1939 Grand Prix season

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 Caracciola. 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 Caracciola for the lead in the maximum points system.

Teams and drivers

The following teams and drivers competed in the 1939 AIACR European Championship.

Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Driver	Rounds
Auto Union AG	Auto Union	Auto Union Type D	Auto Union 3.0 V12 s	Hermann Paul Müller	All
				Tazio Nuvolari	All
				Rudolf Hasse	All
				Georg Meier	1-3
				Hans Stuck	2-4
Daimler-Benz AG	Mercedes-Benz	Mercedes-Benz W165	Mercedes-Benz M164 1.5 V8 s	Rudolf Caracciola	All
				Manfred von Brauchitsch	All
				Hermann Lang	All
				Richard Seaman	1
				Heinz Brendel	3
				Hans Hartmann	4

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
2 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

Notes

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

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.
Snellman, Leif; Etzrodt, Hans. "1939 Index". The Golden Era of Grand Prix Racing. Archived from the original on 2022-12-02.
Galpin, Darren. "1939 Grands Prix". The GEL Motorsport Information Page. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28.

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[forix-1] 1 2 Armstrong, Richard. "Unfinished Symphony: Why the 1939 European Championship was never won". 8W. Retrieved 2007-08-05.

[2] rding to the old minimum points system

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