1954 French Grand Prix

 1954 French Grand Prix

Racing data
4th of 9 races of the 1954 World Automobile Championship
Surname:	XLI Grand Prix de l'ACF
Date:	4th July 1954
Place:	Reims
Course:	Circuit de Reims-Gueux
Length:	506.422 km in 61 laps of 8.302 km
Weather:	cloudy, wet
Pole position
Driver:	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes
Time:	2: 29.4 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Hans Herrmann	Mercedes
Time:	2: 32.9 min (lap 3)

Mercedes-Benz W 196 in the museum

Cockpit of the W 196

The 1954 French Grand Prix took place on July 4th at the Circuit de Reims-Gueux near Reims and was the 4th race of the 1954 World Automobile Championship .

Reports

background

The 1954 French Grand Prix brought the long-awaited debut of the Mercedes factory team. The leader of the drivers' championship, Juan Manuel Fangio , switched from Maserati to the new team, for which Karl Kling and Hans Herrmann also competed.

In addition to the debut of Mercedes, Kling and Herrmann, this was also the first Grand Prix participation of a Continental tire. Giuseppe Farina was seriously injured at the start of a sports car race in Monza and was therefore out for the rest of the season. Two-time world champion Alberto Ascari drove a Maserati because the Lancia D50 was not yet ready for use.

training

The clear superiority of the Mercedes drivers was already evident during training. Fangio took pole position with 2: 29.4 minutes ahead of Kling, the first double pole for his team in the debut race, with Ascari in a Maserati setting the third fastest time. Kling drove his fastest training lap in 2: 30.4 minutes, Ascari in 2: 30.5 minutes.

The Gordini team could not take part in the training due to financial problems.

run

The race was dominated by a lot of failures, a total of only six cars made it to the finish. Engine damage was the most common cause of failure.

The dominance of Mercedes in practice was continued in the race, with Fangio and Kling leading the way from the other drivers and lapping the entire field of drivers. Both fought an exciting duel at the front, which Fangio won with a margin of 0.1 seconds. The dominance of the streamlined cars from Mercedes, which are unusual in Formula 1, was made particularly clear by the following statement by Fangio: "On that day, we actually only saw the competitors at the start and during lapping maneuvers."

Ferrari lost a large part of its cars in this race due to engine damage, only Robert Manzon reached the finish in his Ferrari and completed the podium positions with third place. However, he too was one lap behind Fangio and Kling.

Prince Bira and Luigi Villoresi won fourth place and 5 points for Maserati. Hans Herrmann drove the fastest race lap in a Mercedes in 2: 32.9 minutes or 195.6 km / h on lap 11, before giving up the race on lap 17 with an engine failure.

Mercedes thus ended the debut race with a double victory, won pole position and achieved the fastest race lap. If the Indianapolis 500 is disregarded, this was also the first race win by a non-Italian designer in Formula 1 history and the first win for a Continental tire. A tire change was not necessary as the wear was only one millimeter per 100 kilometers.

On the same day, Germany won the football world championship for the first time at the Wunder von Bern , which meant that the important and historical triumph of a German team in Formula 1 was only marginally mentioned by the media.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Scuderia Ferrari	02	José Froilán González	Ferrari 553 Squalo / Ferrari 555 Super Qualo	Ferrari 2.5 L4	P
	04th	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari 625F1
	06th	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari 553 Squalo / Ferrari 555 Super Qualo
Officine Alfieri Maserati	10	Alberto Ascari	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
	12	Onofre Marimon
	14th	Luigi Villoresi
	40	Sergio Mantovani
Roberto Mieres	16	Roberto Mieres	Maserati 250F / Maserati A6GCM	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
Daimler-Benz AG	18th	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes-Benz W 196	Mercedes-Benz 2.5 L8	C.
	20th	Karl Kling
	22nd	Hans Herrmann
Equipe Gordini	24	Jean Behra	Gordini T16	Gordini 2.5 L6	E.
	26th	Jacques Pollet
	28	Paul Brother
Georges Berger	30th	Georges Berger	Gordini T16	Gordini 2.5 L6	E.
HW Motors	32	Lance Macklin	HWM 53	Alta 2.0 L4	D.
Ecurie Rosier	34	Robert Manzon	Ferrari 625F1	Ferrari 2.5 L4	P
	36	Louis Rosier	Ferrari 500 / Ferrari 625F1		D.
Owen Racing Organization	42	Ken Wharton	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	D.
Gilby Engineering	44	Roy Salvadori	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	D.
B. Bira	46	Prince Bira	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	P
Harry Schell	48	Harry Schell	Maserati A6GCM	Maserati 2.5 L6	P

