Review of 1954 season
After two seasons spent according to the technical regulations of Formula-2, the 1954 World Championship opened a new page in the history of Formula-1. Thanks to the new technical regulation, which limited the engine displacement to 2.5 liters, new teams have entered Formula-1, new cars have appeared, and the line-ups of the drivers has seriously changed. Before the start of the season, one would have assumed that all these changes would lead to an interesting and unpredictable fight for the championship crown, but in reality everything turned out differently. Juan-Manuel Fangio has been the only constant this season, winning six of the eight championship Grands Prix, which saw the Argentine easily win his second world title.
Fangio held the first two Grands Prix for his former Maserati team, and although both races were held in conditions of hard competition from Ferrari, Juan Manuel managed to start the season with two wins. When at the next stage in France, the debut of the Silver Arrows took place, which completely surpassed all rivals and allowed the Argentine to win another victory, the outcome of the championship was no longer in doubt. However, it would be wrong to say that the road to the second title was strewn with roses for the Argentine. Fangio had to win each of his six victories, with the exception of the Swiss Grand Prix, in a fierce struggle with his rivals, and, nonetheless, he always prevailed. His secret was simple and consisted in the exceptional ability of the Argentine to remain one of the fastest drivers on the track, while not subjecting the components of his car to undue stress. In conditions of extreme unreliability of all new Formula 1 cars, this skill became decisive and allowed Fangio to finish in all championship Grand Prix without dropping below fourth place. So it's safe to say that it was in this season that Fangio fully revealed his talent for the first time and earned his great nickname Maestro.
The Daimler-Benz team, which made a special contribution to the success of the Argentinean, deserves special praise. Returning to Grand Prix racing after a 15-year break, Alfred Neubauer's team defeated all its rivals in the very first Grand Prix and set new standards in Formula-1 with their professionalism. Daimler-Benz's main weapon was, of course, its revolutionary Mercedes W196 race cars, which had a number of innovative solutions and received two modifications at once with open wheels and a streamlined body. However, it was not only the cars. The professional approach of the German team was visible in everything from the mechanics' branded clothes to the unique double-decker trucks that delivered the race cars to the Grand Prix tracks.
Naturally, such a serious approach to business could not but be rewarded a hundredfold, and the logical result of the debut championship for Daimler-Benz was 4 Grand Prix victories and the champion title of Juan Manuel Fangio.
However, for the other Daimler-Benz drivers Karl Kling and Hans Herrmann, the championship was not so successful. Karl Kling, who made his F1 debut at the same time as his team in the French Grand Prix, managed to make an impression right away, spending the entire race battling with Fangio and losing to the Argentine at the finish with only 0.1 s. At his home round at the Nürburgring, the German was unstoppable at all, managing to break into the lead after starting from the last row, but victory eluded him in this Grand Prix too when his Mercedes had problems with the rear suspension. The rest of the season Kling spent rather pale, noticeably inferior to Fangio, and as a result, the German took only 5th place in the championship.
As for Herrmann, due to lack of experience, he got the role of only the third driver of the team, which he regularly performed. At the same time, even despite the fact that sometimes he had to drive obviously weaker cars, the young German looked quite decent and managed to climb the podium in Switzerland, and according to the results of the championship, Hans took 6th place, losing only one position to his much more experienced teammate.
Scuderia Ferrari, after two years of undivided dominance in the world championships, was forced to be content with just two victories in 1954. The main reason for this, of course, was its overly conservative cars. Despite the fact that two Formula 1 models were developed in Maranello for the new season, both of them, to one degree or another, were the development of last year's Ferrari 500 and were inferior to the revolutionary novelties of their rivals. Moreover, testing both models throughout the season, the team's drivers did not come to a common opinion, which of them was the fastest. The second factor in the relatively weak performance of Ferrari was the departure of Alberto Ascari. With all due respect to the racers who were driving scarlet cars at that time, none of them possessed the same skill as the Italian, and could not compete with Fangio.
At the beginning of the season, leadership in the Italian team was disputed between Farina and Gonzalez, but Nino, after two races, fell out of this fight, having received serious injuries and burns in the sports car race, and thus the Argentine became the undisputed leader of the scarlet ones. José-Froilan spent the first half of the season very strongly and even made everyone doubt the invincibility of the new Mercedes, having won an unconditional victory in the British Grand Prix. However, at the next Grand Prix in Germany, the Argentine lost his friend Onofre Marimon, and this seriously affected his motivation and results, and ultimately led him to the decision to leave European motorsport at the end of the season. However, be that as it may, this season was still the best in the Argentine's career, and, having won five podiums in seven races, Gonzalez became the vice-champion, losing only to his compatriot Fangio.
Mike Hawthorn frankly failed the first half of the season, clearly inferior to Gonzalez, but he managed to seize the initiative in the second half of the season, when the Argentine began to surrender. The last stage Englishman spent brilliantly at all, winning the Spanish Grand Prix, and in overall standings he took a high third place, surpassing his last year's result. However, at the end of the season, Mike also had to leave Ferrari, because after the death of his father, the Englishman had to take over the management of the family business.
Maranello's newcomer Maurice Trintignant this season could not boast of high speed in the races, but was quite reliable, which allowed him to regularly score points and get on the podium for the first time in his career. The exception was the last stage in Spain, where Maurice managed to seriously compete for victory with his teammate Hawthorn, but it was in this Grand Prix that the car let him down. Nevertheless, at the end of the season, Trintignant finished fourth in the championship, and this was enough to convince the Ferrari management to extend the contract with the Frenchman for the next season.
