Swiss Grand Prix 1938
The 5th Swiss Grand Prix took place on August 21, 1938 on the Bremgarten circuit in Bremgarten near Bern . As Grande Épreuve , the race was part of the European Grand Prix Championship in 1938 , but was deviating from the provisions of the International Grand Prix Formula (mainly racing cars up to 3 liters displacement with compressor and up to 4.5 liters displacement without compressor; minimum weight 850 kg; Race distance of at least 500 km) over 50 laps of 7.280 km each, which corresponded to a total distance of 364.0 km.
The winner was Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz W154
The race
After winning the Grand Prix of Germany was located Mercedes - Junior Richard Seaman flying high and qualified promptly in Bern for the best starting position. Together with him, his team mates Hermann Lang and Rudolf Caracciola occupied the front row of the grid, making the Mercedes dominance clear during training, especially since the fourth driver of the team, Manfred von Brauchitsch , was the best Auto-Union driver at the same time as Hans Stuck started the race from fifth place. Behind them in sixth place was Auto Union youngster Hermann Paul Müller , ahead of the actual top driver in the team, Tazio Nuvolari , who, after moving from Alfa Romeo , still had problems dealing with the unfamiliar driving behavior of the rear-engined racing cars. Directly next to him was Jean-Pierre Wimille, the driver who, in turn, had finally taken over the vacated cockpit at Alfa Romeo after his previous employer Bugatti finally withdrew from the Grand Prix after just one disappointing appearance at the home race at the French Grand Prix -Build had passed. The field of works teams was finally completed by Auto Union junior Christian Kautz and Alfa Romeo regular driver Giuseppe Farina in the fourth row of the grid, before the ranks of private drivers with practically no chance came behind them.
On the day of the race it was pouring rain , but the still relatively inexperienced Seaman immediately took the lead in his mighty Mercedes-Benz W154 and even expanded it over the course of the following laps. Behind him, Caracciola first had to fight his way past Stuck, which had started excellently as usual, in his Auto Union "Type D" , before he was able to pursue his young team-mate as a rain specialist.
The conditions now became increasingly difficult and when Seaman had problems lapping two participants from midfield for a moment due to poor visibility, Caracciola was able to take the opportunity to pull past and take the lead, which he did not give up until the end of the race. Behind them, the Auto Union drivers ran into problems one after the other and when Müller, who was getting better and better from race to race as a young driver, lost his third place three laps before the end of the race due to an accident, it was another one-two-three Mercedes with Caracciola in front of Seaman and von Brauchitsch perfect.
Registration list
Starting grid
1 | 2 | 3 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Seaman 2: 38.8 min |
Long 2: 42.0 min |
Caracciola 2: 42.2 min |
||
4th | 5 | |||
Piece 2: 42.9 min |
von Brauchitsch 2: 42.9 min |
|||
6th | 7th | 8th | ||
Müller 2: 43.5 min |
Nuvolari 2: 43.9 min |
Wimille 2: 44.3 min |
||
9 | 10 | |||
Kautz 2: 45.4 min |
Farina 2: 46.7 min |
|||
11 | 12 | 13 | ||
Taruffi 2: 52.6 min |
Dreyfus 2: 55.9 min |
Teagno 3: 03.8 min |
||
14th | 15th | |||
de Graffenried (not started) |
"Raph" 3: 13.3 min |
|||
16 | 17th | 18th | ||
Romano 3: 17.7 min |
Christians 3: 27.9 min |
Mandirola 3: 38.0 min |
||
19th | 20th | |||
de Sztriha 3: 29.1 min |
Minozzi 3: 31.1 min |
Race result
Item | No. | driver | constructor | Round | time | Failure reason | EM points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 14th | Rudolf Caracciola | Mercedes Benz | 50 | 2: 32: 07.8 h | 1 | |
2 | 16 | Richard Seaman | Mercedes Benz | 50 | + 26.0 s | 2 | |
3 | 10 | Manfred von Brauchitsch | Mercedes Benz | 49 | + | 1 lap3 | |
4th | 8th | Hans Stuck | Auto Union | 48 | + | 2 rounds4th | |
5 | 38 | Giuseppe Farina | Alfa Romeo | 48 | + | 2 rounds4th | |
6th | 28 | Piero Taruffi | Alfa Romeo | 47 | + | 3 rounds4th | |
7th | 40 | Jean-Pierre Wimille | Alfa Romeo | 47 | + | 3 rounds4th | |
DNF | 4th | Hermann Paul Muller | Auto Union | 46 | accident | 4th | |
8th | 20th | René Dreyfus | Delahaye | 46 | + | 4 rounds4th | |
9 | 6th | Tazio Nuvolari | Auto Union | 46 | + | 4 rounds4th | |
10 | 14th |
Hermann Lang / Walter Bäumer |
Mercedes Benz | 45 | + | 5 rounds4 / - | |
11 | 20th | "Raph" | Delahaye | 43 | + | 7 rounds4th | |
12 | 24 | Emilio Romano | Alfa Romeo | 41 | + | 9 rounds4th | |
13 | 32 | Max Christians | Maserati | 40 | + 10 rounds | 4th | |
14th | 26th |
Edoardo Teagno / Prince Bira |
Maserati | 39 | + 11 rounds | 4 / - | |
DNF | 2 | Christian Kautz | Auto Union | 19th | Gasoline leak / carburetor? | 6th | |
DNF | 30th | Adolfo Mandirola | Maserati | 17th | 6th | ||
DNF | 22nd | Giovanni Minozzi | Alfa Romeo | 17th | 6th | ||
DNF | 34 | István de Sztriha | Alfa Romeo | 5 | 7th |
Fastest race lap : Richard Seaman ( Mercedes-Benz ), 2: 51.0 min = 153.3 km / h
Web links
- V Swiss Grand Prix. www.teamdan.com, accessed September 3, 2014 .
- Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: V SWISS GRAND PRICE. www.kolumbus.fi, May 3, 2014, accessed September 3, 2014 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ The type designation of the Auto Union racing cars was only introduced later by specialist authors to differentiate between the individual models