1957 German GP

## Track Facts

* Name – Nurburgring Nordschleife
* Location – Germany
* Corners – 24
* Laps – 22
* Base (Worst) Lap Time – 11:00.000
* Lap Record (Real Life) – 9:17.400 (Juan Manuel Fangio)
* Lap Record (F1R) – 9:07.569 (Bob Gerard – J Ibbotson)
* Pit Lane Length – 40 seconds
* Fuel Consumption – High
* Tyre Wear – Very High

## Qualifying

Gerard reigns supreme in Germany, ensuring he clinches a new record for most consecutive Pole Positions in F1R history! He has his title rivals lined up directly behind him however, as both Collins and Hawthorn line up 2nd and 3rd with Salvadori 4th and Gonzalez a solid 5th for Connaught.

Fairman lines up 6th, with Maglioli a decent 7th for BRM, Behra a resurgent 8th for Cooper with Perdisa and Piotti setting a season's best of 9th and 10th respectively for the Maserati team…which up until now has relied on Gerard to gain their Top 10 placings for them!

Ferrari will be 11th and 12th on the grid, as home hero von Trips can't quite make it into the Top 10 - though he is at least in front of team-mates Brabham (12th) and Gould (17th), Between them are Menditeguy, Castellotti, Flockhart and Simon - with Musso, de Beaufort and Gregory completing the Top 20. Gibson is 21st ahead of the Porsche trio of Schell, England and Leston - who round out the grid.

That means no Fangio again for Ferrari, no Trintignant for Porsche and no Moss for Cooper - and that could open up the points positions for someone else to make their mark at one of the most challenging tracks of the season!

## Grid

Another impressive display from Gerard, but the question is whether he can keep his title challengers Collins and Hawthorn behind him off the start! Can Gonzalez score his 1st points of the season after a strong qualifying performance? Can Maserati actually get their 1st non-Gerard Top 10 of the season?

All these questions and more will be answered soon…

## Race Commentary

*Lap 1* – Gerard gets the best start, and immediately pulls away from the pack. The Top 10 remain in the same positions, other than Brabham getting a fantastic start and overtaking both his team-mate von Trips and Piotti. Flockhart also gets a brilliant getaway and passes both his team-mate Castellotti and Menditeguy in the Connaught.

Meanwhile England gets away from his grid-slot with pace but doesn’t notice that Simon has stalled ahead of him – and ploughs into the back of the BRM to end both their races on the spot! Musso takes full advantage of that chaos to move up to 16th ahead of Gould, while Gibson gets the jump on Gregory to move into 19th place with Schell and Leston rounding out the 22 that make it past the start line…

*Lap 2* – Gerard set a new Fastest Lap of a 9:26 and is pulling away easily at the front. Meanwhile given the length of the track gaps are already opening up between the Top 5 – though none as big as the gap the leader has already pulled out. Further back Flockhart continues his strong start, with a robust passing move on home hero von Trips for 12th place at Bergwek.

Meanwhile Menditeguy shows it is possible to defend at this track, after keeping Castellotti at bay throughout the lap and thwarting passing attempts at both Karussell and Schwalbenschwanz.

*Lap 3* – Gerard continues to extend his lead, while Fairman is keeping the pressure on Gonzalez for the final points position. Further back Von Trips holds up Menditeguy in their fight over 13th, as the home crowd look restless at how little progress their driver is making thus far…

*Lap 4* – The gap the front is over 10 seconds now, as Gerard sets another FL – a slightly faster 9:26. Meanwhile the first pit-stops are already upon us, as Piotti and Flockhart come in from 11th and 12th respectively. That moves von Trips and Menditeguy into their positions, with Castellotti up to 13th, Musso 14th, Gould 15th, de Beaufort 16th, Gibson 17th, Gregory 18th and Schell 19th. Piotti emerges in 20th place with Flockhart out narrowly behind him – but still ahead of Leston in 22nd who is ploughing a very lonely furrow.

*Lap 5* – Further pit-stops this lap as the leading trio come in, along with Fairman (6th), Menditeguy (12th), Musso (14th), Gibson (17th) and the backmarker Leston who pits from 22nd and emerges in the same place. All of that means that Salvadori inherits the lead, with Gonzalez now in 2nd place, Maglioli up to 3rd (the highest a BRM has been in a long time!), Behra 4th, Perdisa 5th, Brabham 6th, von Trips 7th and Castellotti 8th.

