1939 Grand Prix season explained

The 1939 Grand Prix season was the seventh AIACR European Championship season. The championship winner was never officially announced by the AIACR due to the outbreak of World War II less than two weeks after the final event in Switzerland. The Italian GP initially had been a fifth event, but it became clear well before the war that it would be cancelled due to construction work. At that time, it was also undecided which scoring system would be used, the old minimum points system that basically counted positions, or the French maximum points system similar to the modern one. Although Hermann Paul Müller would have won the championship on points according to the old system, the president of Nazi Germany's highest motorsports organisation declared Hermann Lang the champion. Lang was clearly the dominating driver in that season, which was acknowledged by the international press. In the first two of the four championship events, both Lang and Müller won once while the other failed to complete 75% of the distance. The German round saw Lang retiring early, and Müller finishing 2nd behind Caracciola. This left Müller in the lead in both scoring systems, as published in magazines, with the Swiss round deciding the outcome. Müller finished 4th behind three Mercedes, which gave him the lead in the old point system, while in front, Lang had beaten Caracciola for the lead in the maximum points system.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1939 AIACR European Championship.

EntrantConstructorChassisEngineTyreDriverRounds
Auto Union AGAuto UnionAuto Union Type DAuto Union 3.0 V12 s Hermann Paul MüllerAll
Tazio NuvolariAll
Rudolf HasseAll
Georg Meier1-3
Hans Stuck2-4
Daimler-Benz AGMercedes-BenzMercedes-Benz W154Mercedes-Benz M163 3.0 V12 s Rudolf CaracciolaAll
Manfred von BrauchitschAll
Hermann LangAll
Richard Seaman1
Heinz Brendel3
Hans Hartmann4

Season review

European Championship Grands Prix

RdDateNameCircuitWinning driversWinning constructorReport
125 June Belgian Grand PrixSpa-Francorchamps Hermann LangMercedes-BenzReport
29 July French Grand PrixReims-Gueux Hermann Paul MüllerAuto UnionReport
323 July German Grand PrixNürburgring Rudolf CaracciolaMercedes-BenzReport
420 August Swiss Grand PrixBremgarten Hermann LangMercedes-BenzReport

Non-championship Grands Prix

Grandes Épreuves are denoted by a yellow background.

DateNameCircuitWinning driverWinning constructorReport
2 April Pau Grand PrixPau Hermann LangMercedes-BenzReport
10 April Road ChampionshipBrooklands Arthur DobsonERAReport
7 May Paris CupMontlhéry Jean-Pierre WimilleBugattiReport
7 May Finnish Grand PrixEläintarharata Adolf WesterblomAlfa RomeoReport
21 May EifelrennenNürburgring Hermann LangMercedes-BenzReport
28 May Grand Prix des FrontièresChimay Maurice TrintignantBugattiReport
25 June Bucharest Grand PrixBucharest Hans StuckAuto UnionReport
2 July Remparts Grand PrixAngoulême Raymond SommerAlfa RomeoReport
7 August Campbell TrophyBrooklands Raymond MaysERAReport
3 September Belgrade Grand PrixBelgrade Tazio NuvolariAuto UnionReport
29 October Gávea Nacional CircuitGávea Manuel de TefféMaseratiReport

Unofficial championship standings

PosDriverBEL
FRA
GER
SUI
Pts[1]
1 Hermann Paul MüllerRet12412
2 Hermann Lang1RetRet114
3 Rudolf CaracciolaRetRet1217
4 Manfred von Brauchitsch3RetRet319
= Tazio NuvolariRetRetRet519
6 Rudolf Hasse2RetRet20
= René Dreyfus74820
8 Georg MeierRet2Ret22
9 Raymond Sommer45Ret23
= Hans Stuck6Ret1023
11 Robert Mazaud5624
= "Raph"9524
13 Giuseppe FarinaRet725
14 Paul Pietsch3Ret26
15 René Le Bègue327
16 Louis Gérard628
= Philippe Étancelin428
= Luigi Chinetti828
= Leonhard Joa728
= Hans Hartmann628
= Clemente Biondetti928
= Kenneth Evans1128
= John Wakefield1228
= Robert Ansell1328
25 Richard SeamanRet29
= Adolfo MandirolaRetDSQ29
= Toulo de GraffenriedRet29
28 Yves MatraRet30
= Luigi VilloresiRet30
30 Raymond MaysRet31
= Heinz BrendelRet31
= Giovanni RoccoRet31
PosDriverBEL
FRA
GER
SUI
Pts

References

Notes and References

  1. according to the old minimum points system