The 1957 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 4 August 1957 at Nürburgring. It was the sixth round of the 1957 World Drivers' Championship. The 22 lap race was won by Juan Manuel Fangio, and is often cited as one of the greatest victories in racing history. Fangio's 4th victory out of 6 races in the season combined with the amount of points he had in the season won him his 5th World Championship title.
Fangio had taken notice of the tire and fuel-level selection of the Ferrari drivers, and realized they were probably going to run the entire race without a pit stop. Fangio decided he would use softer tires, and only a half tank of fuel. This would allow the car to take corners faster, but also require a pit stop. Fangio took his pit stop on lap 13, in 1st place, and 30 seconds ahead of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins.
The pit stop was a disaster, the pit crew had trouble removing one of the wheels. Fangio left the pit lane in 3rd place, and 48 seconds behind Collins who was in 2nd place. Over the next 10 laps, Fangio broke and rebroke the lap record 9 times (7 of the records were in successive laps, and he took a mind-boggling 15.5 seconds off Hawthorn's lead in the first lap, then another 8.5 seconds in the next lap). Early in the 21st lap, Fangio went on the inside of the left corner at the ESSO Terrasse taking 2nd place from Collins. Late in the 21st lap, during a left corner, Fangio cut past Hawthorn on the inside of the corner, with only his right tires on the track and his left tires on the grass. Fangio maintained his lead, but not easily, as Hawthorn fought back, nearly overtaking Fangio at a few corners, but to no avail, and Fangio won the race.
After the race, Fangio commented, "I have never driven that quickly before in my life and I don't think I will ever be able to do it again".
To increase participation, the organizers opened the field to Formula 2 cars. The two races were run at the same time but the Formula 2 entries (shown in yellow) were not eligible for World Championship points and some sources don’t consider these starts in career stats.
Classification[]
| Pos | No | Driver | Constructor | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |  Juan Manuel Fangio
|
Maserati | 22 | 3:30:38.3 | 1 | 9 |
| 2 | 8 |  Mike Hawthorn
|
Ferrari | 22 | +3.6 secs | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | 7 | Peter Collins
|
Ferrari | 22 | +35.6 secs | 4 | 4 |
| 4 | 6 |  Luigi Musso
|
Ferrari | 22 | +3:37.6 | 8 | 3 |
| 5 | 10 | Stirling Moss
|
Vanwall | 22 | +4:37.2 | 7 | 2 |
| 6 | 2 |  Jean Behra
|
Maserati | 22 | +4:38.5 | 3 | |
| 7 | 3 |  Harry Schell
|
Maserati | 22 | +6:47.5 | 6 | |
| 8 | 16 | Masten Gregory
|
Maserati | 21 | +1 Lap | 10 | |
| 9 | 11 | Tony Brooks
|
Vanwall | 21 | +1 Lap | 5 | |
| 10 | 4 | Giorgio Scarlatti
|
Maserati | 21 | +1 Lap | 13 | |
| 11 | 15 | Bruce Halford
|
Maserati | 21 | +1 Lap | 16 | |
| 12 | 21 |  Edgar Barth
|
Porsche | 21 | +1 Lap | 12 | |
| 13 | 28 | Brian Naylor
|
Cooper-Climax | 20 | +2 Laps | 17 | |
| 14 | 27 |  Carel Godin de Beaufort
|
Porsche | 20 | +2 Laps | 20 | |
| 15 | 25 | Tony Marsh
|
Cooper-Climax | 17 | +5 Laps | 22 | |
| Ret | 17 | Hans Herrmann
|
Maserati | 14 | Chassis | 11 | |
| Ret | 20 | Umberto Maglioli
|
Porsche | 13 | Engine | 15 | |
| Ret | 23 | Roy Salvadori
|
Cooper-Climax | 11 | Suspension | 14 | |
| Ret | 18 |  Paco Godia
|
Maserati | 11 | Steering | 21 | |
| Ret | 12 | Stuart Lewis-Evans
|
Vanwall | 10 | Gearbox | 9 | |
| Ret | 24 |  Jack Brabham
|
Cooper-Climax | 6 | Transmission | 18 | |
| Ret | 26 | Paul England
|
Cooper-Climax | 4 | Distributor | 23 | |
| Ret | 29 | Dick Gibson
|
Cooper-Climax | 3 | Steering | 24 | |
| Ret | 19 | Horace Gould
|
Maserati | 2 | Axle | 19 |
Notes[]
- Pole position: Juan Manuel Fangio - 9:25.6
- Fastest Lap: Juan Manuel Fangio - 9:17.4
- Lap Leaders: Mike Hawthorn 8 laps (1-2, 15-20); Juan Manuel Fangio 11 laps (3-11, 21-22); Peter Collins 3 laps (12-14).
Drivers' Championship standings after the race[]
| Pos | Driver | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juan Manuel Fangio
|
34 |
| 2 | Luigi Musso
|
16 |
| 3 | Mike Hawthorn
|
13 |
| 4 | Tony Brooks
|
10 |
| 5 | Sam Hanks
|
8 |
- Note: Only the top five positions are included.
| Previous race: 1957 British Grand Prix |
FIA Formula One World Championship 1957 season |
Next race: 1957 Pescara Grand Prix |
| Previous race: 1956 German Grand Prix |
German Grand Prix | Next race: 1958 German Grand Prix |
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This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at 1957 German Grand Prix. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |