Grand Prix of Germany 1938
The XI. German Grand Prix took place on July 24, 1938 on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring . As Grande Épreuve , the race was part of the European Grand Prix Championship in 1938 and, according to the regulations, was changed to 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; racing distance at least 500 km) over 22 laps of 22.810 km each, which corresponded to a total distance of 501.82 km.
The winner was Richard Seaman in a Mercedes-Benz W 154 , who as the team's “junior driver” was able to achieve his first victory in an International Grand Prix and was promoted to the ranks of the international racing elite.
The race
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The two German racing teams traditionally competed with maximum effort at the home Grand Prix. This was particularly true of the Mercedes-Benz team , which had completely dominated the season so far and had traveled to the Nürburgring with no fewer than four emergency vehicles and three training cars. This was the first time that Mercedes “Junior” Richard Seaman had a car available with which he could take part in the race alongside the regular line-up made up of European champion Rudolf Caracciola , Manfred von Brauchitsch and Hermann Lang . In doing so, von Brauchitsch almost came close to the training record set by Auto Union driver Bernd Rosemeyer in the previous year , even though the displacement of his Mercedes-Benz W 154 had practically been halved due to the new regulations .
The Auto Union racing team, on the other hand, found itself in a consolidation process after the loss of Rosemeyer, who had a fatal accident in a record attempt at the beginning of the year. The team had completely focused on the former star pilot and initially seemed completely disoriented after his death. At the German Grand Prix, however, at least two cars of the new Auto Union Type D Grand Prix model had been completed and Tazio Nuvolari , who had left Alfa Romeo in the dispute, had been able to sign a top driver again. Although he still struggled to get used to the driving behavior of the rear-engined racing car, which was unfamiliar to him, he was promptly able to achieve the best training time for the team, albeit only behind the four Mercedes drivers. In addition, the experienced Hans Stuck had been hired again, who had already won three international Grand Prix victories for Auto Union in previous years, but whose contract had actually not been extended at the end of 1937 for reasons of age. In addition, the two less experienced Rudolf Hasse and H. P. Müller had to be content with their Auto Union Type C / D transitional models, with the new 3-liter V12 in last year's chassis.
Alfa Romeo was also in a problematic position. After Nuvolari's departure, Giuseppe Farina became the new team captain, but he was not yet part of the absolute driver elite. A second Alfa Romeo Tipo 312 with a V12 engine was also used for Clemente Biondetti , which Mercedes, however, was also mechanically inferior. While Maserati did not register for the race, the Ecurie Bleue was another works racing team . The driving characteristics of the completely new Grand Prix model Delahaye Type 155 proved to be unsatisfactory in practice, which is why the team had to fall back on two much weaker two-seater Delahaye Type 145 racing cars for Gianfranco Comotti and René Dreyfus .
At the start, Mercedes driver Lang took the lead, followed by Nuvolari, Seaman and Caracciola. Nuvolari seemed unfamiliar with his Auto Union in racing conditions. He went off the track on the opening lap and had to give up the damaged car shortly afterwards. The other Auto Union drivers didn't seem too strong either, so Mercedes was ahead with four cars. A little later, Lang had to make an unscheduled pit stop with the engine running incorrectly, and von Brauchitsch, who had pushed past Seaman and Caracciola, who had suffered health problems, took the lead.
As a result, an intense duel developed between the two Mercedes drivers at the top - contrary to the stable order issued by Mercedes racing director Alfred Neubauer - in which von Brauchitsch seemed to have the upper hand over his young stable colleague Seaman. However, when the leader came to the pits for his second refueling and tire stop, fuel spilled over the rear of the car, which went up in flames seconds later. Von Brauchitsch was pulled out of the cockpit to extinguish his burning clothes, while the pit crew was working against the fire with extinguishing foam. In the meantime, shortly after von Brauchitsch, Seaman came in for his stop and was dispatched without any problems despite the prevailing chaos. The scene, which was completely recorded for the newsreel , is one of the most famous film documents of this racing era today. A short time later, von Brauchitsch got into his racing car, which was completely covered with extinguishing foam, but when attempting to intercept Seaman, he got off the track at high speed and was only very lucky to survive the subsequent accident completely uninjured. So Seaman could safely drive towards the first victory of his career. Lang, who had taken over Caracciola's car, finished second, four minutes behind.
