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.jpg) Herrmann in 2011 | |
| Born | (1928-02-23)23 February 1928 (age 97) Stuttgart,Württemberg,Germany |
|---|---|
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  German |
| Active years | 1953–1955,1957–1961,1966,1969 |
| Teams | Veritas,Mercedes,Maserati,Cooper,BRM,Porsche |
| Entries | 22 (18 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 1 |
| Careerpoints | 10 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 1 |
| First entry | 1953 German Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1969 German Grand Prix |
Hans Herrmann (born 23 February 1928) is a retiredFormula One andsports car racing driver fromStuttgart, Germany.
In F1, he participated in 19 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 2 August 1953. He achieved one podium, and scored a total of 10 championship points.
In sports car racing, he also scored the first overall win at the24 Hours of Le Mans forPorsche in 1970, in aPorsche 917.[1]
After the death ofTony Brooks in 2022, Hermann became the last surviving F1 podium finisher from the 1950s.
The racing career of Herrmann, who is a baker by trade, spans from cooperation with pre-war legends likeAlfred Neubauer to the beginning of the dominance ofPorsche at the24 Hours of Le Mans. He took part in now legendary road races likeMille Miglia,Targa Florio andCarrera Panamericana and is one of the few remaining witnesses of this era.Hans im Glück (lucky John) escaped from several spectacular incidents or accidents.
Herrmann had a remarkableMille Miglia race in 1954, when the gates of a railroad crossing were lowered in the last moment before the fast train to Rome passed. Driving a very lowPorsche 550 Spyder, Herrmann decided it was too late for a brake attempt anyway, knocked on the back of the helmet of his navigatorHerbert Linge to make him duck, and they barely passed below the gates and before the train, to the surprise of the spectators.
From 1954 to 1955, he was part of theMercedes-Benz factory team, as a junior driver behindJuan Manuel Fangio,Karl Kling,Hermann Lang and laterStirling Moss. When theSilver Arrows came back for the 1954French Grand Prix to score a 1–2 win, Herrmann drove the fastest lap but had to retire. A podium finish at the1954 Swiss Grand Prix was his best result in that year as he had to use older versions of theMercedes-Benz W196, or the least reliable car.
In the1955 Argentine Grand Prix his teammates Kling and Moss had to abandon early due to the extremely hot conditions on the southern hemisphere in January. Herrmann was called in to share his car with them for a 4th-place finish, giving one point each. Fangio won with two laps more. Hans was quick in the 1955Mille Miglia with theMercedes-Benz 300 SLR, comparably or even faster than Moss, but was less lucky than in 1954, as he had to abandon the race.
A crash in practice for the1955 Monaco Grand Prix put Herrmann out for the ill-fated 1955 season, even though a comeback in theTarga Florio was intended.
The next years saw Herrmann racing for many marques, in F1 forCooper,Maserati andBRM. In Berlin'sAVUS during the1959 German Grand Prix the brakes of his BRM failed, he crashed in a spectacular way, being thrown out of the car and sliding along the track with the car somersaulting in the air.[2]
With different versions of thePorsche 718 being used as a sportscar and as aFormula Two car, Herrmann scored some wins for Porsche, mainly both the 196012 Hours of Sebring andTarga Florio. When the open wheeled single seater version of the Porsche 718 became eligible forFormula One in 1961 due to the rule changes, the results in F1 were disappointing. Herrmann finished 15th (last) in the1961 Dutch Grand Prix, which was the first ever F1 World Championship race to have no retirements. He left Porsche at the beginning of the 1962 season feeling that he as a local from Stuttgart wasNo Prophet In His Own Land compared to CalifornianDan Gurney andJo Bonnier from Sweden. Gurney scored two F1 wins (one non-championship) with the newPorsche 804, but Porsche retired from F1 anyway at the end of 1962.
With the small cars of the ItalianAbarth marque Herrmann spent 1962 to 1965 driving in minor races andhillclimbing events. He only took outright wins in lessersports car racing events, such as atAVUS or the500 km Nürburgring. The Abarths were hard to beat in their classes from 850cc to 1600cc, though. Being the only pro in a small team Hermann learned a lot about testing and developing, which helped him later. However, being dissatisfied with the preparation of his car for the 1965Schauinsland practice, Hans went home to witness the birth of his son, Dino. At the end of the year he left Abarth for good to return to the manufacturer closer to his home.
