Swiss Grand Prix 1935

The Bremgarten circuit in its most traveled version

Location in the city area

The 2nd Swiss Grand Prix took place on August 25, 1935 on the Bremgarten circuit in Bremgarten near Bern . This year, the race once again only belonged to the Épreuves a priority category , but was still counted as a race for the 1935 European Grand Prix Championship and according to the provisions of the International Grand Prix racing formula (racing cars up to a maximum of 750 kg empty weight; 85 cm minimum width ; Race distance at least 500 km) over 70 laps of 7.280 km, which corresponded to a total distance of 509.60 km.

The winner was Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz W 25

run

Although it was still not granted the privileges of a Grande Épreuve , the Swiss Grand Prix had already developed into one of the most important events in the annual Grand Prix calendar in its second year of existence. This may also be due to the up to then unique combination of the actual Grand Prix with an independent voiturette race, the Prix ​​de Berne , in the supporting program, which was won this year by the British youngster Richard Seaman on ERA . In addition, despite the increasingly tense international situation, there was still a generally friendly atmosphere in neutral Switzerland, in which the participants from all countries, whether works teams or private drivers, could feel equally welcome.

After the recent surprising defeat against Tazio Nuvolari in his Alfa Romeo Tipo B at the home race at the Nürburgring , the Mercedes-Benz team did not want to afford any further loss of face, and in order to avoid any doubts about the seriousness of the undertaking, the team was with them again a large contingent of no less than five of his impressive Silver Arrows for the three regular drivers Rudolf Caracciola , Luigi Fagioli and Manfred von Brauchitsch , who now also held the first three positions in the championship standings, as well as the reserve drivers Hanns Geier and Hermann Lang . Geier suffered serious injuries in an accident during training, which he barely survived and which meant the end of his career as a Grand Prix driver.

The two other works teams from Alfa Romeo  - as always represented by Scuderia Ferrari  - with Tazio Nuvolari , Louis Chiron and René Dreyfus and Auto Union with Hans Stuck , Achille Varzi and Bernd Rosemeyer each competed with the best line-up. The Bugatti team was against nothing to see far and wide, as well as for Maserati , the use of the new Grand Prix type Maserati V8 RI allowed to continue in coming.

Already based on the training times, which were used to determine the starting grid for the first time at the Swiss Grand Prix, it became clear that the Alfa Romeo could not play the role by far, as it did last on the twisty and technically demanding Nürburgring. Nuvolari couldn't get past a position on the third row of the grid, while the Auto Union team was able to really demonstrate the potential of their cars for the first time this season, placing all three cars in the top five.

However, Caracciola had the best start from the middle of the front row, who took the lead in his Mercedes-Benz ahead of the two Auto Union from Varzi and Stuck. While he continued to increase the gap to the pursuers in the following, Varzi already damaged his car in an evasive maneuver on the second lap, so that he could not keep up with the pace of the front but drove the race bravely to the end. The new runner-up was Stuck, who fought for this position with Caracciola's team mate Fagioli until he too was thrown back by a puncture on his Auto Union. Already in the eighth lap, Chiron had strayed off the track with his Alfa Romeo and was thrown out of the car on impact into the lane. His injuries later turned out to be not too severe under the circumstances, but he had to skip the following Italian Grand Prix because of it.

In the 13th lap it started to rain and after the German participants had switched to rain tires - so-called summer tires, i.e. tires with hand-cut transverse grooves, were not available to Alfa Romeo - the new order remained with Caracciola (Mercedes) before Rosemeyer (Auto Union), Fagioli (Mercedes) and Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo) unchanged for a long time. However, due to his tire advantage, Varzi eventually managed to overtake Nuvolari despite his battered car. When the scheduled refueling stops came about in the middle of the race, the better pit work at Mercedes was the decisive factor, so that Fagioli came back on the track just before Rosemeyer. Although the two were only a few seconds apart and the rain subsided after about 45 laps, there were no further changes of position, so that Caracciola ended the race with a never-endangered start-and-finish victory.

