OBSCURE F1 A-Z: HANS HERRMANN

In this 26 part series of posts I will be going through the alphabet and for each letter, a profile piece on an obscure driver - some you may have heard of before some you may never knew even sat in an F1 car let alone raced one. I have chosen a driver for each letter choosing them based on their surnames.

Hans Herrmann raced in Formula One for 16 years on and off he first made an appearance on the F1 grid in 1953 he raced until 1955 when he left the sport then returned for the 1957 season up until the 1961 season after which he left the sport for a second time before returning in 1966 then for a third time left F1 to then ultimately return for the 1969 season. During this off and on career at the top of motorsport Herrmann raced for many teams including; Veritas, Mercedes, Maserati, Cooper, BRM, Porsche, Brabham and Lotus.

Herrmann made his debut at the 1953 German Grand Prix the seventh race of nine that season - where he finished 9th, one lap down on winner Nino Farina (the first ever Formula One World Champion). Herrmann's career looked as follows;

1 Fastest Lap

0 Pole Positions

10 Career Points

1 Podium &

0 Wins

Herrmann managed his only F1 podium at the 1954 Swiss Grand Prix where he finished third place, he came close to a second the next race at the Italian Grand Prix where he finished an eventual fourth place.

He took his one and only fastest lap came just a few races before his podium at the 1954 French Grand Prix a race he would fail to finish.

Herrmann made his final F1 appearance at the 1969 German Grand Prix - the same venue at which he had made his debut 16 years earlier. A race which was won by Jacky Ickx. Herrmann withdrew from his final race after fellow countryman Gerhard Mitter was killed during a practice session.