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1957 German Grand Prix

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1957 German Grand Prix
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Nürburgring layout
Nürburgring layout
Race details
Date 4 August 1957
Official name XIX Großer Preis von Deutschland
Location Nürburgring, Nürburg, West Germany
Course Permanent road course
Course length 22.810 km (14.173 miles)
Distance 22 laps, 501.820 km (311.806 miles)
Pole position
Driver Maserati
Time 9:25.6
Fastest lap
Driver Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati
Time 9:17.4
Podium
First Maserati
Second Ferrari
Third Ferrari
Lap leaders

The 1957 German Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 4 August 1957 at Nürburgring. It was race 6 of 8 in the 1957 World Championship of Drivers. The 22 lap race was won by Juan Manuel Fangio, and is often cited as one of the greatest victories in racing history. It was Fangio's fourth victory out of the seven races in the season contested by Formula 1 cars - excluding the Indianapolis 500, in which only US drivers competed, using USAC Championship cars. Furthermore, due to the number of points he had accumulated in the season (34 to Luigi Musso's 16), his victory at the Nürburgring mathematically clinched Fangio's fifth World Championship title with two races to go. The race was also notable for being Fangio's 24th and last victory in F1; his career still stands as having the highest win percentage ever, with 46.15% of his 52 race entries being wins.

Report

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Fangio had taken notice of the tyre 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 tyres, 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 first place, and 30 seconds ahead of Hawthorn and Collins.

Fangio chases down Collins

The pit stop was a disaster; the mechanic removing the rear left wheel let the wheel nut roll under the car without noticing, and finding it took nearly half a minute. Fangio left the pit lane in third place, and 48 seconds behind Collins who was in second place. But in his Maserati 250F he began to mount a charge. 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 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 second 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 tyres on the track and his left tyres on the grass. This probably took place at the left-right combination before the Breidscheid bridge, as Fangio said it was at a 90° left followed by an also tight right just before Breidscheid and Hawthorn recollected being overtaken at a right turning bend. Fangio probably overtook Hawthorn in the left turn and then closed the door going to the right turn, thus boxing Hawthorn in. 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 with about 3 seconds of a lead.

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". Later on, Fangio was also quoted as saying: "Nürburgring was my favourite track. I fell totally in love with it and I believe that on that day in 1957 I finally managed to master it. It was as if I had screwed all the secrets out of it and got to know it once and for all... For two days I couldn't sleep, still making those leaps in the dark on those curves where I had never before had the courage to push things so far."[1]

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 do not consider these starts in career stats.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos No Driver Constructor Time Gap
1 1 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati 9:25.6
2 8 United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 9:28.4 +2.8
3 2 France Jean Behra Maserati 9:30.5 +4.9
4 7 United Kingdom Peter Collins Ferrari 9:34.7 +9.1
5 11 United Kingdom Tony Brooks Vanwall 9:36.1 +10.5
6 3 United States Harry Schell Maserati 9:39.2 +13.6
7 10 United Kingdom Stirling Moss Vanwall 9:41.2 +15.6
8 6 Italy Luigi Musso Ferrari 9:43.1 +17.5
9 12 United Kingdom Stuart Lewis-Evans Vanwall 9:45.0 +19.4
10 16 United States Masten Gregory Maserati 9:51.5 +25.9
11 17 Germany Hans Herrmann Maserati 10:00.0 +34.4
12 21 West Germany Edgar Barth Porsche 10:02.2 +36.6
13 4 Italy Giorgio Scarlatti Maserati 10:04.9 +39.3
14 23 United Kingdom Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax 10:06.0 +40.4
15 20 Italy Umberto Maglioli Porsche 10:08.9 +43.3
16 15 United Kingdom Bruce Halford Maserati 10:14.5 +48.9
17 28 United Kingdom Brian Naylor Cooper-Climax 10:15.0 +49.4
18 24 Australia Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 10:18.8 +53.2
19 19 United Kingdom Horace Gould Maserati 10:20.8 +55.2
20 27 Netherlands Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 10:25.9 +1:00.3
21 18 Spain Paco Godia Maserati 10:32.3 +1:06.7
22 25 United Kingdom Tony Marsh Cooper-Climax 10:48.2 +1:22.6
23 26 Australia Paul England Cooper-Climax 11:08.4 +1:42.8
24 29 United Kingdom Dick Gibson Cooper-Climax 11:46.4 +2:20.8
Source:[2]

Race

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Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 1 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio Maserati 22 3:30:38.3 1 91
2 8 United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 22 +3.6 secs 2 6
3 7 United Kingdom Peter Collins Ferrari 22 +35.6 secs 4 4
4 6 Italy Luigi Musso Ferrari 22 +3:37.6 8 3
5 10 United Kingdom Stirling Moss Vanwall 22 +4:37.2 7 2
6 2 France Jean Behra Maserati 22 +4:38.5 3
7 3 United States Harry Schell Maserati 22 +6:47.5 6
8 16 United States Masten Gregory Maserati 21 +1 Lap 10
9 11 United Kingdom Tony Brooks Vanwall 21 +1 Lap 5
10 4 Italy Giorgio Scarlatti Maserati 21 +1 Lap 13
11 15 United Kingdom Bruce Halford Maserati 21 +1 Lap 16
12 21 West Germany Edgar Barth Porsche 21 +1 Lap 12
13 28 United Kingdom Brian Naylor Cooper-Climax 20 +2 Laps 17
14 27 Netherlands Carel Godin de Beaufort Porsche 20 +2 Laps 20
15 25 United Kingdom Tony Marsh Cooper-Climax 17 +5 Laps 22
Ret 17 Germany Hans Herrmann Maserati 14 Chassis 11
Ret 20 Italy Umberto Maglioli Porsche 13 Engine 15
Ret 23 United Kingdom Roy Salvadori Cooper-Climax 11 Suspension 14
Ret 18 Spain Paco Godia Maserati 11 Steering 21
Ret 12 United Kingdom Stuart Lewis-Evans Vanwall 10 Gearbox 9
Ret 24 Australia Jack Brabham Cooper-Climax 6 Transmission 18
Ret 26 Australia Paul England Cooper-Climax 4 Distributor 23
Ret 29 United Kingdom Dick Gibson Cooper-Climax 3 Steering 24
Ret 19 United Kingdom Horace Gould Maserati 1 Axle 19
Source:[3]
Notes
  • ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Notes

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Championship standings after the race

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Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 Argentina Juan Manuel Fangio 34
2 Italy Luigi Musso 16
3 3 United Kingdom Mike Hawthorn 13
1 4 United Kingdom Tony Brooks 10
1 5 United States Sam Hanks 8
Source: [4]
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

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  1. ^ Manishin, Glenn B. (29 March 2010). "The Early Years". Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  2. ^ "1957 German GP Qualification". www.chicanef1.com. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  3. ^ "1957 German Grand Prix". formula1.com. Archived from the original on 18 February 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
  4. ^ "Germany 1957 - Championship • STATS F1". www.statsf1.com. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
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Media related to 1957 German Grand Prix at Wikimedia Commons


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