Gerard emerges in 9th position, narrowly ahead of Gould in 10th for Ferrari. De Beaufort is up to 11th, with Gregory into 12th place – while Collins emerges in 13th, as Schell is now into 14th position. Hawthorn and Fairman come out in 15th and 16th respectively, with Piotti and Flockhart next up – and Menditeguy, Musso and Gibson out of the pits with only Leston behind them as it stands.

*Lap 6* – Another round of stops sees all those yet to stop come in, other than Gonzalez (who inherits the lead now), von Trips (who emerges in 2nd position – much to the delight of the home crowd!), Castellotti (now a creditable 3rd for Cooper), the trio of Gould, de Beaufort and Gregory that are now in 5th, 6th and 8th respectively and Schell for Porsche, who now sits 11th overall.

Gerard is on the march though, as he passes Castellotti at Aremberg and then von Trips at Mutkurve – much to the dismay of the watching German crowd! Collins is back into 7th, with Hawthorn 9th and Salvadori 10th as they look to gain back the time they lost to the pit-stops…

*Lap 7* – Gonzalez pits from the lead of the race after enjoying a short time in 1st position – and that gives Gerard back the lead of the Grand Prix, with von Trips in 2nd place after he stays out a lap further! Meanwhile pits from Castellotti, Gould, de Beaufort and Schell shuffle the order at the front once more. That puts Collins back up to 3rd, with Hawthorn 4th after an error at Karussell sees Gregory slide backwards and fall behind the Ferrari and the Vanwall of Salvadori too.

Gonzalez emerges in 7th place some 4 seconds ahead of Fairman’s Vanwall, with Maglioli 8th, Behra 9th and Perdisa rounding out the Top 10. Castellotti comes out in 15th just ahead of Menditeguy in 16th, while Gould is 17th with Musso bearing down on him and de Beaufort is 19th after his stop. Schell comes out of the pits in 21st place after his stop – but looks eager to push harder in this stint…

*Lap 8* – …and pushing too hard costs him, as he slides wide at Karussell to damage the under-floor of his car and whilst he can continue, it’s at a slower pace than he was at previously. The final drivers that are yet to stop come in to the pits this time around – as von Trips and Gregory complete their 1st stops and on the same lap Flockhart comes in for his 2nd pit-stop and drops right down the order as a result!

As such Collins moves back into 2nd place (albeit some 30 seconds behind Gerard in the lead), Hawthorn into 3rd, Salvadori 4th and Gonzalez back into 5th for Connaught. Fairman is 6th with Maglioli 7th, Behra 8th, Perdisa 9th and Brabham now rounds out the Top 10 for Ferrari. Piotti is back up to 11th, while Castellotti is defending from Menditeguy as they fight over 13th position.

Von Trips comes out just ahead of them in 12th place, while Gould is now up to 15th, with Musso on his tail in 16th, de Beaufort up to 17th, Gibson 18th and Gregory out in 19th position. Schell is into the Top 20 again, with Flockhart dropping to 21st – but with some serious pace to unleash now!

*Lap 9* – Piotti has had some strong pace since his earlier stop, and he uses that to great effect to overhaul Brabham for 10th with a well-timed dive up the inside at Sudkehre. Menditeguy finally makes his pressure pay as he claims 13th from Castellotti at Wehrseifen – and Gould’s time in 15th is short-lived as Musso is faster through Flugplatz and claims the position as a result.

Near the back Flockhart’s pace is clear to see, as he easily drives past the ailing Schell to reclaim a spot within the Top 20 on this lap. Though no-one’s pace can compare to that of the leader Gerard, who is now some 30 seconds ahead of Collins and has set yet another Fastest Lap in the process!

*Lap 10* – Another FL for Gerrard (a 9:26.3) now moves him 3 seconds further away from Collins in 2nd as this looks like another race wrapped up for the Maserati driver. Meanwhile Piotti is in for his 2nd stop and thus relinquishes 10th to Brabham and allows everyone from 12th placed von Trips to 20th placed Flockhart to move up a spot in the process. Leston also stops on this lap and is now 1 lap down on the leaders.

