<< Prev Page 2 of 2 To ensure that the W196 would live up to its high expectations, Mercedes-Benz contracted one of the best drivers of the day; Juan Manuel Fangio. He was backed up by Hans Herrmann and Karl Kling. Still busy developing the cars, Mercedes-Benz missed the first three races; Fangio used a Maserati to win two of them. The belated debut came at the French Grand Prix in Reims, where the streamlined body was right at home. It was immediately obvious that the German no expense spared approach was too much for the Italian and British specialist manufacturers to match. Fangio helped Mercedes to continue a tradition by piloting the W196 to a debut victory, a few metres ahead of Kling. At the next round at Silverstone the all-enveloping body hampered Fangio to line up for a corner properly as he could not see the front wheels. He nevertheless finished second. For the next round the open wheel body was ready, which had an unusual square shape thanks to the heavily slanted engine. Fangio dominated the next three races, winning at the Nürburgring, Bremgarten in Switzerland and at Monza with the streamliner again. He was crowned champion well before the last round. In that race at Pedralbas in Spain, the W196 was really challenged for the first time by the brand new Lancia D50, designed by former Alfa Romeo engineer Vittorio Jano. In Alberto Ascari's hands it was the fastest thing out there, but still very fragile. Mike Hawthorn eventually won for Ferrari ahead of Luigi Musso in a Maserati.
For 1955, Fangio was joined by new team-mate Stirling Moss. The Argentinian started the season on a high by winning his home Grand Prix. For Monaco, Mercedes-Benz had developed a special short wheelbase version of the car with outboard drum brakes. The W196 was as quick here as on the high speed tracks, but had a rare day off on race day when all three cars entered were hampered by reliability problems. In the mean time Mercedes-Benz had also developed a sportscar closely related to the W196 with a two-seater body and a slightly larger version of the eight cylinder engine. Dubbed the 300 SLR, it was equally impressive and Moss drove it to a victory in the Mille Miglia. Sadly the sports racer was also involved in the sport's worst accident, killing over 80 spectators after Levegh's 300 SLR was sent flying into the grandstands. The many alloys and fuel in the car turned it into a fireball. As a result many Formula 1 races were cancelled that season. The four that were run, were won by Fangio and Moss, who managed to beat his dominant team-mate once. Needless to say Fangio was crowned champion again with Moss a distant second.
Shook up by the Le Mans accident, Mercedes-Benz called it quits at the end of the season and the W196 was retired after racing for just one year and two months. Scoring nine wins out of twelve Grand Prix starts, the versatile Mercedes-Benz has gone into history as one of the finest racing cars ever. Many of the technologies pioneered on the Grand Prix racer were later adopted by the competition. It did take very long until the direct injection was successfully used by another manufacturer; most prominently by Audi with the final generation of R8 Le Mans cars. Those hoping that Mercedes would return to Grand Prix racing in 1974 were disappointed. In fact it took almost another two decades before the Germans returned to Formula 1 and they could not continue the incredible debut win record. << Prev Page 2 of 2
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To ensure that the W196 would live up to its high expectations, Mercedes-Benz contracted one of the best drivers of the day; Juan Manuel Fangio. He was backed up by Hans Herrmann and Karl Kling. Still busy developing the cars, Mercedes-Benz missed the first three races; Fangio used a Maserati to win two of them. The belated debut came at the French Grand Prix in Reims, where the streamlined body was right at home. It was immediately obvious that the German no expense spared approach was too much for the Italian and British specialist manufacturers to match. Fangio helped Mercedes to continue a tradition by piloting the W196 to a debut victory, a few metres ahead of Kling. At the next round at Silverstone the all-enveloping body hampered Fangio to line up for a corner properly as he could not see the front wheels. He nevertheless finished second. For the next round the open wheel body was ready, which had an unusual square shape thanks to the heavily slanted engine. Fangio dominated the next three races, winning at the Nürburgring, Bremgarten in Switzerland and at Monza with the streamliner again. He was crowned champion well before the last round. In that race at Pedralbas in Spain, the W196 was really challenged for the first time by the brand new Lancia D50, designed by former Alfa Romeo engineer Vittorio Jano. In Alberto Ascari's hands it was the fastest thing out there, but still very fragile. Mike Hawthorn eventually won for Ferrari ahead of Luigi Musso in a Maserati.