1937 Grand Prix season

1937 AIACR European Championship European Champion Template:Flagicon Rudolf Caracciola Previous 1936 Next 1938

1937 Grand Prix season Previous 1936 Next 1938

The 1937 Grand Prix season was the fifth AIACR European Championship season. The championship was won by Rudolf Caracciola, driving for the Mercedes-Benz team. Caracciola won three of the five events that counted towards the championship.

This season saw the most powerful Grand Prix cars so far, Mercedes-Benz supercharged 5.6L inline-8 engines boasting nearly 650 bhp. Considering that an average saloon car produced around 25 bhp at the time, the performance of these single-seaters was extremely high compared with any other season in modern motorsport; so much so that for the first time ever, regulations were put in force for the following year to limit the engines' size capacity to reduce their power and to add weight to the cars to make them slower. Mercedes-Benz's development of their technology was thanks almost entirely to the state-subsidies that they were receiving from the Nazi German government at the time. The amount of power the supercharged Mercedes-Benz W125's had was not equaled in racing cars until American Can-Am cars in the late 1960s, and European Grand Prix cars did not have this kind of power again until the early 1980s (a span of nearly 45 years), when Grand Prix racing had long since become Formula One.

Season review

European Championship Grands Prix

Rd	Date	Name	Circuit	Winning drivers	Winning constructor	Report
1	11 July	Template:Flagicon Belgian Grand Prix	Spa-Francorchamps	Template:Flagicon Rudolf Hasse	Auto Union	Report
2	25 July	Template:Flagicon German Grand Prix	Nürburgring	Template:Flagicon Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes-Benz	Report
3	8 August	Template:Flagicon Monaco Grand Prix	Monaco	Template:Flagicon Manfred von Brauchitsch	Mercedes-Benz	Report
4	22 August	Template:Flagicon Swiss Grand Prix	Bremgarten	Template:Flagicon Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes-Benz	Report
5	12 September	Template:Flagicon Italian Grand Prix	Livorno	Template:Flagicon Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes-Benz	Report

Non-championship Grands Prix

Date	Name	Circuit	Winning driver	Winning constructor	Report
January ?	Template:Flagicon Grosnevor Grand Prix	Grosnevor, South Africa	Template:Flagicon Ernst von Delius	Auto Union	Report
14 February	Template:Flagicon Flatenloppet	Flaten, Stockholm	Template:Flagicon Eugen Bjørnstad	Alfa Romeo	Report
18 April	Template:Flagicon Valentino Grand Prix	Turin	Template:Flagicon Antonio Brivio	Alfa Romeo	Report
25 April	Template:Flagicon Naples Grand Prix	Posillipo	Template:Flagicon Giuseppe Farina	Alfa Romeo	Report
1 May	Template:Flagicon Campbell Trophy	Brooklands	Template:Flagicon Prince Bira	Maserati	Report
9 May	Template:Flagicon Tripoli Grand Prix	Mellaha	Template:Flagicon Hermann Lang	Mercedes-Benz	Report
9 May	Template:Flagicon Eläintarhan ajot	Eläintarharata	Template:Flagicon Hans Rüesch	Alfa Romeo	Report
16 May	Template:Flagicon Grand Prix des Frontières	Chimay	Template:Flagicon Hans Rüesch	Alfa Romeo	Report
30 May	Template:Flagicon Avusrennen	AVUS	Template:Flagicon Hermann Lang	Mercedes-Benz	Report
30 May	Template:Flagicon Superba Circuit	Genoa	Template:Flagicon Carlo Felice Trossi	Alfa Romeo	Report
30 May	Template:Flagicon Bucharest Grand Prix	Bucharest	Template:Flagicon Hans Rüesch	Alfa Romeo	Report
6 June	Template:Flagicon Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix	Gávea	Template:Flagicon Carlo Maria Pintacuda	Alfa Romeo	Report
13 June	Template:Flagicon Eifelrennen	Nürburgring	Template:Flagicon Bernd Rosemeyer	Auto Union	Report
20 June	Template:Flagicon Milan Grand Prix	Milan	Template:Flagicon Tazio Nuvolari	Alfa Romeo	Report
5 July	Template:Flagicon Vanderbilt Cup	Roosevelt Raceway	Template:Flagicon Bernd Rosemeyer	Auto Union	Report
25 July	Template:Flagicon San Remo Grand Prix	San Remo Circuit	Template:Flagicon Achille Varzi	Maserati	Report
25 July	Template:Flagicon Vila Real Circuit	Vila Real	Template:Flagicon Vasco Sameiro	Alfa Romeo	Report
15 August	Template:Flagicon Coppa Acerbo	Pescara	Template:Flagicon Bernd Rosemeyer	Auto Union	Report
15 August	Template:Flagicon Estoril Circuit	Estoril	Template:Flagicon Manoel de Oliveira	Ford	Report
28 August	Template:Flagicon Junior Car Club 200 mile race	Donington Park	Template:Flagicon Arthur Dobson	ERA	Report
26 September	Template:Flagicon Masaryk Grand Prix	Brno	Template:Flagicon Rudolf Caracciola	Mercedes-Benz	Report
2 October	Template:Flagicon Donington Grand Prix	Donington Park	Template:Flagicon Bernd Rosemeyer	Auto Union	Report
16 October	Template:Flagicon Mountain Championship	Brooklands	Template:Flagicon Hans Rüesch	Alfa Romeo	Report
31 October	Template:Flagicon Kalastajatorpanajo	Helsinki	Template:Flagicon Karl Ebb	Mercedes-Benz	Report