As for the former Ferrari leader Alberto Ascari, this championship was a complete failure for him. The former world champion spent almost the entire season waiting for the debut of his new Lancia team, which only appeared at the last race of the season in Spain. Skipping the entire championship was clearly not part of the Italian's plans, so Alberto took part in several Grand Prix driving factory Maserati and Ferrari. Unfortunately, in none of these races Ascari managed to reach the finish line, but in each of them he managed to demonstrate his amazing skills, constantly claiming the highest places. The last race of the season Alberto spent already driving a Lancia, which immediately proved to be a fantastically fast car and allowed the Italian to easily win pole position. However, already in the race, it became clear that such a long-delayed debut was associated with the extreme unreliability of the new car, which managed to overcome only 10 laps out of 80. So we can say that by signing a contract with Lancia, Ascari voluntarily resigned the championship crown and without any struggle handed it into the hands of his main rival Juan Manuel Fangio.
The main discovery of the season, of course, was Stirling Moss. Unable to find a place in any of the factory teams, the Englishman bought one of the newest Maserati 250F and began to produce such results on it that he made the Italian team's factory drivers blush. In his first race in Belgium, Moss managed to earn his first points in Formula 1, taking third place, which he got thanks to numerous retirements of rivals. The rest of the season, the Englishman was even more convincing, becoming a regular contender for the podium, and in Italy, Stirling almost won the Grand Prix, losing a certain victory only at the very end of the race due to problems with the car. Unfortunately, technical problems plagued the Englishman all season long and it looks like his luck ran out after the very first race as Moss failed to finish in any of them. However, the performances of the Englishman spoke for themselves, and Alfred Neubauer himself, who did not take Moss to his team a year earlier, admitted his mistake and rushed to sign a contract with Stirling for next season.
For Maserati, 1954 was a year of upheaval. The season began for the team with two consecutive victories in Argentina and Belgium, brought to the Italian trident by Juan Manuel Fangio. However, with the departure of the Argentine to Daimler-Benz, a black streak came for the team. It turned out that the new Maserati 250F, despite its speed, was extremely unreliable, and only the Argentine world champion could make this car go fast and reliably. The situation was not saved even by Alberto Ascari, who replaced the Argentine and left the team after two unsuccessful races, dissatisfied with the reliability of the car. The next Grand Prix in Germany was a disaster at all, as the new team leader Onofre Marimon died during qualifying, and in memory of the Argentine, Maserati withdrew from the competition.
Stirling Moss became the next leader of the team, but despite the excellent speed, the Englishman also could not even reach the finish line and left the team at the end of the season, moving to Daimler-Benz. Given that the rest of the Maserati drivers spent their first season and scored points only thanks to the retirements of rivals, the team needed a new leader for the new season, and the choice fell on Jean Behra from the Gordini team.
For Jean himself, this season was extremely unsuccessful. Despite the fact that Amadeus Gordini gave the Frenchman the status of team leader for the first time and provided him with all kinds of support, Behra never managed to finish in points. The main reason for this lay, of course, in the car. New in the new car Gordini was only a 2.5-liter engine, while the chassis remained unchanged for the third year in a row and could not be compared with competitors' cars. Moreover, with a very limited budget, Amadeus was never able to eliminate the shortcomings of this chassis, and the team drivers continued to lose wheels at full speed, as they did last year and the year before. Nevertheless, in some races, Behra looked quite decent, and in Great Britain he managed to fight on equal terms with Ferrari, Maserati and Mercedes, right up to his retirement due to a broken suspension. As a result, for the whole season, Jean managed to finish only in two races, and his best finish was 6th in France. His teammates were a little more fortunate, and they managed to score points twice thanks to the retirements of their rivals. However, it was obvious that the French team did not have any trump cards in the fight against their formidable rivals, so the Maserati offer was a real gift of fate for Behra.
As for the new British teams, they were destined for the role of outsiders this season. The Vanwall team was initially in a losing position as it didn't make its debut until midway through the season, with the new car fitted with a 2.3L engine that was far underpowered by the competition.
Nevertheless, in his debut race for the team in the Great Britain, Peter Collins looked quite confident and even managed to get ahead of Kling's Mercedes, after which he retired due to engine problems. The next round for the team was at Monza, and on its high-speed straights Vanwall had no chance, and Peter became one of the slowest drivers on the track, although he still managed to finish in 7th place. By the last stage in Spain, the team increased the engine displacement to the maximum allowed 2.5 liters, but it was not possible to assess the competitiveness of the upgraded car, since Collins crashed the car already in training. Nevertheless, the beggining of a new British team was laid, and Tony Vandervell was optimistic about the future, especially since Mike Hawthorn was supposed to drive for the team next season.
Unlike Vanwall, Alfred Owen's team didn't develop their own car and raced one of the latest Maserati 250F. As already noted, this car was not very reliable, and in the hands of the only driver of the team, Ken Wharton, could not boast of high speed, and as a result, the Englishman's best finish was 6th in Switzerland. Dissatisfied with this outcome, Owen made the final decision to end his partnership with Maserati and develop his own Formula 1 car, devoting the entire next season to this.
Alternative driver standings
Alternative team standings
