1954 German Grand Prix

  1954 German Grand Prix

Race details
Race 6 of 9 in the 1954 Formula One season
Nürburgring layout
Date	1 August 1954
Official name	XVII Großer Preis von Deutschland a.k.a. Großer Preis von Europa [1]
Location	Nürburgring, Nürburg, West Germany
Course	Permanent road course
Course length	22.810 km (14.173 mi)
Distance	22 laps, 501.820 km (311.806 mi)
Weather	Sunny, dry
Pole position
Driver	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes
Time	9:50.1
Fastest lap
Driver	Karl Kling	Mercedes
Time	9:55.1
Podium
First	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes
Second	José Froilán González Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari
Third	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1954 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on 1 August 1954. It was the sixth round of the 1954 World Drivers' Championship. It was the 17th German Grand Prix since the race was first held in 1926 and the 16th to be held at the Nürburgring complex of circuits. The race was won by 1951 world champion, Argentine driver Juan Manuel Fangio driving a Mercedes-Benz W196. Ferrari 625 drivers Mike Hawthorn (in a shared drive with José Froilán González) and Maurice Trintignant finished second and third for Scuderia Ferrari.

Race report

Juan Manuel Fangio won the 1954 German Grand Prix driving a Mercedes-Benz W196.

President Theodor Heuss visits the racetrack.

The race was lengthened from 18 to 22 laps, bring the German Grand Prix up to the approximately 500 kilometre race distance used by the majority of Formula One Grands Prix at the time. Mercedes had brought to the Nürburgring their new open-wheeled version of the W196 for Fangio, Kling and Hermann Lang (in a one-off drive) after Mercedes's defeat at Silverstone in their streamlined cars. Hans Herrmann drove a streamlined W196. Qualifying saw Fangio take pole position from Hawthorn, but practice was marred by the death of official Maserati driver Onofre Marimón. Going into the Wehrseifen slight right hand/sharp left hand turn, Marimón's Maserati 250F failed to negotiate the corner while going down the downhill run to the corner, plunged down an embankment, the car somersaulted and he was killed instantly. Marimón's team mate Luigi Villoresi withdrew from the race, as did Owen Racing entered Maserati of Ken Wharton but the team's third car for Sergio Mantovani fronted for the race start. Stirling Moss qualified third in his privately entered Maserati 250F ahead of Hans Herrmann (Mercedes-Benz W196), Gonzalez and Paul Frère (Gordini T16).

Fangio and Karl Kling led the way in their two Mercedes. Hawthorn was an early retirement with a broken axle as were Moss, Frère and privateer Maserati driver Roberto Mieres. Hermann Lang, one of the pre-war stars of the Mercedes 'silver arrows' spun out of his final Grand Prix appearance after ten laps. Gonzalez started and was running third but was so upset by Marimón's death he was called in after 16 laps to hand over to Hawthorn, who set off in pursuit of the Mercedes. He moved into second when Kling pitted and pursued Fangio relentlessly. Late in the race, drizzle forced him to slow and he held second from Trintignant. Kling finished fourth ahead of Mantovani, the last driver to travel the full race distance, getting some points for a saddened Maserati. Kling claimed the fastest lap point.

Just ten of the 23 qualifiers finished the gruelling race. With an elapsed time of 3 hours 45 minutes 45.8 seconds this was the longest (non Indy 500) F1 championship race in history, until the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix, which lasted just over four hours. The win pushed Fangio further ahead in the championship, now to the point where he had more than double the points of his nearest rival Gonzalez. A win in the next race at the Swiss Grand Prix could wrap up his second championship.

Classification

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	18	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes	22	3:45:45.8	1	8
2	1	José Froilán González Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	22	+1:36.5	5	3 3
3	2	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari	22	+5:08.6	7	4
4	19	Karl Kling	Mercedes	22	+6:06.5	23	4
5	7	Sergio Mantovani	Maserati	22	+8:50.5	15	2
6	4	Piero Taruffi	Ferrari	21	+1 lap	13
7	15	Harry Schell	Maserati	21	+1 lap	14
8	25	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	21	+1 lap	11
9	24	Robert Manzon	Ferrari	20	+2 laps	12
10	9	Jean Behra	Gordini	20	+2 laps	9
Ret	14	Prince Bira	Maserati	18	Steering	19
Ret	21	Hermann Lang	Mercedes	10	Spun Off	13
Ret	11	Clemar Bucci	Gordini	8	Wheel	16
Ret	22	Theo Helfrich	Klenk-BMW	8	Engine	21
Ret	20	Hans Herrmann	Mercedes	7	Fuel Leak	4
Ret	10	Paul Frère	Gordini	4	Wheel	6
Ret	3	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	3	Transmission	2
Ret	8	Roberto Mieres	Maserati	2	Fuel Leak	17
Ret	16	Stirling Moss	Maserati	1	Wheel Bearing	3
Ret	12	André Pilette	Gordini	0	Suspension	20
DNS	6	Onofre Marimón	Maserati		Fatal Crash in Practice	8
DNS	5	Luigi Villoresi	Maserati		Withdrawn	10
DNS	17	Ken Wharton	Maserati		Withdrawn	22
Source:[2]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Juan Manuel Fangio	36  ^1⁄7
	2	José Froilán González	17  ^9⁄14
	3	Maurice Trintignant	15
1	4	Mike Hawthorn	10  ^9⁄14
3	5	Karl Kling	10

• Note: Only the top five positions are included. Only the best 5 results counted towards the Championship.

References

1. "Tragedy At the 'Ring: The 1954 German GP". gpevolved.com. Archived from the original on 30 June 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
2. "1954 German Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2015.