Championship final standings

Pos Driver BEL Template:Flagicon GER Template:Flagicon MON Template:Flagicon SUI Template:Flagicon ITA Template:Flagicon Pts 1 Template:Flagicon Rudolf Caracciola 1 2 1 1 13 2 Template:Flagicon Manfred von Brauchitsch Ret 2 1 3 Ret 15 3 Template:Flagicon Hermann Lang 3 7 2 2 19 = Template:Flagicon Christian Kautz 4 6 3 6 Ret 19 5 Template:Flagicon Hans Stuck 2 Ret 4 4 9 20 6 Template:Flagicon Raymond Sommer 5 Ret 7 8 27 7 Template:Flagicon Rudolf Hasse 1 5 Ret 28 = Template:Flagicon Bernd Rosemeyer 3 Ret Ret 3 28 = Template:Flagicon Tazio Nuvolari 4 5 7 28 = Template:Flagicon Giuseppe Farina Ret 6 Ret Ret 28 11 Template:Flagicon László Hartmann Ret Ret 9 29 12 Template:Flagicon Hans Rüesch 8 8 Ret 31 13 Template:Flagicon Vittorio Belmondo 12 10 32 14 Template:Flagicon Hermann Paul Müller Ret Ret 5 33 15 Template:Flagicon Richard Seaman Ret 4 34 = Template:Flagicon Clemente Biondetti Ret Ret 34 17 Template:Flagicon Luigi Soffietti Ret Ret 35 = Template:Flagicon Carlo Felice Trossi Ret 8 35 = Template:Flagicon Paul Pietsch Ret 10 35 20 Template:Flagicon Kenneth Evans 9 36 = Template:Flagicon Ernõ Festetics 10 36 = Template:Flagicon Attilio Marinoni 11 36 = Template:Flagicon Giovanni Minozzi Ret Ret 36 = Template:Flagicon Goffredo Zehender 5 36 = Template:Flagicon Carlo Maria Pintacuda 9 36 = Template:Flagicon Luigi Fagioli 7 36 = Template:Flagicon Achille Varzi 6 36 28 Template:Flagicon Henri Simonet Ret 37 = Template:Flagicon Adolfo Mandirola Ret 37 30 Template:Flagicon Franco Cortese Ret 38 = Template:Flagicon Ernst von Delius Ret 38 = Template:Flagicon Giovanbattista Guidotti Ret 38 33 Template:Flagicon Francesco Severi Ret 39 = Template:Flagicon Renato Balestrero Ret 39 = Template:Flagicon Edoardo Teagno Ret 39 = Template:Flagicon Antonio Brivio Ret 39 = Template:Flagicon Max Christen Ret 39 Pos Driver BEL Template:Flagicon GER Template:Flagicon MON Template:Flagicon SUI Template:Flagicon ITA Template:Flagicon 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