In 1966 he returned to Porsche for a comeback in theWorld Sportscar Championship, as Porsche started a serious effort there. Following several podium finishes with the still underpowered two literPorsche 906 and later models, he won the 196824 Hours of Daytona in a 907 as well as theSebring 12 Hours again, now together with SwissJo Siffert. The overall win of the1000km Nürburgring always eluded him, even though Herrmann had taken part in each of these races at theNürburgring since they were introduced in 1953, and had finished second three times in a row from 1968 to 1970, behind teammatesJo Siffert and/orVic Elford.
Herrmann missed the win in the 196924 Hours of Le Mans with aPorsche 908 by only 120 meters[1], but it was he who finally scored the long-awaited first overall victory at theLe Mans 24 Hours for Porsche in 1970. He was assigned toPorsche Salzburg, the Austria-based factory-backed team owned by the Porsche family, which mainly entered cars painted red and white, the Austrian colors. In heavy rain, he and his teammateRichard Attwood survived with theirPorsche 917K #23 as the best of only seven finishers.
Half jokingly, Herrmann had promised to his wife before the Le Mans race that he would retire in case of a win there. Having witnessed fatal accidents of colleagues too many times, e.g. before the1969 German Grand Prix when his teammate and neighborGerhard Mitter died, the 42-year-old announced his retirement on TV, after having driven the winning car in a parade through Stuttgart from the factory to the town hall. To get out of his contract withPorsche Salzburg, Herrmann had to recommend a replacement driver toLouise Piëch.
Using his contacts, Herrmann built a successful company for automotive supplies. He was kidnapped once in the 1990s and kept in a car trunk for many hours before escaping.
Herrmann has remained engaged in the racing community through his retirement, demonstrating historical cars at events such as theSolitude-Revival.[3]
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | Porsche KG | Helmut Glöckler | Porsche 550 Coupé | S 1.5 | 247 | 16th | 2nd |
| 1954 | Porsche KG | Helmut Polensky | Porsche 550/4 RS 1500 Spyder | S 1.5 | 148 | DNF | DNF |
| 1956 | Porsche KG |  Umberto Maglioli | Porsche 550A/4 RS | S 1.5 | 136 | DNF | DNF |
| 1957 | Automobiles Porsche | Richard von Frankenberg | Porsche 500A RS | S 1.5 | 87 | DNF | DNF |
| 1958 | Porsche KG |  Jean Behra | Porsche 718 RSK Spyder | S 2.0 | 291 | 3rd | 1st |
| 1959 | Porsche KG | Umberto Maglioli | Porsche 718 RSK | S 2.0 | 78 | DNF | DNF |
| 1960 | Porsche KG | Maurice Trintignant | Porsche 718 RS 60 | S 2.0 | 57 | DNF | DNF |
| 1961 | Porsche System Engineering | Edgar Barth | Porsche 718/4 RS Coupe | S 2.0 | 306 | 7th | 2nd |
| 1962 | Porsche System Engineering | Edgar Barth | Porsche 356BAbarth | GT 1.6 | 287 | 7th | 1st |
| 1966 | Porsche System Engineering | Herbert Linge | Porsche 906/6L Carrera 6 | P 2.0 | 338 | 5th | 2nd |
| 1967 | Porsche System Engineering |  Jo Siffert | Porsche 907/6L | P 2.0 | 358 | 5th | 1st |
| 1968 | Porsche System Engineering | Jo Siffert | Porsche 908 | P 3.0 | 59 | DNF | DNF |
| 1969 | Porsche System Engineering | Gérard Larrousse | Porsche 908 Coupé | P 3.0 | 372 | 2nd | 1st |
| 1970 |  Porsche KG Salzburg |  Richard Attwood | Porsche 917K | S 5.0 | 343 | 1st | 1st |
(key) (Races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans 1970 With:Richard Attwood | Succeeded by |
| Records | ||
| Preceded by José Froilán González 29 years, 338 days (1952 Italian GP) | Youngest driver to set fastest lap in Formula One 26 years, 131 days (1954 French Grand Prix) | Succeeded by Stirling Moss 24 years, 303 days (1954 British GP) |
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