Cortese scores while Villoresi retires

The race consisted of two heats plus a final. Once Again the Alfa Romeos failed to appear so only Maseratis were seen on the grid. Marazza won the first heat and Villoresi the second. Villoresi led the final until lap 14 when he was passed by Marazza. Villoresi retook the lead three laps later only to retire soon afterwards leaving Cortese to win from Marazza and Ghersi.

Entries:

Practice:

Heat 1:

20 Teagno Maserati 18 Soffietti Maserati 16 Marazza Maserati 28 Ruggeri Maserati 12 Giussani Maserati 32 Minetti Maserati 4 Castelbarco Maserati 30 Ghersi Maserati (Note 1)

There was an all-Maserati entry at Varese. Marazza won the first heat from Teagno and Soffietti and Luigi Villoresi won the second heat from Cortese and Pietsch. In the final Villoresi had to retire leaving Cortese to win half a minute in front of Marazza. Best non Italian was Pietsch in 4th place.

Heat 2:

6 Lanza Maserati 22 L Villoresi Maserati 26 Barbieri Maserati 38 Carnevalli Maserati 14 Cortese Maserati 36 Pietsch Maserati (Note 1)

Final:

22 Villoresi Maserati 14 Cortese Maserati 36 Pietsch Maserati 6 Lanza Maserati 16 Marazza Maserati 20 Teagno Maserati 18 Soffietti Maserati 30 Ghersi Maserati 28 Ruggeri Maserati 26 Barbieri Maserati

Seaman's remarkable triumph

The German Grand Prix was the greatest race of the 1938 season with 20 cars at the start. The Mercedes-Benz drivers Lang and Seaman took the lead ahead of Nuvolari (Auto Union) followed by Caracciola and Brauchitsch both in Mercedes-Benz, then the Auto Unions of Hasse and Müller, Farina (Alfa Romeo), and Stuck (Auto Union). Further behind were the Delahayes of Dreyfus and Comotti, the Alfa Romeos of Ghersi, Biondetti, Taruffi and Balestrero, the Maseratis of Pietsch, Hyde, Berg, Graffenried and Cortese. Berg, Comotti and Biondetti retired after the first lap. Nuvolari, Taruffi and Farina dropped out after lap two, followed by Graffenried on lap four. At that time Brauchitsch held the lead ahead of Seaman, Caracciola, Hasse, Müller and Stuck while Lang had dropped to seventh place, followed by Pietsch, Dreyfus, Hyde, Cortese, Ghersi and Balestrero. Hyde's Maserati disappeared on lap 15 as did Bäumer in Lang's Mercedes. Hasse completed only 16 laps. After the 16th laps came the second pit stops. Brauchitsch's car was overfilled and caught fire. Car and driver survived the disaster and started for the 17th lap but Brauchitsch soon crashed in a ditch. Uninjured, he walked back to the pits. Seaman was then leading ahead of Lang in Caracciola's car, then Nuvolari in Müller's car, followed by Stuck, Dreyfus, Pietsch, Balestreo, Ghersi and Cortese. On the second to last lap Seaman stopped for fuel and tires, likewise Nuvolari for spark plugs and water which allowed Stuck to take third place behind the two Mercedes. Seaman was the celebrated victor ahead of Lang in Caracciola's Mercedes, the Auto Unions of Stuck and Nuvolari for Müller. One lap behind finished Dreyfus (Delahaye) in fifth place, followed by Pietsch, Balestrero and Ghersi who were two laps behind and Cortese three laps behind.

The eleventh German Grand Prix of 1938 was considered the most important of the great races, the annual climax. The ONS (Oberste Nationale Sportbehörde) had organized the German Grand Prix, but the DDAC (Der Deutsche Automobil-Club) and the NSKK (National-Sozialistisches Kraftfahr-Korps) were charged with the execution of this race. It was run over 22 laps of the 22.810 km Nürburgring Nordschleife, a total of 501.82 km and was held to the new 3-liter supercharged and 4½-liter un-supercharged Grand Prix formula. In accordance with this sliding scale formula, 1500 cc cars were allowed to race with the larger cars.

