1935 Monaco Grand Prix

Race winner Luigi Fagioli in the Mercedes-Benz W 25 in the station curve

Start of the Monaco Grand Prix

The VII Monaco Grand Prix ( VII Grand Prix de Monaco ) took place on April 2, 1935 at the Circuit de Monaco in Monaco . As Grande Épreuve , the race was part of the European Grand Prix Championship in 1935 , but in deviation from 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), due to an exemption, it was only granted via the traditional distance of 100 laps of 3.180 km each, which corresponded to a total distance of 318.0 km.

The winner was Luigi Fagioli in a Mercedes-Benz W 25 .

run

In the meantime, the Monaco Grand Prix marked the start of the actual Grand Prix season every year and it was also customary for the organizing Automobile Club de Monaco to receive a special permit to go below the minimum distance actually prescribed for Grandes Épreuves in order to be able to drive, cars and spectators on the winding and not to burden the slow street circuit unduly. The only change compared to last year was the relocation of the chicane a little further away from the tunnel exit, which gave the drivers a little more time per lap to adjust to the combination of curves.

Also with regard to the tendering mode, everything stayed the same, in the prestigious race only those who were invited by the organizer were allowed to participate. This year, however, two of the five works teams stayed away from the race. At Bugatti this was not all that surprising in view of the constant decline, but at Auto Union too, the unusual racing cars with their rear-mounted engines and relatively long wheelbase were considered unsuitable for this type of racetrack from the outset. In spite of a stately victory prize offered by the National Socialist regime, only the three racing cars from Daimler-Benz AG with Rudolf Caracciola , Luigi Fagioli and Manfred von Brauchitsch at the wheel represented the German racing colors, which were clearly favored after the last successes achieved in 1934 , especially since Engines had once again experienced a significant increase in displacement to 4.0 liters over the winter.

Nevertheless, it was by no means clear from the outset whether the Mercedes Silver Arrows would actually be able to demonstrate their superiority on this new and unfamiliar route, especially as their greatest adversary, the Alfa Romeo Tipo B provided by the Scuderia Ferrari in some cases, too enlarged engines and / or improvements to the chassis had been retrofitted. With Tazio Nuvolari , Louis Chiron , René Dreyfus and Antonio Brivio , the Italian team was at least equal on the driver side.

The rest of the field was made up of no fewer than six more or less privately used Maserati racing cars, among which the two Maserati 6C-34 interim models by Philippe Étancelin and the still quite inexperienced Giuseppe Farina , the privately used older Alfa, were the most competitive Romeo Tipo B of Raymond Sommer and the lonely Bugatti Type 59 of the British Earl Howe , and had no realistic hopes of a win.

The starting grid, which was based on the lap times achieved in training for the third year in a row, was also clearly sorted. In the first row the three Mercedes with Caracciola on pole, then the five Alfa Romeos (including the summer) and finally the remaining Maseratis with Howes Bugatti in their midst. Even from the start, Fagioli and Caracciola left no doubts about the superiority of the Mercedes, while von Brauchitsch - obeying his reputation as the eternally unlucky person - had to give up the team's third car with a technical defect after the first lap. Behind the Mercedes duo at the top, which steadily built up its lead in this phase, Dreyfus, Nuvolari and Chiron began to experience increasing problems with the new hydraulic brakes that the Alfa Romeos had recently been equipped with during the first racing quarter.

In contrast, Étancelin was in impressive shape with his older Maserati. After 25 laps, he had not only overtaken the three Alfa Romeos, but was now even starting to continuously reduce the time lag behind Caracciola. Halfway through the race, he was even able to briefly squeeze past the German in second place, but with his drive at and above the limit of his racing car, the brakes were increasingly overwhelmed, so that the Mercedes driver was able to pull past again a short time later without any problems. But the fight had not left Caracciola's car unscathed either, and after Étancelin had in the meantime also fallen behind Dreyfus, the second-placed Silver Arrow rolled out after two thirds of the race distance with a broken valve. At the front, however, Fagioli was able to control the entire race without any problems and finally crossed the line with a 30-second lead over Dreyfus for an undisputed start-and-finish victory.

