1935 German Grand Prix

Race

The 1935 event was considered to be one of the all-time greatest motorsport victories and remembered as Nuvolari's greatest race. In a monumental drive, the Italian beat nine superior German Silver Arrows with an inferior red Alfa Romeo.{{cite magazine|last=Heseltine|first= Richard|url=https://www.motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/october-2011/53/1935-german-grand-prix|title=1935 German Grand Prix Motor Sport Magazine Archive|date=7 July 2014|magazine=Motor Sport Magazine|access-date=10 April 2019}} The 1935 German Grand Prix at Nürbugring was held under chilling and dreadful conditions. An estimated 300,000 German fans including some of the most powerful and high ranking Third Reich officers showed up for the race that was run over the course of 22.8 km consisting of 174 turns.

There were high expectations that one of the German drivers would win the race since they had the most powerful and advanced cars. Three Alfa-Romeos were presented by the Scuderia Ferrari team and were driven by Italian drivers Antonio Brivio and Nuvolari, along with Monegasque driver Louis Chiron. The rest of the competitors were from Maserati, English Racing Automobiles (ERA), and Bugatti and were contested under private teams. Nuvolari's Alfa Romeo P3 Tipo B enjoyed the maximum engine capacity used in these cars, 3.2 litre, 290 bhp. The race position was determined by a ballot. Nuvolari secured the front row in his second place but due to a poor start dropped down to the third place with teammates Brivio retiring at lap 1 and Chiron at lap 5, leaving Tazio with the only Alfa Romeo left competing in the race.

Nuvolari drove a very hard race in appalling conditions. After a dreadful start, he was able to pass a number of cars, particularly while some of the German cars pitted. By lap 10, Nuvolari was already leading the race while the rest of the cars were struggling to maintain a grip on the now rain-soaked track. After a botched pit stop in which he lost a total of 2 minutes and 14 seconds due to refueling delays from a broken pressure pump, he joined the race in sixth place. He drove on the limit, made up the time and was second by the start of the last lap, albeit 35 seconds behind the leader von Brauchitsch in a Mercedes who had ruined his tyres by pushing very hard to get the win in the dreadful conditions.

Nuvolari was able to catch the German, passing him when one of von Brauchitsch's tyres blew out, and took the chequered flag to win the race in front of the stunned German High Command and 300,000 spectators. The 42-year-old Nuvolari ended up finishing in front of eight running Silver Arrows; Stuck finished 2 minutes behind Nuvolari, and von Brauchitsch was nearly inconsolable. It was due to the pace of Nuvolari that the German had to drive so aggressively that ultimately proved to be his downfall. The Nazi officials were also confounded by the lack of a recording of the Italian anthem to play over the loudspeakers, as only Deutschland Uber Alles (Germany's anthem) had been ready for what they thought was a mere formality and inevitabile German triumph. This was ultimately solved by Nuvolari himself, who always had a copy of the Marcia Reale.

Classification

Starting grid positions

Notes

• Ernst von Delius destroyed his car during practice, so he shared Mays' car in the race.

References

|Previous_year's_race = 1934 German Grand Prix |Next_year's_race = 1936 German Grand Prix

References

1. Hill, Matt. (16 November 2010). "Nuvolari and His Most Legendary Drive: The 1935 German Grand Prix".
2. (18 July 2019). "1935 Grand Prix Season – Part 7, 1935 Grosser Preis von Deutschland, 1935 German Grand Prix, 1935 Comminges Grand Prix".
3. Brown, Douglas S.. (2 May 2009). ["History of Formula 1 – The German Grand Prix 1935"](http://www.grandprixhistory.org/ger1935.htm).