Entries: There were 22 entries listed after the withdrawal of two works entered Maserati for Carlo Felice Trossi and Achille Varzi as the new Maserati were not yet ready to race and a blown single-seat Bugatti for Wimille.       As usual the German teams came in force to the main event of the year. The Auto Union team had rehired Hans Stuck, including Tazio Nuvolari to drive the brand-new body style cars, while H. P. Müller and Rudolf Hasse were driving the old-style cars seen at Reims. Christian Kautz and Ulrich Bigalke were the reserve drivers.       Daimler-Benz was present with seven cars for no less than eight drivers during practice. Rudolf Caracciola, Manfred von Brauchitsch, Hermann Lang, Richard Seaman were the team main drivers. One of the three junior drivers Walter Bäumer, Heinz Brendel or Hugo Hartmann would drive the fifth car to be decided after the practice results. Bäumer was selected as fifth driver but during Thursday practice he crashed. He escaped uninjured but the car was damaged. Since they were unable to inspect the car for possible cracks in the frame, it was withdrawn on Saturday. The radiators of the four Mercedes were painted and framed in different colors to enable the pit crew to recognize the cars from a long distance. Brauchitsch's radiator was framed in red, Seaman's green, Lang blue and Caracciola gray.       Alfa Corse managed the Alfa Romeo team with two red type 312, 3-L 12-cylinder cars for Giuseppe Farina and Clemente Biondetti.       Ecurie Bleu, managed by Madame Schell from Paris, entered two Delahaye 145 types with 4.5-L, V-12 engines not supercharged for René Dreyfus and Gianfranco Comotti.       Scuderia Torino entered an Alfa Romeo 308 for Piero Taruffi, while Pietro Ghersi drove an old type 8C 2900A. Their reserve driver was Piero Dusio.       There were seven independent drivers, the Swiss Baron Emmanuel de Graffenried drove a 3.7-L 6-cylinder Maserati with his reserve driver John du Puy. The Hungarian Count Ernõ Festetics drove an unknown Alfa Romeo with reserve driver K. Strieha, but did not start, since he crashed during Friday practice and damaged his car. It is unlikely that Festetics raced a Maserati in 1938, as was mentioned in some reports. The British driver Arthur B. Hyde arrived with an 8CM Maserati. The Germans Herbert Berg and Paul Pietsch entered 1500 cc Maserati types with Franco Cortese in another 1500 Maserati entered by Scuderia Ambrosia.       Renato Balestrero entered an Alfa Romeo type 308, but some reports mentioned Vittorio Belmondo instead. As Belmondo could not command good starting money for the German Grand Prix, he left his entry and car to Balestrero. But some reports falsely mentioned still the original entry of Belmondo as starter and finisher.

Practice: The week prior to official practice a number of cars were seen testing on the Nürburgring. Auto Union had re-hired Stuck and Chiron to test the new cars. Stuck recorded 10m35s and 10m20s, Chiron 11m05s. Dr. Feuereissen, the team manager, had hired Nuvolari as official driver for Auto Union. The Italian had been practicing hard for one week and seemed to have got the feel of the car quite well, clocking in 10m17s and 10m03s, the fastest of the Auto Union drivers.       July 20 - Wednesday was the first official practice day with beautiful weather from 9-12 in the morning and 2-6 in the afternoon. In the morning all Mercedes drivers were active and reached respectable times. In the afternoon appeared Auto Union with Nuvolari and H.P. Müller, who had crashed at the Reims practice and left the hospital on the motorcycle to drive straight to the Ring where he climbed in a racecar to place a lap in 10m26s. Nuvolari was also seen, mainly testing the new car. Hasse and Stuck would arrive Thursday. Alfa Romeo team manager Ugolini and the drivers Biondetti and Farina were present but would only start on Thursday, same like Dreyfus and Comotti with the French Delahaye. Wednesday times Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz)   9m58.1s - 137.2 km/h Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 10m07.0s - 135 km/h Bäumer (M-B. 1937 8-cyl.) 10m10.0s - 10m10.3s - 134.6 km/h Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 10m10.3s Seaman (Mercedes-Benz) 10m11.0s - 10m12.4s Nuvolari (Auto Union) 10m15.0s - 10m15.1s - 134 km/h Müller (Auto Union) 10m26.0s

