37th, Return of the Silver Arrows: Fangio's Victory Marks Mercedes' Resurgence
“Grand Prix racing had certainly started on a new era of science vs the rest, with the rest found wanting,” concluded Denis Jenkinson at the end of his race report for Motor Sport.
Just nine years after the end of WWII, the German might of Mercedes-Benz was back, resuming exactly where it left off in September 1939. The motor racing world prepared once again to be in thrall to the Silver Arrows.
It’s races such as this for which we long to time travel, and not simply because of the on-track spectacle of front-engined Grand Prix cars driven hard around the fast sweeps of an open road circuit. Given how much France had suffered in the six-year conflict, one can’t help but wonder how the crowds responded to this latest formidable German invasion. Yet all Motor Sport tells us of is fascination as the four closed-bodied streamliner Mercedes W196s – three race cars, one spare – rolled into sight for the first time.