1939 Grand Prix season

1939 AIACR European Championship European Champion None Officially undeclared due to outbreak of war[1] Previous: 1938 Next: none

1939 Grand Prix season Previous: 1938 Next: 1940–1945 Last full season before World War II.

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.^[1] 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 Carraciola. 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 Carraciola for the lead in the maximum points system.

Season review

Mercedes-Benz competed with the W154.

The Auto Union D Type.

European Championship Grands Prix

Rd	Date	Name	Circuit	Winning drivers	Winning constructor	Report
1	25 June	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa-Francorchamps	Hermann Lang	Mercedes-Benz	Report
2	9 July	French Grand Prix	Reims-Gueux	Hermann Paul Müller	Auto Union	Report
3	23 July	German Grand Prix	Nürburgring	Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes-Benz	Report
4	20 August	Swiss Grand Prix	Bremgarten	Hermann Lang	Mercedes-Benz	Report

Non-championship Grands Prix

Grandes Épreuves are denoted by a yellow background.

Date	Name	Circuit	Winning driver	Winning constructor	Report
2 April	Pau Grand Prix	Pau	Hermann Lang	Mercedes-Benz	Report
10 April	Road Championship	Brooklands	Arthur Dobson	ERA	Report
7 May	Paris Cup	Montlhéry	Jean-Pierre Wimille	Bugatti	Report
7 May	Finnish Grand Prix	Eläintarharata	Adolf Westerblom	Alfa Romeo	Report
21 May	Eifelrennen	Nürburgring	Hermann Lang	Mercedes-Benz	Report
28 May	Grand Prix des Frontières	Chimay	Maurice Trintignant	Bugatti	Report
25 June	Bucharest Grand Prix	Bucharest	Hans Stuck	Auto Union	Report
30 July	Remparts Grand Prix	Angoulême	Raymond Sommer	Alfa Romeo	Report
7 August	Campbell Trophy	Brooklands	Raymond Mays	ERA	Report
3 September	Belgrade Grand Prix	Belgrade	Tazio Nuvolari	Auto Union	Report
29 October	Gávea Nacional Circuit	Gávea	Manuel de Teffé	Maserati	Report

Unofficial Championship Standings

Pos Driver BEL FRA GER SUI Pts[2] 1 Hermann Paul Müller Ret 1 2 4 12 2 Hermann Lang 1 Ret Ret 1 14 3 Rudolf Caracciola Ret Ret 1 2 17 4 Manfred von Brauchitsch 3 Ret Ret 3 19 = Tazio Nuvolari Ret Ret Ret 5 19 6 Rudolf Hasse 2 Ret Ret 20 = René Dreyfus 7 4 8 20 8 Georg Meier Ret 2 Ret 22 9 Raymond Sommer 4 5 Ret 23 = Hans Stuck 6 Ret 10 23 11 Robert Mazaud 5 6 24 = "Raph" 9 5 24 13 Giuseppe Farina Ret 7 25 14 Paul Pietsch 3 Ret 26 15 René Le Bègue 3 27 16 Louis Gérard 6 28 = Philippe Étancelin 4 28 = Luigi Chinetti 8 28 = Leonhard Joa 7 28 = Hans Hartmann 6 28 = Clemente Biondetti 9 28 = Kenneth Evans 11 28 = John Wakefield 12 28 = Robert Ansell 13 28 25 Richard Seaman Ret 29 = Adolfo Mandirola Ret DSQ 29 = Toulo de Graffenried Ret 29 28 Yves Matra Ret 30 = Luigi Villoresi Ret 30 30 Raymond Mays Ret 31 = Heinz Brendel Ret 31 = Giovanni Rocco Ret 31 Pos Driver BEL FRA GER SUI Pts

Colour Result Points Gold Winner 1 Silver 2nd place 2 Bronze 3rd place 3 Green Completed more than 75% 4 Blue Completed between 50% and 75% 5 Purple Completed between 25% and 50% 6 Red Completed less than 25% 7 Black Disqualified 8 Blank Did not participate 8

References

Etzrodt, Hans. "Grand Prix Winners 1895–1949 : Part 3 (1934–1949)". The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing. Archived from the original on 6 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-05.

Leif Snellman and Hans Etzrodt. "1939". The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing. Archived from the original on 7 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-05.

Galpin, Darren. "1939 Grands Prix". The GEL Motorsport Information Page. Retrieved 2007-08-05.

1. Armstrong, Richard. "Unfinished Symphony: Why the 1939 European Championship was never won". 8W. Retrieved 2007-08-05.
2. according to the old minimum points system