Results

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Auto Union AG	02	Bernd Rosemeyer	Auto Union B	Auto Union 5.0L V16 compressor	C.
	04th	Hans Stuck
	06th	Achille Varzi
		Paul Pietsch
Daimler-Benz AG	08th	Manfred von Brauchitsch	Mercedes-Benz W 25B	Mercedes-Benz M 25 B 4.0L I8 compressor	C.
	10	Rudolf Caracciola
	12	Luigi Fagioli
	42	Hermann Lang
		Hanns Geier
Benoît Falchetto	14th	Benoît Falchetto	Maserati 8CM	Maserati 3.3L I8 compressor
Raymond Summers	16	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3	Alfa Romeo 3.2L I8 compressor
Earl Howe	18th	Earl Howe	Bugatti T59	Bugatti 3.3L I8 compressor	D.
	20th	Brian Lewis	Maserati 8CM	Maserati 3.3L I8 compressor
Gino Rovere	22nd	Giuseppe Farina	Maserati 6C-34	Maserati 3.7L I6 compressor	P
Franco Sardi	24	Nando Barbieri	Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3	Alfa Romeo 2.9L I8 compressor	P
Gruppo Genovese San Giorgio	26th	Renato Balestrero	Maserati 26M	Maserati 2.5L I8 compressor
Scuderia Ferrari	28	Louis Chiron	Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3	Alfa Romeo 3.2L I8 compressor	E.
	30th	René Dreyfus
	32	Tazio Nuvolari
Scuderia Subalpina	34	Philippe Étancelin	Maserati 6C-34	Maserati 3.7L I6 compressor
	36	Eugenio Siena	Maserati 8CM	Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor
Hans Ruesch	38	Hans Ruesch	Maserati 6C-34	Maserati 3.7L I6 compressor
László Hartmann	40	László Hartmann	Maserati 8CM	Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Qualification training		begin
			time	Ø speed
01	Achille Varzi	Auto Union	2: 41.8 min	161.780 km / h	01
02	Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes Benz	2: 42.8 min	160.980 km / h	02
03	Hans Stuck	Auto Union	2: 43.6 min	160,200 km / h	03
04th	Luigi Fagioli	Mercedes Benz	2: 44.2 min	159.610 km / h	04th
05	Bernd Rosemeyer	Auto Union	2: 45.3 min	158.550 km / h	05
06th	Hermann Lang	Mercedes Benz	2: 48.2 min	155.810 km / h	06th
07th	Tazio Nuvolari	Alfa Romeo	2: 49.1 min	154.990 km / h	07th
08th	René Dreyfus	Alfa Romeo	2: 50.2 min	153.980 km / h	08th
09	Manfred von Brauchitsch	Mercedes Benz	2: 50.8 min	153.440 km / h	09
10	Louis Chiron	Alfa Romeo	2: 51.8 min	152.550 km / h	10
11	Giuseppe Farina	Maserati	3: 06.0 min	140.900 km / h	11
12	Earl Howe	Bugatti	3: 07.0 min	140.150 km / h	12
13	Philippe Étancelin	Maserati	3: 07.1 min	140.070 km / h	13
14th	László Hartmann	Maserati	3: 25.6 min	127.470 km / h	13
15th	Brian Lewis	Maserati	3: 28.8 min	126.0 min km / h	15th
16	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo	3: 31.8 min	123.740 km / h	16
17th	Renato Balestrero	Maserati	3: 37.3 min	120.610 km / h	17th
18th	Nando Barbieri	Alfa Romeo	3: 45.2 min	116.380 km / h	18th

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes Benz	70	1	3: 31: 12.2 h	2	2: 44.4 min
02	Luigi Fagioli	Mercedes Benz	70	1	+ 35.9 s	4th
03	Bernd Rosemeyer	Auto Union	70	1	+1: 07.8 min	5
04th	Achille Varzi	Auto Union	69	1	+ 1 lap	1
05	Tazio Nuvolari	Alfa Romeo	68		+ 2 rounds	7th
06th	Hermann Lang	Mercedes Benz	67		+ 3 rounds	6th
07th	René Dreyfus	Alfa Romeo	66		+ 4 rounds	8th
08th	Giuseppe Farina	Maserati	64		+ 6 rounds	11
09	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo	63		+ 7 rounds	16
10	Earl Howe	Bugatti	60		+ 10 rounds	12
11	Hans Stuck Paul Pietsch	Auto Union	57		+ 13 rounds	3
12	Renato Balestrero	Maserati	53		+ 17 rounds	17th
-	László Hartmann	Maserati	25th		DNF	14th		Gearbox damage
-	Manfred von Brauchitsch	Mercedes Benz	13		DNF	9		Engine failure
-	Louis Chiron	Alfa Romeo	7th		DNF	10		accident
-	Brian Lewis	Maserati	3		DNF	15th		Failure after turning
-	Nando Barbieri	Alfa Romeo	2		DNF	18th		defective spark plugs
-	Philippe Étancelin	Maserati	1		DNF	13		accident

Web links

• II Swiss Grand Prix. www.teamdan.com, accessed September 3, 2014 . 
• Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: II SWISS GRAND PRICE. www.kolumbus.fi, May 6, 2014, accessed September 3, 2014 .