*Lap 11* – Gerard comes in for the 2nd time, along with Collins, Hawthorn, Fairman, Menditeguy, Musso and Gibson. Alarmingly for his competition Gerard emerges in the lead of the race still, with Salvadori now up to 2nd place from Gonzalez 3rd, Maglioli 4th, Behra 5th, Perdisa 6th and Collins out in 7th position.

Brabham leads a Ferrari foursome only interrupted by Castellotti’s Cooper, as he is now 8th from von Trips 9th, Castellotti 10th, Hawthorn out in 11th and Gould up to 12th place. Fairman emerges in 13th, with de Beaufort now 14th, Gregory 15th, Flockhart 16th and making good ground up, Piotti 17th and Menditeguy out in 18th position. 19th place is Musso after his stop, with Schell now 20th and Gibson out in 21st position.

*Lap 12* – Salvadori, Maglioli, Behra, Perdisa, Brabham and Flockhart all come in on this lap as the demanding circuit exacts its toll on tyres and drivers alike. Gonzalez is now back into 2nd position, with Collins 3rd and Hawthorn now back up to 4th after passing both Castellotti and von Trips at Kallenhardt and Klostertal respectively.

Salvadori emerges from the pits in 7th place with Gould now back up to 8th from Fairman 9th and de Beaufort now rounding out the Top 10. Maglioli exits the pits in 11th, with Gregory now 12th, Behra out in 13th, Perdisa out in 14th and Brabham emerging in 15th just ahead of Piotti, Menditeguy and Musso.

Flockhart pits for the 3rd time and drops to 21st position as this strategy looks somewhat flawed at the moment (!), with Gibson now up to 19th after an easy pass on Schell through the Kesselchen/Mutkurve complex of corners.

*Lap 13* – Gonzalez comes in from 2nd place – but he hasn’t quite got the pace to keep his Top 5 place intact. As such it’s Collins 2nd, Hawthorn in 3rd and then comes the impressively fast Vanwall of Salvadori, who has passed both von Trips and Castellotti. Though they are on very different strategies to the others in the points paying positions right now.

Gonzalez emerges in 7th position, ahead of Gould in 8th, who is starting to struggle on his tyres and now has Fairman’s Vanwall bearing down on him! Elsewhere the race has settled down somewhat, with no other passing opportunities to speak of this lap.

*Lap 14* – Castellotti pits for what looks to be his final stop, with Gould, de Beaufort and Schell (who finally pits to fix his damage) doing likewise. Leston also pits for fresh tyres, for all the good it will do him a lap down on the entire field!

Gonzalez is now back up to 6th, from Fairman 7th, Maglioli 8th, the recovering Behra up to 9th after Gregory slides wide and loses not just 9th but also 10th to Perdisa as well! Brabham is in 12th, with Piotti 13th, Castellotti out in 14th narrowly in front of Menditeguy 15th, Gould out in 16th, Musso up to 17th, de Beaufort out in 18th, Gibson up to 19th and Flockhart up to 20th after Schell emerges in 21st overall after what looks to be his final stop.

*Lap 15* – Von Trips and Gregory both come in for their final stops, with the former dropping from 5th to 12th just behind the duo of Brabham and Piotti and the latter emerging in 19th position. Aside from those stops the main action on track is Menditeguy taking 13th away from Castellotti.

*Lap 16* – Gerard pits for the final time and of course emerges in 1st place again, with Collins 2nd and Salvadori at least briefly completing a 2-3 for Vanwall thanks to not yet pitting. Gonzalez is up to 4th with Fairman 5th, Maglioli 6th and Behra 7th as they are all promoted by Hawthorn’s stop, which drops the Ferrari down to 8th position.

Piotti now pits for the final time from 11th, which moves von Trips, Menditeguy, Castellotti, Gould, Musso, de Beaufort, Gibson and Gregory all up a spot as Piotti emerges in 19th position. Flockhart pits as well this lap, dropping comfortably behind the pack in 20th overall.

*Lap 17* – The Vanwall pits are busy this lap, with Collins and Fairman both coming in this time around. Behra, Perdisa, Brabham, Menditeguy and Gibson all come in for their final stops this lap, prompting another shuffling of the order!

