1937 Italian Grand Prix

Second placed Hermann Lang in a Mercedes-Benz W 125

The Circuito di Montenero in its busy version

Location in the city area

The XV. The Italian Grand Prix took place on September 12, 1937 at the Circuito di Montenero in Livorno . As Grande Épreuve , the race was part of the European Grand Prix Championship in 1937 , but deviating from the provisions of the International Grand Prix Formula (racing cars up to a maximum of 750 kg empty weight; 85 cm minimum width; race distance at least 500 km) was only over 50 laps of 7.218 each km, which corresponded to a total distance of 360.9 km.

The winner was Rudolf Caracciola in a Mercedes-Benz W125 , who secured his second European championship title after 1935 with his third win of the season in a championship run .

run

For the first time since 1921 , the Italian Grand Prix was not held on the traditional Monza racetrack , but relocated to the Montenero race track near Livorno , the usual venue for the Coppa Ciano race , where Tazio Nuvolari and his Alfa Romeo last took place in 1936 could defeat the overwhelming power of the German Silver Arrows .

Nuvolari, who, after his short and unsuccessful excursion to the Auto Union camp at the Swiss Grand Prix, had returned somewhat disillusioned to the arms of Scuderia Ferrari , the official works agency for Alfa Romeo, had to do as much as his team-mate Carlo Felice Trossi , Giuseppe Farina and Clemente Biondetti , are still content with the same Alfa Romeo 12C-36 , with which he had achieved the success of the previous year. The new Alfa Romeo 12C / 37 model , which was immediately withdrawn from racing after its disastrous first appearance at the Pescara race , was only driven here in Livorno by Alfa Romeo's top test driver Gianbattista Guidotti , who had the car just before the halfway point had to stop the race with a technical defect.

The German teams were not too impressed by the change of location, however, and Rudolf Caracciola , who was two points behind his teammate Manfred von Brauchitsch in the European championship standings , immediately set the fastest training time with his Mercedes-Benz W125 , the most powerful racing car of its time which also meant the best starting position. However, in the square next to it there was a surprise because Achille Varzi - because of his drug use and other escapades in the Auto Union actually retired at the end of last year - were to return to the team as cured and promptly with the Auto Union "Type C" the Second fastest lap shot in training. He was even faster than star pilot Bernd Rosemeyer , the current top driver of the team, who completed the front row with third place.

The second row was also completely occupied by Silver Arrow drivers with Hermann Lang (Mercedes), Hans Stuck (Auto Union) and Manfred von Brauchitsch, before Nuvolari as the best Alfa Romeo driver together with Mercedes junior Richard Seaman and Carlo Felice Trossi took up position on the third row of the grid on the second Alfa Romeo.

Caracciola had the best start, making the first lap ahead of Lang, Rosemeyer, von Brauchitsch and Varzi. But his team-internal rival could not be shaken off and was able to take the lead in the fourth lap. In their duel, the two Mercedes drivers at the front increasingly separated themselves from the rest of the field, in which the positions initially remained largely unchanged. To the delight of the audience, only Nuvolari was able to briefly fight past Varzis Auto Union with his Alfa Romeo, before he then continuously lost ground again and finally came to the pits on the 31st lap, to the exasperated Farina, who had already retired cede.

In the meantime, Lang had also made a stop on the 23rd lap to change a defective tire. The Mercedes pit team took a noticeably long time, probably to defuse the team-internal duel and to restore the predefined ranking in the team. But after Caracciola also stopped later, Lang was back at his rear a few laps later and tried to get past. But Caracciola was able to block all attempts to attack until the finish and finally crossed the line as the winner with a blink of an eye ahead of Lang. Since von Brauchitsch had also previously failed due to a technical defect, this also meant Caracciola's second title win after 1935 .

