1957 German Grand Prix

1957 German Grand Prix
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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	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati
Time	9:25.6
Fastest lap
Driver	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati
Time	9:17.4
Podium
First	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati
Second	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari
Third	Peter Collins	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

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."

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

Qualifying

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

Race

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Juan Manuel Fangio	Maserati	22	3:30:38.3	1	91
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	1	Axle	19
Source:

Notes

• ^1 – Includes 1 point for fastest lap

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Juan Manuel Fangio	34
	2	Luigi Musso	16
3	3	Mike Hawthorn	13
1	4	Tony Brooks	10
1	5	Sam Hanks	8
Source:

• Note: Only the top five positions are included.

External links

Media related to 1957 German Grand Prix at Wikimedia Commons