July 21 - Thursday practice, on the second day faster laps were timed. Lang was the first to improve Wednesday's fastest time of 9m58.1s to a lap in 9m54.1s. Brauchitsch started at 5 pm and lowered his time to 9m51.0s and then 9m48.4s which was a new record at 139.6 km/h average speed. Lang then reached 9m51.1s, Seaman 10m00.0s and Caracciola 10m03s. Then Bäumer spun off the track at the south turn. He remained uninjured but the Mercedes was damaged. From the Auto Unions, Nuvolari drove a lap in 10m 47.4s, Hasse was timed at 10m19s, Müller 10m25.2s and Stuck 10m30s. Dreyfus and Comotti with the Delahaye made also some laps but did not reach good times, same like Farina, Biondetti and Balestrero in the Alfa Romeos. The Swiss de Graffenried was also on the track. Thursday times Brauchitsch (Mercedes-Benz)   9m48.4s -   9m51s   -   9m54s Lang (Mercedes-Benz)   9m51.0s -   9m54.1s Seaman (Mercedes-Benz) 10m00.0s - 10m01s   - 10m01.2s - 10m05.1s Caracciola (Mercedes-Benz) 10m03.0s - 10m03.1s - 10m01s Nuvolari (Auto Union) 10m05.0s - 10m07.4s - 10m47.4s Bäumer (Mercedes-Benz) crashed Hasse (Auto Union) 10m10.0s - 10m18.0s - 10m19.0s Müller (Auto Union) 10m23.0s - 10m25.0s - 10m25.2s Stuck (Auto Union) 10m29.0s - 10m30.0s Pietsch (Maserati 1500) 11m18.0s - 11m18.2s Dreyfus (Delahaye) 11m31.2s Biondetti (Alfa Romeo V-12) 11m36.4s - 11m52.0s Balestreo (Alfa Romeo) 12m03.3s Comotti (Delahaye) 12m24.4s Count Festetics (Alfa Romeo) 13m22.1s

July 22 - Friday practice for the Grand Prix cars was from 2-6 in the afternoon. During the hot summer weather, all Auto Unions recorded good times. Farina was the fastest of the Italians with 10m34.1s. Taruffi drove his first practice laps with the Alfa Romeo on Friday. The Hungarian driver Count Festetics had great luck, as just before Breidscheid he left the track due to a breakage and his car came down an incline making a head stand. The driver was not injured while the car was severely damaged. The practice did not go well after Farina in the Alfa Romeo on the 8 km stretch from Bergwerk to the Schwalbenschwanz lost incredibly much oil on Friday afternoon. Mercedes engineer Uhlenhaut, von Brauchitsch and Stuck had near accidents on the oil. Practice was then stopped for the last two hours shortly after 4 pm. At night the oil tracks were removed by treating them with basalt dust and burned with gasoline and cleaned in the early morning hours so that the track was in best condition for Saturday morning practice. Friday times Nuvolari (Auto Union) 10m03.0s - 10m03.3s - 136.2 km/h Lang (Mercedes-Benz) 10m21.0s Stuck (Auto Union) 10m23.0s - 10m25.0s Hasse (Auto Union) 10m25.0s - 10m25.4s Seaman (Mercedes-Benz) 10m27.0s Farina (Alfa Romeo) 10m31.1s - 10m34.0s - 10m34.1s Müller (Auto Union) 10m42.0s - 10m42.2s Uhlenhaut (Mercedes-Benz) 10m55.0s