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	Luigi Fagioli
	06th	Manfred von Brauchitsch
		Hermann Lang
Earl Howe	08th	Earl Howe	Bugatti T59	Bugatti 3.3L I8 compressor	D.
Conte de Villapadierna	10	José de Villapadierna	Maserati 8CM	Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor
Société d'Etude et de Fabrication d'Automobiles de Course	12	Marcel Lehoux	SEFAC	SEFAC 2.8L 2 x V4	M.
Raymond Summers	14th	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3	Alfa Romeo 2.9L I8 compressor	M.
Scuderia Ferrari	16	Louis Chiron	Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3	Alfa Romeo 2.9L I8 compressor	E.
	22nd	Antonio Brivio
	18th	Attilio Marinoni	Alfa Romeo Tipo B / P3	Alfa Romeo 3.2L I8 compressor
	20th	Tazio Nuvolari
		Carlo Felice Trossi
Scuderia Subalpina	24	Philippe Étancelin	Maserati 6C-34	Maserati 3.7L V6 supercharger	P
	26th	Goffredo Zehender	Maserati 8CM	Maserati 3.2L I8 compressor
	28	Piero Dusio	Maserati 8CM	Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor
Gino Rovere	30th	Giuseppe Farina	Maserati 6C-34	Maserati 3.7L V6 supercharger
Luigi Soffietti	32	Luigi Soffietti	Maserati 8CM	Maserati 3.0L I8 compressor

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Qualification training		begin
			time	Ø speed
01	Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes Benz	1: 56.6 min	98.690 km / h	01
02	Manfred von Brauchitsch	Mercedes Benz	1: 57.0 min	97.850 km / h	02
03	Luigi Fagioli	Mercedes Benz	1: 57.3 min	97.600 km / h	03
04th	René Dreyfus	Alfa Romeo	1: 59.0 min	96,200 km / h	04th
05	Tazio Nuvolari	Alfa Romeo	1: 59.4 min	95.880 km / h	05
06th	Antonio Brivio	Alfa Romeo	2: 01.0 min	94.610 km / h	06th
07th	Louis Chiron	Alfa Romeo	2: 01.8 min	93.990 km / h	07th
08th	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo	2: 02.0 min	93.840 km / h	08th
09	Philippe Étancelin	Maserati	2: 02.2 min	93.680 km / h	09
10	Goffredo Zehender	Maserati	2: 03.0 min	93.070 km / h	10
11	Giuseppe Farina	Maserati	2: 04.0 min	92.320 km / h	11
12	Earl Howe	Bugatti	2: 04.0 min	92.320 km / h	12
13	Luigi Soffietti	Maserati	2: 05.1 min	91.510 km / h	13
14th	Piero Dusio	Maserati	2: 06.0 min	90.860 km / h	14th
15th	José de Villapadierna	Maserati	2: 07.3 min	89.930 km / h	15th

Race result

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap	Failure reason
01	Luigi Fagioli	Mercedes Benz	100		3: 23: 49.8 h	3	1: 58.4 min
02	René Dreyfus	Alfa Romeo	100		+ 31.5 s	4th
03	Antonio Brivio	Alfa Romeo	100		+1: 06.4 min	6th
04th	Philippe Étancelin	Maserati	99		+ 1 lap	9
05	Louis Chiron	Alfa Romeo	97		+ 3 rounds	7th
06th	Raymond Summers	Alfa Romeo	94		+ 6 rounds	8th
07th	Goffredo Zehender	Maserati	93		+ 7 rounds	10
08th	Luigi Soffietti	Maserati	91		+ 9 rounds	13
-	Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes Benz	65		DNF	1		defective valve control
-	José de Villapadierna	Maserati	65		DNF	15th		accident
-	Tazio Nuvolari Carlo Felice Trossi	Alfa Romeo	53		DNF	5		Brake defect
-	Earl Howe	Bugatti	34		DNF	12		Accident after a brake defect
-	Giuseppe Farina	Maserati	21st		DNF	11		defective fuel pump
-	Piero Dusio	Maserati	3		DNF	14th		accident
-	Manfred von Brauchitsch	Mercedes Benz	1		DNF	2		Gearbox damage

Web links

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

• VII Grand Prix de Monaco. www.teamdan.com, accessed September 9, 2014 . 
• VII GRAND PRIX DE MONACO. www.kolumbus.fi, August 29, 2014, accessed on September 9, 2014 .