Salvadori is now 2nd, with Gonzalez 3rd, while Collins emerges in 4th after his stop and has a comfortable lead over Maglioli in 5th still. Hawthorn is already back into 6th place, with Fairman out in 7th, von Trips up to 8th, Castellotti 9th and Gould now inside the Top 10. Musso is now 11th, de Beaufort 12th, Behra out in 13th, Perdisa out in 14th, Brabham out in 15th, Gregory up to 16th, Piotti up to 17th, Menditeguy out in 18th and Gibson out in 19th still ahead of Flockhart but in danger of being caught soon!

*Lap 18* – The final pits this time from Salvadori, Gonzalez, Maglioli, Musso and Leston shuffle the pack once more, and that means Collins reclaims 2nd place with Hawthorn back up to 3rd just 1.4 seconds ahead of Salvadori in 4th position. Gonzalez emerges in 5th place and has a solid lead over Fairman in 6th, with von Trips now 7th, Castellotti 8th, Gould 9th and Maglioli out in 10th position.

De Beaufort is up to 11th, just ahead of Behra 12th, Perdisa 13th, Brabham 14th and then comes Piotti, who has just overtaken Gregory with a strong passing move at Aremberg. Menditeguy is up to 17th, with Musso emerging from the pits in 18th position. Leston pits for a final time in what has just become a glorified testing session for him.

*Lap 19* – With the pit-stops out of the way Gerard is over a minute ahead of his nearest rival Collins and looks solidly set for another hat-trick! Meanwhile Salvadori is keeping pressure on Hawthorn for the final podium position, the 2 stoppers will be getting nervous about their tyre life and Fairman is honing in on Gonzalez for the Top 5 – though it may be too little too late…

*Lap 20* – Behra has got some strong pace at this point and manages to claim 11th from de Beaufort after a ballsy overtake around the outside at Karussell! Further back Flockhart easily dispatches Gibson to claim 19th position, but that’s likely to be all the progress he will make given the 28 second gap to the next car up the road!

*Lap 21* – Perdisa is the latest man to overhaul de Beaufort, as the Maserati team-mates exchange 12th and 13th positions. Menditeguy also makes the most of having decent tyre life remaining, as he passes Gregory for 16th place with a well-timed dive up the inside at Sudkehre.

*Lap 22* – Gerard takes the victory and with it a hat-trick that never looked in doubt. Collins is a solid 2nd place with Hawthorn in 3rd as the podium finishers looked set for some time now. Salvadori claims 4th position with Gonzalez gaining his 1st points of the season in 5th for Connaught.

Fairman finishes 6th for the 2nd race in succession with von Trips in 7th and Castellotti in 8th, though only just as he almost fell back into the clutches of the hard-charging Maglioli for BRM, who does take 9th place in the end. Gould hangs onto 10th position by the skin of his teeth from Behra in 11th and Perdisa in 12th place. 13th is de Beaufort, from Brabham 14th, Piotti 15th, Menditeguy 16th, Gregory 17th, Musso 18th, Flockhart 19th, Gibson 20th and Schell in 21st overall after a tough time for the American today.

*2 LAPS DOWN* – Leston finally comes home 2 laps down after a torrid afternoon that never looked like getting better either in terms of pace or strategy.

## Milestones

* 20th race entry for Ron Flockhart and Ottorino Volonterio
* Salvadori up to 8th Most Entries ever (at the expense of Alberto Ascari)
* Simon up to 4th in Most Races without Points after Castellotti failed to start last race
* Godia up to 8th in Most Races without Points (at the expense of Andre Pilette)
* Win for Gerard makes it 3 in a row – the 4th time he achieved that in his career, and the 4th time he has won at the Nurburgring too! That makes it the most victories by any driver at a single track in F1R history!!!
* Gerard takes his 9th hat-trick ever here and moves himself up to over 250 career points as a result!
* Peter Collins moves himself up to 5th place in Most Points overall (at the expense of Toulo de Graffenried)
* Hawthorn moves up into 4th in Most Points without a Win after a Podium today
* With his points finish today Gerard equals the record for Most consecutive Top 5 finishes (12 in total), while Hawthorn has achieved his 4th consecutive points finish here too
* Gerard equals his own record, with a 3rd Fastest Lap in a row - which is his 3rd Fastest Lap at the German Grand Prix.
* Pole for Gerard makes it his 5th consecutive Pole Position, which is be a brand-new record! This is his 3rd Pole in Germany too.
* Podium for Gerard is the 3rd time he has managed the feat of 5 consecutive podiums in his career