July 23 - Saturday practice took place during nice sunshine. The times were changed for the Grand Prix cars which were driving from 8-10 in the morning and from 2-6 in the afternoon: Nuvolari with 10m13.4s, Müller 10m10.3s made his fastest times, Hasse 10m27.1s, Stuck 10m40.4s. Pietsch set his fastest time of 10m22.2s in the 1500 Maserati. The Mercedes management decided not to start the fifth car which Bäumer had crashed since they were unable to inspect the car for possible cracks in the frame. Saturday times Müller (Auto Union) 10m10.3s - 10m25.3s Nuvolari (Auto Union) 10m13.4s Pietsch (Maserati 1500) 10m22.2s Hasse (Auto Union) 10m27.1s Uhlenhaut (M.-B. T-car) 10m32.5s Stuck (Auto Union) 10m40.4s - 10m44.0s Farina (Alfa Romeo V-12) 10m48.4s

Race: During practice and on race day the weather was brilliant, attracting masses of spectators. Days before and the whole night thousands of spectators had arrived from all directions on bicycles, cars, trucks, and buses. As the Eifelrennen was not held this year, two races were held in the morning. At 8:30 am the sports car race took place, followed at 10:00 by motorcycles. The Grand Prix was to start at 12 noon. An estimated 350.000 spectators had assembled around the large circuit including those in the grandstands. Amongst person of interest was also seen Charles Faroux, from the Paris L'Auto, who had bought a green Bavarian hat with a goat beard to cover his aged head and lightened a good cigar. Adolf Hühnlein, the leader of German motor sport, shook the hand of each driver just before the start.       Note: The German time keepers published only the order of the staring grid but not the times. The times shown in the starting grid below were published in the various practice press reports. The missing times of six drivers were nowhere found in our sources, but some hotshot might have added fake times years later in reviews.

16 Seaman Mercedes 10m00.0s 14 Lang Mercedes 9m54.1s 12 Brauchitsch Mercedes 9m48.4s 2 Nuvolari Auto Union 10m03.3s 10 Caracciola Mercedes 10m03.1s 4 Stuck Auto Union 10m23.0s 8 Müller Auto Union 10m10.3s 6 Hasse Auto Union 10m10.0s 26 Biondetti Alfa Romeo 10m36.4s 24 Farina Alfa Romeo 10m31.1s 40 Pietsch Maserati 10m22.2s 20 Dreyfus Delahaye 11m31.2s 28 Taruffi Alfa Romeo 30 Ghersi Alfa Romeo 36 Hyde Maserati 38 Berg Maserati 44 Cortese Maserati 42 Balestrero Alfa Romeo 12m03.3s 32 de Graffenried Maserati 22 Comotti Delahaye 12m24.4s

