1952 German Grand Prix

Championship standings

Ascari leads the championship by 8 points over Taruffi. Farina is third, seven points adrift of Taruffi.

Previous race

At Silverstone, Ascari led every lap for his third consecutive victory. Taruffi recovered from a poor start — dropping to ninth on the opening lap — to take second, a lap behind. Mike Hawthorn finished third in his Cooper-Bristol for his first World Championship podium in only his third race. Farina pitted for spark plugs from second place and finished sixth, outside the points.

Between-race developments

The Maserati factory team finally arrives with their new A6GCM chassis, making their first competitive championship appearance. Felice Bonetto takes the works entry. Additional A6GCMs are entered by Escuderia Bandeirantes for Bianco and Cantoni.

Milestones

The 1952 German Grand Prix marks the 25th anniversary of the Nürburgring. A sports car support race — the Großer Jubiläumspreis vom Nürburgring für Sportwagen — is run alongside, with factory Mercedes-Benz 300 SL entries.

Entrants

Jean Behra returns to the Gordini works lineup after recovering from his shoulder injury, replacing Prince Bira. Gordini run Behra, Manzon and Trintignant. Ferrari retain Ascari, Farina and Taruffi alongside private entries from Fischer and Schoeller (Ecurie Espadon), Laurent (Ecurie Francorchamps) and Carini (Scuderia Marzotto). HWM enter Collins, Frère and Claes, with Tony Gaze of Australia running a privateer HWM. Bill Aston drives an Aston Butterworth. A large contingent of German privateer cars — Veritas, AFM and BMW — completes the field on their home circuit.

Qualifying

Ferrari again led qualifying, with Ascari and Farina on the front row alongside Gordini’s Trintignant and Manzon. Taruffi started from the second row alongside Fischer’s privateer Ferrari and Paul Pietsch in a Veritas. Bonetto’s works Maserati made the third row alongside Behra’s Gordini, Hans Klenk’s Veritas and Willi Heeks in an AFM.