Results

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Daimler-Benz AG	02	Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes-Benz W 125	Mercedes-Benz M 125 F 5.7L I8 compressor	C.
	04th	Manfred von Brauchitsch
	06th	Hermann Lang
	08th	Richard Seaman
	10	Christian Kautz
Auto Union AG	12	Bernd Rosemeyer	Auto Union C	Auto Union 6.0L V16 compressor	C.
	14th	Achille Varzi
	16	Hans Stuck
	18th	Hermann Paul Muller
		Rudolf Hasse
Vittorio Belmondo	20th	Vittorio Belmondo	Alfa Romeo 8C-35	Alfa Romeo 3.8L I8 compressor
Scuderia Ferrari	22nd	Tazio Nuvolari	Alfa Romeo 12C-36	Alfa Romeo 4.1L V12 compressor	E.
	24	Giuseppe Farina
	26th	Carlo Felice Trossi
	28	Clemente Biondetti
	28	Antonio Brivio
Alfa Corse	30th	Giovanni Battista Guidotti	Alfa Romeo 12C / 37	Alfa Romeo 4.5L V12 compressor	P
Hans Ruesch	32	Hans Ruesch	Alfa Romeo 8C-35	Alfa Romeo 3.8L I8 compressor

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Qualification training		begin
			time	Ø speed
01	Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes Benz	3: 11.0 min	136.046 km / h	01
02	Achille Varzi	Auto Union	3: 13.6 min	134.220 km / h	02
03	Bernd Rosemeyer	Auto Union	3: 14.2 min	133.804 km / h	03
04th	Hermann Lang	Mercedes Benz	3: 15.6 min	132.850 km / h	04th
05	Hans Stuck	Auto Union	3: 17.4 min	131.635 km / h	05
06th	Manfred von Brauchitsch	Mercedes Benz	3: 18.6 min	130.840 km / h	06th
07th	Tazio Nuvolari	Alfa Romeo	3: 20.8 min	129.406 km / h	07th
08th	Richard Seaman	Mercedes Benz	3: 21.6 min	128.893 km / h	08th
09	Carlo Felice Trossi	Alfa Romeo	3: 22.2 min	128.510 km / h	09
10	Hermann Paul Muller	Auto Union	3: 22.4 min	128.383 km / h	10
11	Giovanni Battista Guidotti	Alfa Romeo	3: 24.2 min	127.251 km / h	11
12	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	3: 24.4 min	127.127 km / h	12
13	Clemente Biondetti	Alfa Romeo	3: 24.6 min	127.003 km / h	13
14th	Christian Kautz	Mercedes Benz	3: 29.0 min	124.329 km / h	14th
15th	Vittorio Belmondo	Alfa Romeo	3: 40.0 min	118.113 km / h	15th

Race result

Item	No.	driver	constructor	Round	time	Failure reason	EM points
1	02	Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes Benz	50	2: 44: 54.4 h		1
2	06th	Hermann Lang	Mercedes Benz	50	+ 00.4 s		2
3	12	Bernd Rosemeyer	Auto Union	50	+ 02: 25.4 min		3
4th	08th	Richard Seaman	Mercedes Benz	49	+ 01 lap		4th
5	18th	Hermann Paul Muller	Auto Union	49	+ 01 lap		4th
6th	14th	Achille Varzi	Auto Union	49	+ 01 lap		4th
7th	22nd	Tazio Nuvolari / Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	49	+ 01 lap		4 / -
8th	26th	Carlo Felice Trossi	Alfa Romeo	47	+ 03 rounds		4th
9	16	Hans Stuck / Rudolf Hasse	Auto Union	47	+ 03 rounds		4 / -
10	20th	Vittorio Belmondo	Alfa Romeo	45	+ 05 rounds		4th
DNF	10	Christian Kautz	Mercedes Benz	43			4th
DNF	28	Clemente Biondetti	Alfa Romeo	38			4th
DNF	04th	Manfred von Brauchitsch	Mercedes Benz	36		mechanics	5
DNF	30th	Giovanni Battista Guidotti	Alfa Romeo	24		mechanics	6th
DNF	24	Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	13		mechanics	6th

Fastest race lap : Rudolf Caracciola and Hermann Lang ( Mercedes-Benz ), 3: 11.2 min = 135.9 km / h   

Web links

Commons : Italian Grand Prix 1937  - album containing pictures, videos and audio files

• XV Gran Premio d'Italia. www.teamdan.com, accessed on August 11, 2014 . 
• Leif Snellman, Felix Muelas: XV ° GRAN PREMIO D'ITALIA. www.kolumbus.fi, May 4, 2014, accessed on August 11, 2014 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The type designation of the Auto Union racing cars was only introduced later by specialist authors to differentiate between the individual models