It was just before 12:15 pm when the signal for the engine start-up was given. From the various descriptions of the dramatic start, the one by Richard Seaman in 'The Autocar' appeared to be the most reliable: "There are three lights," he explained, "the red warning light first, then it changes to yellow, then after 20 seconds to green for the 'go'. The red came on all right and also the yellow-but not the green. I was watching Neubauer (the team manager) giving us the ten-second signal when we engage gear, then I counted the ten remaining seconds in my head, looked up at the light about three seconds before it was due, as usual, and the first thing I knew was Nuvolari passing me on my right and Lang was screaming off ahead. So, I went off too!" When he did get going, Seaman made an excellent start and was right up on Nuvolari into the first bend, the South turn, which curls round in almost a complete circle. On the back straight he passed Nuvolari's Auto Union, and leaving the North turn, Lang led with Seaman second and Nuvolari third. Lap 1 - The order after the first lap was as follows: 1. Lang (Mercedes Benz) 10m20s 2. Seaman (Mercedes Benz) 10m33s 3. Caracciola (Mercedes Benz) 10m44s 4. Brauchitsch (Mercedes Benz) 10m46s 5. Hasse (Auto Union) 11m04s 6. Müller (Auto Union) 11m10s 7. Farina (Alfa Romeo) 11m17s 8. Stuck (Auto Union) 9. Taruffi (Alfa Romeo) 10. Pietsch (Maserati) 11. Ghersi (Alfa Romeo) 12. Balestrero (Alfa Romeo) 13. Dreyfus (Delahaye) 14. Comotti (Delahaye) 15. Hyde (Maserati) 16. Berg (Maserati) 17. Cortese (Maserati) The first lap had not yet ended when Nuvolari, the great hope of Auto Union, had not yet arrived but eventually appeared as second to last slowly and stopped at his pit where the car, covered all over with oil and a dented tail, was quickly checked before he restarted. On the first lap Nuvolari had also been passed by Caracciola then Brauchitsch, and on the latter's Mercedes the oil tank cover had opened and in the turns the oil had splashed out onto the next following car. Nuvolari's goggles and windscreen were covered with oil and became blurred, so that momentarily he lost vision. At the attempt to clean the screen, Nuvolari skidded tail first into the road ditch near Brünnchen. Tail and gearbox were damaged at the impact. After Nuvolari climbed with the car back onto the track with own power, he could no longer drive at full speed as the rear suspension was badly damaged. After he finished his second lap, he parked the car on the grave yard grass strip. Biondetti had driven into a ditch on the first lap and was helped by others to regain the road and was thus disqualified. He stopped his 12-cylinder Alfa Romeo at the pits for a moment and went on again. Lap 2 - On the second lap, Comotti crawled to the pits with the engine of his Delahaye sounding like a lawn mower. During the second lap Brauchitsch passed Caracciola for third place and Stuck overtook Farina to gain seventh position. After the second lap, Lang led by a bare three seconds from Seaman, then came Brauchitsch and Caracciola. Hasse followed 40 seconds after the leader. Müller was sixth ahead of Stuck, Farina, Taruffi and Pietsch in the 1500 Maserati. Lap 3 - After three laps Brauchitsch had taken the lead by one second from Seaman with Caracciola five seconds behind. When Lang's engine started to miss, he stopped at the pits to have one oiled spark plug replaced. Motor Sport reported: "The Mercedes mechanics got busy with their new apparatus for testing faulty plugs. This consists of a hand magneto, with a lead which can rapidly run round the set of plugs, and an indicator which moves if one is not firing. With twelve plugs to test, this saves a lot of time, and Lang got away after a 31-seconds stop, now in seventh place behind the three Auto Unions." Farina retired the 12-cylinder Alfa Romeo with a radiator defect. Taruffi in the 8-cylinder Alfa Romeo also disappeared with radiator defect, due to a possible crash. Lap 4 - At the end of the fourth lap Brauchitsch led after 41m50s by 5 seconds from Seaman in 41m55s and Caracciola third in 42m03s ahead of the three Auto Unions driven by Hasse, Müller and Stuck. After his pit stop, Lang had fallen to seventh place just ahead of Pietsch in the 1500 Maserati who was running eighth, the highest of any behind the Mercedes and Auto Unions, leading Dreyfus easily and just about keeping Hyde in another Maserati at arm's length. Graffenried brought his 1500 Maserati to the pits and retired with a