Grand Prix of Germany 1939
The XII. German Grand Prix took place on July 24, 1939 on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring . As Grande Épreuve , the race was part of the European Grand Prix Championship in 1939 and, according to the provisions of the International Grand Prix Formula (mainly racing cars up to 3 liters with a compressor and up to 4.5 liters without a compressor; minimum weight 850 kg ; Race distance at least 300 km) over 22 laps of 22.810 km each, which corresponded to a total distance of 501.82 km.
The winner was Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz W 154 , who won the German Grand Prix for the sixth time. It was the last Grand Prix success of his career.
run
As always, the German racing teams put maximum effort into their home race at the Nürburgring . Auto Union , with Hermann Paul Muller victorious in the French Grand Prix , joined with five of their current Grand Prix racing cars of type D , which is also of Tazio Nuvolari , the international top drivers of the team, Hans Stuck , Rudolf Hasse and Meier Georg driven were.
Also, Daimler-Benz had much trouble used on the engine problems of the Mercedes-Benz W154 resolve that led to the defeat in the French Grand Prix. In addition to the usual driver trio Rudolf Caracciola , Hermann Lang and Manfred von Brauchitsch , who already dominated the training, a fourth car was used for the young driver Heinz Brendel .
Alfa Romeo , on the other hand, had completely discontinued its Grand Prix program in order to concentrate entirely on the Voiturette class, where a top car was available with the Alfa Romeo Tipo 158 "Alfetta" . The Maserati team, on the other hand, was represented at a Grand Prix again after a long absence. In addition to regular driver Luigi Villoresi , the second cockpit was given to the former Auto Union reserve driver Paul Pietsch for his home race. Pietsch was recently quite successful in the Voiturette class for Maserati. Maserati's current Grand Prix model of the Maserati 8CTF type was clearly inferior to the German Silver Arrows in terms of engine power, but was particularly easy to drive on the winding Nürburgring.
In practice, Mercedes driver Lang beat the old record with his fastest lap, which Bernd Rosemeyer had set in 1937 with an engine twice as large. Despite the prevailing "Eifel weather" with fog and light rain on the day of the race, Lang was in front after a few corners and came back from the first lap with an impressive lead of almost half a minute over his team mate von Brauchitsch. But just two laps later, the leading Mercedes showed signs of engine failure. At the same time as Lang's task, von Brauchitsch pitted because of an engine problem, so that Pietsch was surprisingly in front with his Maserati.
The interplay for the lead continued, however, and because Pietsch had to stop briefly to readjust the brakes, Nuvolari was now in front with his Auto Union for a few laps until the cold, wet weather caused his engine increasing difficulties and he had to make a pit stop as well . Caracciola then led briefly, but because he also had to change the spark plugs at the mid-race during the scheduled pit stop, he only got back on the track behind the Auto Union drivers Hasse and Müller.
The rain got heavier and as a rain specialist Caracciola worked his way back to the top. Hasse had tried to counter, but fell off the track and had to park his damaged Auto Union, as did Nuvolari, whose engine finally exploded a little later - lying in third position. This meant that only three of the eleven 3-liter supercharged Grand Prix cars that had started and Caracciola in a Mercedes, Müller in an Auto Union and Pietsch in a Maserati - the latter one lap behind despite two spins and four pit stops - drove the race in that order to end.
Registration list
Starting grid
1 | 2 | 3 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Long 9: 43.1 min |
von Brauchitsch 9: 51.0 min |
Caracciola 9: 56.0 min |
||
4th | 5 | |||
Müller 9: 53.9 min |
Brendel 10: 09.4 min |
|||
6th | 7th | 8th | ||
Nuvolari 10: 11.2 min |
Piece 10: 13.4 min |
Pietsch 10: 14.0 min |
||
9 | 10 | |||
Meier 10: 19.0 min |
Hasse 10: 22.3 min |
|||
11 | 12 | 13 | ||
Villoresi 10: 26.0 min |
Dreyfus 11: 28.0 min |
Summer 12: 03.3 min |
||
14th | 15th | |||
Joa 12: 15.2 min |
"Raph" 12: 16.2 min |
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16 | 17th | |||
Mazaud 12: 53.0 min |
Mandirola 13: 12.2 min |
Race result
Item | No. | driver | constructor | Round | time | Failure reason | EM points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 16 | Rudolf Caracciola | Mercedes Benz | 22nd | 4:08:41.4 h | 1 | |
2 | 6th | Hermann Paul Muller | Auto Union | 22nd | + | 57.9 s2 | |
3 | 32 | Paul Pietsch | Maserati | 21st | + 1 lap | 3 | |
4th | 24 | René Dreyfus | Delahaye | 20th | + 2 rounds | 4th | |
5 | 26th | "Raph" | Delahaye | 19th | + 3 rounds | 4th | |
6th | 28 | Robert Mazaud | Delahaye | 19th | + 3 rounds | 4th | |
7th | 40 | Leonhard Joa | Maserati | 19th | + 3 rounds | 4th | |
DNF | 2 | Tazio Nuvolari | Auto Union | 18th | engine | 4th | |
DNF | 8th | Rudolf Hasse | Auto Union | 11 | accident | 5 | |
DNF | 10 | Georg Meier | Auto Union | 10/13? | Steering knuckle | 6th | |
DQ | 36 | Adolfo Mandirola | Maserati | 9 | incorrect refueling process | 8th | |
DNF | 30th | Luigi Villoresi | Maserati | 6th | Dreher / fuel tank | 6th | |
DNF | 14th | Manfred von Brauchitsch | Mercedes Benz | 6th | Fuel tank | 7th | |
DNF | 22nd | Heinz Brendel | Mercedes Benz | 3 | accident | 7th | |
DNF | 16 | Hermann Lang | Mercedes Benz | 2 | engine | 7th | |
DNF | 22nd | Raymond Summers | Alfa Romeo | 0 | engine | 7th | |
DNF | 4th | Hans Stuck | Auto Union | 0 | Fuel line | 7th |
Fastest race lap : Rudolf Caracciola ( Mercedes-Benz ), 10: 24.2 min? = 131.6 km / h
Web links
- XII Grand Prix of Germany. www.teamdan.com, accessed on August 3, 2014 (English).
- Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: XII GRAND PRIZE 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