1954 German Grand Prix

The 1954 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Nürburgring on 1 August 1954. It was race 6 of 9 in the 1954 World Championship of Drivers. 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.

1954 German Grand Prix
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Nürburgring layout
Nürburgring layout
Race details
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 miles)
Distance 22 laps, 501.820 km (311.806 miles)
Weather Sunny, dry
Pole position
Driver Mercedes
Time 9:50.1
Fastest lap
Driver West Germany Karl Kling Mercedes
Time 9:55.1
Podium
First Mercedes
Second Ferrari
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

Race report

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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, bringing 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 W196s. 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. Marimón was given the last rites by a Catholic priest before dying a few minutes after rescue workers freed him. Marimón's teammate Luigi Villoresi withdrew from the race, as did the Maserati of Ken Wharton (entered by Owen Racing) but the team's third car for Sergio Mantovani made the race start. Stirling Moss qualified third in his privately entered Maserati 250F ahead of Hans Herrmann (Mercedes-Benz W196s), 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 (but in this case it's also considered the time with race suspended).[2] 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

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Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 18   Juan Manuel Fangio Mercedes 9:50.1
2 3   Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 9:53.3 + 3.2
3 16   Stirling Moss Maserati 10:00.7 + 10.6
4 20   Hans Herrmann Mercedes 10:01.5 + 11.4
5 1   José Froilán González Ferrari 10:01.8 + 11.7
6 10   Paul Frère Gordini 10:05.9 + 15.8
7 2   Maurice Trintignant Ferrari 10:07.5 + 17.4
8 6   Onofre Marimón Maserati 10:11.3 + 21.2
9 9   Jean Behra Gordini 10:11.9 + 21.8
10 5   Luigi Villoresi Maserati Unknown
11 21   Hermann Lang Mercedes 10:13.1 + 23.0
12 24   Robert Manzon Ferrari 10:16.1 + 26.0
13 4   Piero Taruffi Ferrari 10:23.0 + 32.9
14 15   Harry Schell Maserati 10:28.7 + 38.6
15 7   Sergio Mantovani Maserati 10:39.1 + 49.0
16 11   Clemar Bucci Gordini 10:43.7 + 53.6
17 8   Roberto Mieres Maserati 10:47.0 + 56.9
18 25   Louis Rosier Ferrari 11:04.3 + 1:14.2
19 14   Prince Bira Maserati 11:10.3 + 1:20.2
20 12   André Pilette Gordini 11:13.4 + 1:23.2
21 22   Theo Helfrich Klenk-BMW 11:18.3 + 1:28.2
22 17   Ken Wharton Maserati No time
23 19   Karl Kling Mercedes No time

Race

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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 41
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 18
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 11
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:[3]
Notes
  • ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Shared drive

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  • Car #1: González (16 laps), then Hawthorn (6 laps)

Championship standings after the race

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Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
  1   Juan Manuel Fangio 36 17
  2   José Froilán González 17 914
  3   Maurice Trintignant 15
  1 4   Mike Hawthorn 10 914
  3 5   Karl Kling 10
Source:[4]
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included. Only the best 5 results counted towards the Championship.

References

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  1. ^ "Tragedy At the 'Ring: The 1954 German GP". gpevolved.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
  2. ^ "Statistics Grands Prix - Time - The most". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 20 May 2020.
  3. ^ "1954 German Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  4. ^ "Germany 1954 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
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Previous race:
1954 British Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
1954 season
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1954 Swiss Grand Prix
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1953 German Grand Prix
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1956 German Grand Prix
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1952 Belgian Grand Prix
European Grand Prix
(Designated European Grand Prix)
Next race:
1955 Monaco Grand Prix