damaged transmission and Berg's Maserati ended his race with a fuel pump defect. Lap 5 - After five laps Brauchitsch led by 10 seconds from Seaman, Caracciola followed 11 seconds behind. After seven drivers had already retired at this time, the field was down to 13 cars. Lang stopped again on lap six without losing his seventh position. Brauchitsch had lapped Cortese's Maserati in last place. Lap 7 - The race had become monotonous, with Mercedes in the first three places since lap four and the Auto Unions in the following three places. But new interest was created as the refueling stops provided some diversity. After seven laps Brauchitsch was leading and stopped on the following lap. Seaman was second, Caracciola third. After a long gap followed the Auto Unions of Hasse, Müller and Stuck, then Lang, Dreyfus and Pietsch in the 1500 Maserati. 1. Brauchitsch (Mercedes Benz) 1h12m30.2s 2. Seaman (Mercedes Benz) 1h12m37.8s 3. Caracciola (Mercedes Benz) 1h13m06.0s 4. Hasse (Auto Union) 1h14m46.2s 5. Müller (Auto Union) 1h15m20.0s 6. Stuck (Auto Union) 1h15m33.4s 7. Lang (Mercedes Benz) 8. Dreyfus (Delahaye) 9. Pietsch (Maserati) Lap 8 - On lap eight Brauchitsch refueled and changed both rear wheels in 44 seconds and shot off again, while both Seaman and Caracciola went past Brauchitsch who had dropped to third place. At the end of eight laps Seaman who was in the lead after 1h22m56s came in for rear tires and fuel, completely calm as usual, and was off again in 52 seconds. At almost the same moment Caracciola after 1h23m30s did likewise and was quicker in 50 seconds. Whilst they were at rest, Brauchitsch after 1h23m55s went through into the lead. The spectacle all-round the course was magnificent. The new cars were much faster at the corners than the old ones and very much noisier. Lang, still in seventh place, stopped for rear wheels, fuel and more plugs and handed the car over to relief driver Bäumer, which took 1m49s as Bäumer had to have a higher seat cushion fitted with three men working on the car. Lap 9 - After nine laps Brauchitsch led by 10 seconds from Seaman with Caracciola 54 seconds behind. Lap 10 - After the tenth lap Brauchitsch and Seaman were still in front when Caracciola came in and handed the car over to Lang. A higher seat was put in and off went Lang after 19 seconds, still in third place. What had happened? Caracciola had suffered for days from stomach trouble and he simply could not carry on driving with the pains. How much must he have suffered before he decided to climb out of the car? Then Hasse stopped the fastest of the Auto Unions. New rear wheels were fitted on, fuel was put in, and amidst a great roar of cheering, Hasse went off after only 33 seconds. Lap 11 - On the eleventh lap, Brauchitsch, Seaman and Lang/Caracciola were ahead of fourth placed Müller who stopped, to change rear wheels and refueled while Nuvolari took over and carried a little seat cushion. The crowd cheered, for the Italian was off in 38 seconds. Hasse passed in the same moment when Hans Stuck came in, refueled, changed wheels and plugs and was off in 1m05s. Hyde also refueled and changed wheels while Balestreo refueled his Alfa Romeo. Bäumer came in with Lang's Mercedes for more plugs. After eleven laps Brauchitsch held the lead at 130.0 km/h average speed with the order at mid-race: 1. Brauchitsch (Mercedes Benz) 1h54m58.0s 2. Seaman (Mercedes Benz) 1h55m11.4s 3. Caracciola/Lang (Mercedes Benz) 1h56m26.2s 4. Müller/Nuvolari (Auto Union) 1h57m47.0s 5. Hasse (Auto Union) 1h57m50.4s 6. Stuck (Auto Union) 1h58m45.1s 7. Lang/Bäumer (Mercedes Benz) 8. Pietsch (Maserati) 9. Dreyfus (Delahaye) 10. Hyde (Maserati) 11. Balestrero (Alfa Romeo) 12. Cortese (Maserati) 13. Ghersi (Alfa Romeo) Lap 12 - After twelve laps Brauchitsch after 2h05m14s led by 20 seconds from Seaman after 2h05m34s and Caracciola/Lang after 2h06m41s. Lap 14 - After 14 laps Hyde crashed with his Maserati just after the North Turn. The car lay sadly on its side in a ditch. Hyde was said to be badly hurt. He was on his fifteenth lap. On lap 15 Lang stopped at the pits for refueling. Lap 16 - After 16 laps Brauchitsch led in 2h46m16s, 13 seconds from Seaman in 2h46m29s and Caracciola/Lang in 2h50m08s. At the end of this lap Brauchitsch made his second pit stop to refuel and change rear tires. As his car received new wheels, Seaman arrived at the pits. The third car at the pits behind Seamans Mercedes, was Bäumer in Lang’s car, but there was no time to service him. While refilling