Swiss GP 1954

Swiss GP, 1954

The weather in Switzerland was not good for what would turn out to be the last ever Swiss GP - motor racing would be banned in Switzerland in 1955 after the Le Mans disaster. Once again it was to be a battle between Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari and Maserati as the new Lancia racing cars were still not ready. Mercedes-Benz ran Juan-Manuel Fangio, Karl Kling and Hans Herrmann as usual, while Ferrari fielded Froilan Gonzalez and Mike Hawthorn and Maserati - which had just lost Onofre Marimon - relied on Stirling Moss and Roberto Mieres.

At the start of the race Fangio went into the lead from Gonzalez and Moss. Kling spun off early and dropped to the tail of the field while Moss moved ahead of Gonzalez on lap three but could do nothing to stop Fangio who was in complete control. Hawthorn moved up into fourth place and was soon able to overtake Gonzalez and Moss as well but soon afterwards he had to pit to sort out a sticking throttle. He would retire soon afterwards and with Moss and Trintignant also going out with mechanical troubles Gonzalez found himself back in second place and Kling was third, having driven through the field after his early spin. Unfortunately he retired with fuel feed problems on lap 39.

The rest of the race was rather processional with Fangio winning by nearly a minute. Herrmann finished third with Mieres fourth but two laps down. Victory gave Fangio the World Championship.

POSNODRIVERENTRANTLAPSTIME/RETIREMENTQUAL POS
Juan-Manuel Fangio Mercedes-Benz-Mercedes W196 66 3h00m34.500s  
20 Froilan Gonzalez Ferrari 625 66 3h01m32.300s  
Hans Herrmann Mercedes-Benz-Mercedes W196 65  
30 Roberto Mieres Maserati 250F 64  12 
28 Sergio Mantovani Maserati 250F 64  
18 Ken Wharton Maserati 250F 64  
24 Umberto Maglioli Ferrari 553 61  11 
Jacques Swaters Ferrari 500 58  16 
Karl Kling Mercedes-Benz-Mercedes W196 38 Fuel Injection Pump 
26 Maurice Trintignant Ferrari 625 33 Engine 
22 Mike Hawthorn Ferrari 625 30 Oil Pump 
34 Harry Schell Maserati 250F 23 Oil Pump 13 
32 Stirling Moss Maserati 250F 21 Oil Pump 
14 Fred Wacker Gordini T16 10 Transmission 15 
10 Jean Behra Gordini T16 Clutch 14 
12 Clemar Bucci Gordini T16 Fuel Pump 10 
ns 24 Robert Manzon Ferrari 553  Accident 17