Belgian Grand Prix 1935

The second placed Manfred von Brauchitsch in the Mercedes-Benz W 25

The VI. Belgian Grand Prix took place on July 14, 1935 at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps . As Grande Épreuve he was part of the European Grand Prix Championship in 1935 and was carried out over 34 laps of 14.864 km each according to the provisions of the International Grand Prix Formula (racing cars up to a maximum of 750 kg empty weight; 85 cm minimum width; racing distance at least 500 km) corresponded to a total distance of 505.38 km.

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

run

Several times in its history, the Belgian Grand Prix only had a very small field of participants. This year, however, this was not only due to the fact that the Belgian automobile club had, as usual, been extremely picky about sending out invitations for the race, but also to the fact that the Auto Union team was taking a break from racing after the debacle at the previous French Grand Prix put in to be able to prepare better for the upcoming German Grand Prix instead . At Maserati , too, the new Maserati V8-RI Grand Prix model had not yet proven itself to be really operational when it was first used in Reims , so that the only challenge for the previously dominant Mercedes-Benz team was the usual line-up with Rudolf Caracciola , Luigi Fagioli and Manfred von Brauchitsch , in the two Alfa Romeo Tipo B from Scuderia Ferrari with Louis Chiron and René Dreyfus at the wheel. After all, the ailing Bugatti team was once again represented with three cars, driven by Jean-Pierre Wimille and Piero Taruffi at the side of old master Robert Benoist .

In the absence of Tazio Nuvolari , the only driver who was at least occasionally able to make up for the mechanical inferiority of his Alfa Romeo through commitment and driving skills, the outcome of the race was practically in question from the outset. Caracciola catapulted himself directly into the lead with his Mercedes from the starting grid, which was again drawn here as usual, and before the end of the first lap his team-mate von Brauchitsch had worked his way up past five competitors to second place. One lap later, Fagioli was finally past Wimilles Bugatti and with the triple guidance of his cars, Mercedes-Benz racing director Alfred Neubauer was able to give the trio the signal for a controlled driving style shortly afterwards, without the formation by Chiron and Dreyfus with the two Alfa Romeos would somehow be in danger.

However, Neubauer was now causing his drivers problems themselves, because while von Brauchitsch was once again unlucky and was thrown far to the bottom of the field due to a longer repair stop, Fagioli was apparently no longer willing to bow to the ranking. Although he was constantly instructed from the pits to reduce his speed, he began to put Caracciola under increasing pressure. In order not to jeopardize the sure win, Neubauer finally saw no other option than to order Fagioli to report to the pits on lap 23, whereupon the Italian jumped out of the car with a fury and left the pits on foot. His orphaned cockpit was eventually taken over by von Brauchitsch, but only after Chrion and Dreyfus had driven past him to positions two and three. After 30 laps, von Brauchitsch was finally back in front of the two Alfa Romeos and was finally able to finish the race behind Caracciola in second place.

Results

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Daimler-Benz AG	02	Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes-Benz W 25B	Mercedes-Benz M 25 B 4.0L I8 compressor	C.
	04th	Manfred von Brauchitsch
	06th	Luigi Fagioli
Automobiles Ettore Bugatti	08th	Robert Benoist	Bugatti T59	Bugatti 3.3L I8 compressor	M.
	10	Jean-Pierre Wimille
	12	Piero Taruffi
Scuderia Ferrari	14th	Louis Chiron	Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3	Alfa Romeo 3.2L I8 compressor	E.
	16	René Dreyfus
		Attilio Marinoni
Raymond Summers	18th	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3	Alfa Romeo 3.2L I8 compressor
Conte de Villapadierna	20th	Marcel Lehoux	Maserati 6C-34	Maserati 3.7L I6 compressor
	22nd	José de Villapadierna	Maserati 8CM	Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes Benz	34		3: 12: 31.0 h	3	5: 27.0 min
02	Luigi Fagioli Manfred von Brauchitsch	Mercedes Benz	34		+1: 37.0 min	8th	5: 26.0 min
03	Louis Chiron	Alfa Romeo	34		+ 2: 16.0 min	5	5: 36.0 min
04th	René Dreyfus Attilio Marinoni	Alfa Romeo	34		+ 5: 23.0 min	2	5: 36.0 min
05	Robert Benoist	Bugatti	31		+ 3 rounds	9	5: 51.0 min
06th	Marcel Lehoux	Maserati	31		+ 3 rounds	1	6: 03.0 min
07th	Piero Taruffi	Bugatti	30th		+ 4 rounds	7th	5: 45.0 min
-	Manfred von Brauchitsch	Mercedes Benz	15th		DNF	6th	5: 23.0 min	Engine failure
-	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo	8th		DNF	10	6: 01.0 min	mechanics
-	Jean-Pierre Wimille	Bugatti	7th		DNF	4th	5: 46.0 min	Engine failure

Web links

Commons : Belgian Grand Prix 1935  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• VI Belgian Grand Prix. www.teamdan.com, accessed on August 3, 2014 (English). 
• Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: VI GRAND PRIX DE BELGIQUE. www.kolumbus.fi, April 5, 2013, accessed on August 3, 2014 .