped out at Monaco this year, Vitaly Petrov was knocked unconscious by the impact. He regained consciousness on his own, but by that time, the marshalls were already attending to the car. If that accident had happened at the old Hockenheim, the marshalls would have needed to get to the cars first, prioritise them (which means Petrov may not have been the first driver to recieve attention) and provide aid. The time wasted could have had serious ramifications.
The A1GP track in Beijing
The hairpin was so tight the cars couldn't get around safely so the track had to be changed after the first practice session.
The Beijing circuit that Superleague Formula used last year was worse - a section of circuit was so narrow that it failed its homologation. The circuit was given a Grade-3 licence instead of the Grade-2 needed for an international competition, so the event had to be treated as a national event and no championship points were awarded.
Then what were you talking about? I cited the four-car accident at Monaco as an example of something that could easily have been far worse if it happened at Hockenheim. You then made the counter-argument of the Nordschleife. Clearly we've missed something in the middle, here.
