1954 German Grand Prix

1954 German Grand Prix
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Nürburgring layout
Race details
Date	1 August 1954
Official name	XVII Großer Preis von Deutschland a.k.a. Großer Preis von Europa
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	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 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.

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, 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). 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

Qualifying

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

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:

Notes

• ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Shared drive

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

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
Source:

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