1954 French Grand Prix

Previous race

At Spa-Francorchamps, Fangio built a comfortable lead after early attrition thinned the field sharply. Roberto Mieres’s Maserati caught fire on the opening lap — a fuel cap left open had allowed fuel to leak onto the exhaust — and Mieres jumped clear with minor burns. Mike Hawthorn was overcome by exhaust fumes from a cracked pipe, collapsed over the wheel, and had to be dragged from the car. Only seven of the 14 starters were classified at the finish. Stirling Moss scored his first World Championship podium in third.

Championship standings

Fangio leads with 17 points after wins in Argentina and Belgium. Maurice Trintignant is second with 8 points.

Between-race developments

Mercedes-Benz join the championship for the first time, bringing their W196 with a straight-8 fuel-injection engine. Fangio transfers from Maserati to the German squad, where he is joined by Karl Kling, Hans Herrmann, and pre-war Mercedes star Hermann Lang. With Fangio’s Maserati seat vacant, the team has loaned it to Alberto Ascari, whose new employer Lancia still cannot get the D50 ready. Ascari’s mentor Luigi Villoresi, who also signed with Lancia, is similarly loaned to Maserati. The British Racing Motors organisation also returns to the championship under the name Owen Racing Organisation, having last appeared in a one-off entry in 1951.

Nino Farina will not race this weekend. On 27 June he crashed at the Supercortemaggiore Grand Prix sports car race at Monza and is expected to spend twenty days in hospital; he will not return to Formula One this season.

Entrants

Fangio and Kling put the streamlined silver W196s at the front of the grid. Ascari starts from the outside of the front row in the Maserati — his first championship entry of the year.

Practice

Fangio records a practice lap at 124.31 mph as the W196 proves immediately rapid on the long Reims straights.