with the pressure system at 5 Gallons per second, the tank of Brauchitsch's car was overfilled, a thick stream of fuel shot out of the tank, about one meter high, over the back of the Mercedes and on to the ground. People nearby jumped back expecting an explosion. In starting up, a tong of a flame licked from the exhaust pipe and in a flash the tail of Brauchitsch's Mercedes was a single large flame which jumped at once to the ground puddle. Brauchitsch flung the detachable steering wheel aside, he jumped from the car to the left where Neubauer dragged the driver from the cockpit, three others activated hand extinguishers. Neubauer and a mechanic helped Brauchitsch to kill the flames on his overall, who rolled on the ground to kill flames. Everything happened in split seconds. The car was covered in a fog of foam while Seaman's car was pushed away from Brauchitsch's, then was started. (Note 1) Seaman turned left and chased out of the danger zone ducking as he went past the flames and the smoke with his right wheels running though the foam and took the lead. As the fire flared up again, a large foam extinguisher on wheels came into action, first dousing several mechanics, but eventually smothering the flames very effectively. The car became a dirty white mess in an instant covered in a cocoon of foam. The mechanics cleaned scantily scooped hands full from the seat, Rudolf Uhlenhaut checked the controls saw that the car was not damaged, and surprisingly Brauchitsch climbed back into the car. The mechanics started the engine which then stopped. Again, the starter was applied, then Brauchitsch drove away slowly at first, the crowd raved with enthusiasm. When he returned on the back-straight he was at full speed heading into the country side. But still on the same lap, Brauchitsch drove in a road ditch so deep that the car was not visible from the road, past Quiddelbacher Höhe at Flugplatz, weather due to a failure on the car or his nerves, remained unknown. (More on this episode, see: In retrospect.) Lap 17 - After 17 laps Seaman was leading, Lang in Caracciola's car was second, 2m13s behind. Brauchitsch left after the fire but soon crashed. Hasse's Auto Union in third place retired with engine defect somewhere on the long straight and he ran back to the pits. Nuvolari then advanced to third place. Hans Stuck was fourth, followed by Dreyfus (Delahaye) and Pietsch (Maserati), both already lapped. Bäumer, driving Lang's Mercedes, appeared when the fire erupted but as he could not be serviced on the 17th lap, he carried on and retired on the same lap somewhere when the engine finally gave in. Lap 18 - Just as Seaman flashed past the end of his 18th lap, 2m33s to Lang, there was a stir of cheering, as von Brauchitsch was seen walking back to the pits, with his detachable steering wheel still in his hand. Korpsführer Hühnlein hurried down from his stand to congratulate the Mercedes driver on his effort, and the crowd clapped and clapped. Lap 19 - Seaman led the 19th lap, 2m43s to Lang, having gained ten seconds. At some time later, the large foam extinguisher on wheels at the Mercedes pits, still under pressure, suddenly blew a line and a large foam fountain burst into the air. The large mass of foam covered a rather large area very close to the track, but was soon stopped and in no time numerous helpers with brooms cleared the foam. Lap 20 - Seaman was in the lead with an advantage of 2m52s to Lang in Caracciola's car, then Nuvolari in third place, ahead of Stuck and Pietsch in fifth place. Dreyfus was sixth. Lap 21 - Seaman was in the lead with an advantage of 3m07s to Lang and stopped on lap 21 to refuel and change rear tires. Lang was second ahead of Nuvolari, who stopped on the last lap for water and spark plugs. That enabled Stuck to advance to third place. Pietsch lost his fifth position when he made a refueling stop and was passed by Dreyfus. Lap 22 - Seaman crossed the line victorious. At the prizegiving on the terrace of the timekeepers' offices, Korpsführer Hühnlein awarded to Seaman the special prize, a massive trophy, by the Führer, Adolf Hitler. "God Save the King" blared sonorously from the loudspeakers, and the whole crowd stood with the right arms uplifted in salute of the British driver; the German anthem followed for the winning car. Seaman also received 20,000 Marks for winning the greatest race of the year. Motor Sport commented: "Seaman's victory was due to that steady, unruffled style of driving which has made him famous."