Registration list
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Starting grid
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
.svg){kind=small} von Brauchitsch9: 48.4 min |
Long 9: 54.1 min |
 Seaman10:01.2 min |
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| 4th | 5 | |||
|
Caracciola 10:03, 1 min |
 Nuvolari10: 03.3 min |
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| 6th | 7th | 8th | ||
|
Hasse 10: 19.1 min |
Müller 10: 19.3 min |
Piece 10: 23.0 min |
||
| 9 | 10 | |||
|
Farina 10: 31.1 min |
Biondetti 10: 50.0 min |
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| 11 | 12 | 13 | ||
|
Taruffi
|
 Dreyfus
|
Pietsch
|
||
| 14th | 15th | |||
|
Hyde
|
Ghersi
|
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| 16 | 17th | 18th | ||
|
Balestrero
|
Cortese
|
mountain
|
||
| 19th | 20th | |||
|
Comotti
|
 de Graffenried
|
Race result
| Item | No. | driver | constructor | Round | time | Failure reason | EM points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 16 |
Richard Seaman
|
Mercedes Benz
|
22nd | 3: 51: 46.1 h | 1 | |
| 2 | 10 |
Rudolf Caracciola / Hermann Lang
|
Mercedes Benz
|
22nd | + 4: 20.1 min | 2 / - | |
| 3 | 4th |
Hans Stuck
|
Auto Union
|
22nd | + 8: 56.2 min | 3 | |
| 4th | 8th |
Hermann Paul Müller / Tazio Nuvolari
|
Auto Union
|
22nd | + 9: 33.0 min | 4 / - | |
| 5 | 20th |
René Dreyfus
|
Delahaye
|
21st | + 1 lap | 4th | |
| 6th | 40 |
Paul Pietsch
|
Maserati
|
20? | + 2 rounds? | 4th | |
| 7th | 42 |
Renato Balestrero
|
Alfa Romeo
|
4th | |||
| 8th | 30th |
Pietro Ghersi
|
Alfa Romeo
|
4th | |||
| 9 | 44 |
Franco Cortese
|
Maserati
|
4th | |||
| DNF | 6th |
Rudolf Hasse
|
Auto Union
|
15th | engine | 5 | |
| DNF | 14th |
Hermann Lang / Walter Bäumer
|
Mercedes Benz
|
15? | engine | 5 / - | |
| DNF | 12 |
Manfred von Brauchitsch
|
Mercedes Benz
|
15th | accident | 5 | |
| DNF | 36 |
Arthur Brookes Hyde
|
Maserati
|
14th | accident | 5 | |
| DNF | 32 |
Toulo de Graffenried
|
Maserati
|
14th | Power transmission | 7th | |
| DNF | 24 |
Giuseppe Farina
|
Alfa Romeo
|
14th | mechanics | 7th | |
| DNF | 28 |
Piero Taruffi
|
Alfa Romeo
|
2 | accident | 7th | |
| DNF | 2 |
Tazio Nuvolari
|
Auto Union
|
2 | accident | 7th | |
| DNF | 26th |
Clemente Biondetti
|
Alfa Romeo
|
1 | accident | 7th | |
| DNF | 22nd |
Gianfranco Comotti
|
Delahaye
|
1 | transmission | 7th | |
| DNF | 38 |
Herbert Berg
|
Maserati
|
1 | Fuel pump | 7th |
Fastest race lap : Richard Seaman ( Mercedes-Benz ), 10: 09.1 min = 134.8 km / h
Web links
- XI Grand Prix of Germany. www.teamdan.com, accessed on August 3, 2014 (English).
- Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: XI GRAND PRICE OF GERMANY. www.kolumbus.fi, May 17, 2014, accessed on August 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