Category: Auto News

Anthony Davidson is back at the wheel of a prototype, just a year and a bit on from his retirement from the cockpit. And he now understands the challenges faced by the drivers out on track in the World Endurance Championship aboard the successors to the LMP1 machinery in which he carved out a stellar sportscar career.

“They’re having to wrestle the steering wheel much more than I ever did,” he reckons. “So they’re definitely earning their money out there.”

The 2014 World Endurance Championship title winner with Toyota comes to that conclusion after a handful of laps around the 8.47-mile Circuit de la Sarthe aboard Peugeot’s 9X8. Only he’s a good 100 miles to the north-east of Le Mans, on the outskirts of Paris at Peugeot Sport’s Satory base in fact.

His experience of the French manufacturer’s Le Mans Hypercar is firmly in the virtual realm. He’s just sampled the hybrid machine with which Peugeot is aiming to repeat the successes of its 905 Group C contender and the LMP1s he raced in 2010-11 – two generations of 908 turbodiesel – not on the race track but in a simulator. 

Davidson describes his handful of laps in the Peugeot sim as a “real eye opener”. It gives him a feel for a breed of car designed to look different, lap slower and, crucially, be more cost-effective than the high-tech LMP1 rocketships they replaced.  

“The cars are definitely exciting to look at and the Peugeot has a quirky look because it doesn’t have a rear wing – one of the beauties of the new rules is the freedom it gives the designers,” says Davidson. “It was good to get a chance to drive the 9X8 in the sim to understand a bit more about it and just how different the new cars are to the prototypes I drove during my career.” 

Watkins looks on as Davidson gets acquainted to the latest LMH machinery in Peugeot’s simulator

Photo by: Florent Gooden – DPPI

They are cars that, until the trip to Paris, he’d only witnessed at close quarters from the cockpit of the LMP2 ORECA he drove in his final year of racing in the WEC with the Jota team in 2021, and from slightly further away in the commentary box where he has been the expert voice on WEC TV since the start of last season. His try-out in surroundings similar to the ones he experiences every week in his ongoing role as one of the mainstays of the Mercedes Formula 1 team’s simulator programme confirms that things have changed since his days of racing in LMP1 with Aston Martin, Peugeot and Toyota between 2009 and 2017. 

PLUS: Why an F1-snubbed British world champion has no regrets in retirement

An LMH, like the LMDh prototypes from Porsche and Cadillac joining the WEC this year, is heavier, has less downforce and less combined power from the internal combustion and front-axle hybrid element of its powertrain than the previous generation of prototypes. And unlike the last two iterations of the Toyota LMP1 hybrid that Davidson raced, it is not really four-wheel drive at all. The advantages that come with all-wheel traction have been pretty much removed as part of the convergence process designed to align the performance of the LMHs with the rear-hybrid LMDhs. 

PLUS: The long road to convergence for sportscar racing’s new golden age

The minimum weight of four-wheel-drive LMH is 1040kg, though both the Peugeot and Toyota raced significantly higher than that under the Balance of Performance last season. The Peugeot topped out at 1079kg, the Toyota at 1071kg. That compares with the 870kg base weight of the LMP1 in the days when Davidson and his team-mates were battling Porsche and Audi for supremacy at the front of a hotly contested WEC. 

“An LMH is definitely not as nimble and agile as the P1s I drove, nor the LMP2 I raced at the end of my career, but with the extra weight that’s to be expected. It’s simple physics” Anthony Davidson

“I did get a sense of the mass of the vehicle and the inertia that comes with it straight away,” says Davidson, who has a quick spin early in his run out of the Ford Chicane. “That was me struggling to slow the car down as I was getting used to it and then hitting the kerb. I’ll allow myself one spin on a sim brand new to me, but the car definitely doesn’t like heavy braking and changing direction at the same time. When you have a moment and slide the car, it slides for longer than you think it should. It doesn’t like being thrown around.

“I could really feel the weight in the Dunlop Curve and the sequence after the chicane leading up to Tertre Rouge. It took me a couple of laps to take the Dunlop Curve flat. I thought, ‘Whoa, this thing wants to understeer when I want to be squaring it up for the left into the chicane’. 

“The right-hander out of the chicane and over the brow of the hill was a really intimidating corner. Then at the bottom of the hill, in the left-right that takes you up towards Tertre Rouge before the Mulsanne Straight, I could really feel the pendulum effect caused by the weight. An LMH is definitely not as nimble and agile as the P1s I drove, nor the LMP2 I raced at the end of my career, but with the extra weight that’s to be expected. It’s simple physics.”

Davidson immediately notices that the LMH car feels heavier to drive than its LMP1 predecessor

Photo by: Florent Gooden – DPPI

The weight of the car is only one of the things that come as a culture shock to Davidson, although his driving environment is somehow familiar. The Peugeot sim, a system developed in-house by the Stellantis brand, has been built up around the monocoque from a V8-powered 908. That’s the car sometimes referred to by its internal codename, the 90X, and a machine in which the Briton won three races in the 2011 Intercontinental Le Mans Cup that led into the rebirth of the WEC the following year. The tub was written off in an accident during testing, subsequently built up as a show car and then given another lease of life in the sim.

Davidson gets behind the wheel of the hybrid with certain preconceptions about what the front-only system on the latest Peugeot prototype would give him as a driver.