Classifications

Starting grid

Item	driver	constructor	time	Ø speed	begin
01	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes	2: 29.4	200.05 km / h	01
02	Karl Kling	Mercedes	2: 30.4	198.72 km / h	02
03	Alberto Ascari	Maserati	2: 30.5	198.59 km / h	03
04th	José Froilán González	Ferrari	2: 30.6	198.45 km / h	04th
05	Onofre Marimon	Maserati	2: 31.6	197.15 km / h	05
06th	Prince Bira	Maserati	2: 35.1	192.70 km / h	06th
07th	Hans Herrmann	Mercedes	2: 35.3	192.45 km / h	07th
08th	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	2: 35.6	192.08 km / h	08th
09	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari	2: 36.1	191.46 km / h	09
10	Roy Salvadori	Maserati	2: 36.6	190.85 km / h	10
11	Roberto Mieres	Maserati	2: 38.7	188.33 km / h	11
12	Robert Manzon	Ferrari	2: 42.0	184.49 km / h	12
13	Louis Rosier	Ferrari	4: 46.5	184.38 km / h	13
14th	Luigi Villoresi	Maserati	2: 42.7	183.70 km / h	14th
15th	Lance Macklin	HWM	2: 52.5	173.26 km / h	15th
16	Ken Wharton	Maserati	3: 09.3	157.88 km / h	16
17th	Jean Behra	Gordini	no time		17th
18th	Jacques Pollet	Gordini	no time		18th
19th	Paul Brother	Gordini	no time		19th
20th	Georges Berger	Gordini	no time		20th
21st	Harry Schell	Maserati	no time		21st

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Juan Manuel Fangio	Mercedes	61		2: 42: 47.9	01
02	Karl Kling	Mercedes	61		+ 0.1 sec	02
03	Robert Manzon	Ferrari	60		+ 1 lap	12
04th	Prince Bira	Maserati	60		+1 lap	06th
05	Luigi Villoresi	Maserati	58		+ 3 rounds	14th
06th	Jean Behra	Gordini	56		+ 5 rounds	17th
-	Paul Brother	Gordini	50		DNF	19th		suspension
-	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari	36		DNF	09		Engine failure
-	Onofre Marimon	Maserati	27		DNF	05		transmission
-	Louis Rosier	Gordini	27		DNF	13		Engine failure
-	Roberto Mieres	Maserati	24		DNF	11		Engine failure
-	Ken Wharton	Maserati	19th		DNF	16		Power transmission
-	Harry Schell	Maserati	19th		DNF	21st		Fuel pump
-	Hans Herrmann	Mercedes	16		DNF	07th	2: 32.9	Engine failure
-	Roy Salvadori	Maserati	15th		DNF	10		Power transmission
-	José Froilán González	Ferrari	13		DNF	04th		Engine failure
-	Lance Macklin	HWM	10		DNF	15th		Engine failure
-	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	09		DNF	08th		Engine failure
-	Georges Berger	Gordini	09		DNF	20th		Engine failure
-	Jacques Pollet	Gordini	08th		DNF	18th		Engine failure
-	Alberto Ascari	Maserati	01		DNF	03		Engine failure
-	Sergio Mantovani	Maserati	00		DNS	00

World Cup stand after the race

The first five of the race got 8, 6, 4, 3, 2 points. The driver with the fastest race lap received an additional 1 point. Only the five best results from nine races counted.

In 1954, points were awarded according to the following scheme:

1st place	place 2	place 3	4th place	5th place	Fastest lap
8th	6th	4th	3	2	1

• Only the five best results from nine races counted. Deleted results are shown in brackets.
• The numbers marked with * include the point for the fastest lap.
• Fields marked in the same color indicate shared vehicles.

Item	driver	constructor										Points
1.	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati / Mercedes	8th		9 *	8th						25th
2.	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari	3		6th							9
3.	Bill Vukovich	Kurti's power		8th								8th
4th	José Froilán González	Ferrari	5 *		1.5							6.5
5.	Giuseppe Farina	Ferrari	6th									6th
	Jimmy Bryan	Kuzma		6th								6th
	Karl Kling	Mercedes				6th						6th
8th.	Jack McGrath	Kurtis power		4th								4th
	Stirling Moss	Maserati			4th							4th
	Robert Manzon	Ferrari				4th						4th
11.	Prince Bira	Maserati				3						3
12.	Elie Bayol	Gordini	2									2
	Mike Nazaruk	Kurtis power		2								2
	André Pilette	Gordini			2							2
	Luigi Villoresi	Maserati				2						2
16.	Troy Ruttman	Kurti's power		1.5								1.5
	Duane Carter	Kurti's power		1.5								1.5
	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari			1.5							1.5
19th	Sam Hanks	Kurti's power		1*								1
	Hans Herrmann	Mercedes				1*						1

Web links

• Results at motorsportarchiv.de
• Photos at f1-facts.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} International motorsport . 1954 yearbook, published by ADAC and AvD, edited by Richard von Frankenberg , Europa-Contact Verlags-GmbH, Döffingen 1954.
2. ↑ "GP Stories - The Races of 1954" (www.motorsport-magazin.com on January 14, 2013)