1954 Swiss F1 Grand Prix Race Report & Results

Event: Swiss Grand Prix
Track: Circuit Bremgarten

Weather: dry

Juan Manuel Fangio won his 12th F1 World Championship race at the 1954 Swiss F1 GP, the final F1 World Championship race ever held in Switzerland. The Mercedes driver started from second on the grid and won on the Bremgarten circuit for the second time. It was his 5th win of the season and the 3rd win for the Mercedes F1 team in the championship era.

Bremgarten, 22 August 1954: Switzerland's last F1 race

The 1954 Swiss Grand Prix at Bremgarten was, although nobody could have known it at the time, the final F1 World Championship race held in Switzerland. The 1955 Le Mans disaster a year later would lead the Swiss government to ban motor racing on closed circuits, a prohibition that remains in effect to this day, with only minor relaxations granted in 2007. The XIV Grosser Preis der Schweiz ran across 66 laps of Bremgarten's 7.280-kilometre forest road, 480.5 kilometres in total, on a dry late-summer Sunday. It was won by Juan Manuel Fangio in the open-wheel Mercedes-Benz W196.

Mercedes-Benz brought three W196s to Bern: Fangio, Karl Kling and Hans Herrmann. Ferrari's 625s carried José Froilán González, Mike Hawthorn, Maurice Trintignant, Umberto Maglioli and Jacques Swaters in a privateer entry. Maserati had Stirling Moss (in his privateer 250F), Roberto Mieres, Sergio Mantovani, Ken Wharton and Harry Schell in works and quasi-works cars. Gordini brought Behra, Bucci and the American Fred Wacker.

Qualifying: González on pole

José Froilán González took pole position in the Ferrari 625, with Fangio's Mercedes alongside on the front row. Stirling Moss was third in his privateer Maserati, Trintignant fourth in another Ferrari, Kling fifth in the second Mercedes, Hawthorn sixth.

The race: Fangio's Mercedes class

The race opened with González taking advantage of pole, but Fangio quickly assumed control. The Mercedes W196 in its open-wheel configuration was now suited to Bremgarten's mix of long straights and tight forest curves. Fangio set the race's fastest lap on lap 34, 2:39.7, and pulled away from González throughout the race's middle stretch. The Ferrari driver finished 57.8 seconds behind at the flag.

The day's retirements followed familiar patterns. Clemar Bucci's Gordini failed to start with a fuel pump problem; Jean Behra's Gordini clutched out on lap eight; Fred Wacker's Gordini lost its transmission on lap ten. Stirling Moss's privateer Maserati suffered an oil-pump failure on lap twenty-one, another disappointing privateer outing for the British driver. Harry Schell's works Maserati went on lap twenty-three with the same fault. Mike Hawthorn's Ferrari lost an oil seal on lap thirty, Maurice Trintignant's engine on lap thirty-three, Karl Kling's Mercedes a fuel system component on lap thirty-eight.

At the front, Fangio took the chequered flag clear of González, with Hans Herrmann's Mercedes third at one lap down. Roberto Mieres's Maserati was fourth at two laps, Sergio Mantovani's the same distance back in fifth, Ken Wharton sixth. Mercedes had its second consecutive win and Fangio his fifth of the season.

Championship fallout

Fangio's nine points lifted him to 42 in the Drivers' Championship and an unassailable lead over the field. With three rounds left, Italian Grand Prix at Monza on 5 September and the Spanish Grand Prix at Pedralbes on 24 October, the Argentine had effectively settled the title. Bremgarten's farewell to F1 World Championship racing was, by chance, a victory for what would become Switzerland's permanent absence: the racing scene moved elsewhere, and would not return.

Classification 1954 Swiss F1 GP

Pos	#	Driver	Team	Time	Laps	Grid	Pts
1	4	Juan-Manuel Fangio	Mercedes	3:00:34.500	66	2	9
2	20	José-Froilán González	Ferrari	3:01:32.300	66	1	6
3	6	Hans Herrmann	Mercedes	+1 lap	65	7	4
4	30	Roberto Mieres	Maserati	+2 laps	64	12	3
5	28	Sergio Mantovani	Maserati	+2 laps	64	9	2
6	18	Ken Wharton	Maserati	+2 laps	64	8	0
7	24	Umberto Maglioli	Ferrari	+5 laps	61	11	0
8	2	Jacques Swaters	Ferrari	+8 laps	58	16	0
DNF	8	Karl Kling	Mercedes	Fuel system	38	5	0
DNF	26	Maurice Trintignant	Ferrari	Engine	33	4	0
DNF	22	Mike Hawthorn	Ferrari	Oil leak	30	6	0
DNF	34	Harry Schell	Maserati	Oil pump	23	13	0
DNF	32	Stirling Moss	Maserati	Oil pump	21	3	0
DNF	14	Fred Wacker	Gordini	Transmission	10	15	0
DNF	10	Jean Behra	Gordini	Clutch	8	14	0
DNF	12	Clemar Bucci	Gordini	Fuel pump	0	10	0
DNS	24	Robert Manzon	Ferrari	Accident	0		0

Fastest lap: 2:39.700 min by Juan Manuel Fangio (Mercedes W196) in lap 34

✅ Check out 1954 F1 Championship Standings
✅ Check out 1954 F1 Teams & Drivers

✅ Check out All Time F1 Drivers Rankings
✅ Check out All Time F1 Driver Records
✅ Check out All Time F1 Teams Rankings

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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