“There’s something about driving a four-wheel-drive hybrid that must be hardwired into me,” he explains. “My brain was telling me that I’d have traction at the front to give me extra stability on corner exit, but I didn’t feel any four-wheel drive at all.” 

That’s because the speed at which electric power from the front-axle motor generator unit can be deployed is now strictly controlled. The original minimum on the introduction of LMH in 2021 was 120km/h (75mph), but from last year it became part of the system of Balance of Performance central to the new era of sportscar racing that begins with the Sebring 1000 Miles on 17 March.

The Toyota ran to a 190km/h (118mph) minimum in 2022, the Peugeot on its arrival in the series at Monza in July 150km/h (93mph), because it runs wider front wheels and tyres and narrower rears than its Japanese rival. It changes the whole dynamic of driving a prototype of today compared with what came before.

“You haven’t got the front wheels clawing away on the surface of the track, which gave those Toyotas I drove so much stability,” points out Davidson. “There was an understeery feel to the Peugeot in the sim, while you could also feel the rear end squirming away on the power. Having a car that I knew was a hybrid snapping around at the rear was counter-intuitive for me.

“You’ve got corners like Tertre Rouge and exiting the Porsche Curves where you are in the speed range for the four-wheel drive to in theory be kicking in, but you’ve got so much downforce at those speeds that you aren’t traction limited. Four-wheel drive wouldn’t give you much of an advantage at those points on the track.”

Davidson recognises that the impact of four-wheel drive is greatly lessened on the new machines

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

In the new era, a clearly defined torque curve is laid down for each car in the BoP ahead of every race. The 200kW (260bhp) maximum power allowed from the MGU doesn’t come in on top of the 500kW (670bhp) allowed from the internal combustion engine. That 500kW figure for Le Mans – and 520 for other WEC races – is also maximum total power allowed, no matter how much the MGU at the front is working.

“Getting on the power was really interesting, and night and day compared with the four-wheel-drive Toyota LMP1 cars I drove,” continues Davidson. “In my day we treated the throttle like a switch – you could just mash the pedal. It had a very small range of travel because it didn’t need it.

“We had a massive amount of torque in the old days, because we had the power from the conventional engine and then the hybrid system on top of that. We had 500bhp from the combustion engine and at one stage another 500bhp from the hybrid when we needed it, which was usually on corner exit.”

The way that the torque comes in from the Peugeot’s 2.6-litre twin-turbo V6 is something that strikes Davidson on his brief acquaintance with the 9X8.

“There’s a big visual impact when you look at a car without a rear wing because we’ve all grown up seeing wings on the back of racing cars, but this car develops its downforce through ground-effects” Anthony Davidson

“Peak torque was at surprisingly high revs,” he explains. “At first I felt I could labour a taller gear for a lot longer and it would still deliver enough torque. I realised after a few laps it was better to rev it, so you end up hovering quite close to the shift point a lot of the time. That makes catching slides and snaps a bit more tricky.” 

There are a couple of final questions that have to be asked of Davidson after his return to the cockpit of a contemporary prototype. One is specific to the 9X8: did he feel the absence of the rear wing when driving the car?

“I didn’t even think about it when I was in the sim,” he responds. “Sure there’s a big visual impact when you look at a car without a rear wing because we’ve all grown up seeing wings on the back of racing cars, but this car develops its downforce through ground-effects. If you can balance the car without a wing on the back, why not?”

And has his brief time in the Peugeot sim whetted his appetite for a comeback in sportscar racing’s new golden age?

“I know the Peugeot has air-conditioning, something the Toyota never had, so it would have a bit of creature comfort for an old man like me,” he says. “But I’ve done my time on the race track: I’ll talk about what I see happening out there on TV instead.” 

Davidson is happy to leave the racing to incumbent di Resta

Photo by: Florent Gooden – DPPI

Schumacher’s struggle with Haas during 2022 received its own episode in season five of the popular series, zooming in on the German’s frequent crashes in the first half of the season and his lack of pace compared to experienced team-mate Kevin Magnussen.

The show particularly focused on Schumacher’s qualifying crash in Saudi Arabia and his shunt during the Monaco Grand Prix, before covering his confidence issues in Baku where he was well off the pace.

Schumacher’s costly shunts drew the ire of team boss Steiner, who bluntly criticised his driver in conversations with Magnussen and owner Gene Haas, which were recorded by Netflix and included in the show.

It also shows Steiner and Magnussen discussing a potential replacement for 2023.

When asked by Autosport about the fallout from the Schumacher episode, Steiner said he was “not ashamed” about his portrayal, acknowledging that Drive to Survive was heavily edited to only show the most explosive parts.

“I didn’t watch it, but I made the comments, so I remember some of the things I say,” Steiner replied.

“I think they haven’t showed everything what I said, because in the heat of the moment, I sometimes say things… and obviously Drive to Survive shows the worst, the most picky moments. So obviously, that is what the show needs to do.

“Whatever was said, was said, I cannot take that one back. It was decided not to take it out, because you have nothing to hide. I’m not ashamed of it.”

Gunther Steiner, Team Principal, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

The Drive to Survive narrative ends with the redemption arc of Schumacher scoring points in July’s British Grand Prix, but then ignores the latter half of the season as Schumacher’s contract is ultimately not renewed for 2023. Haas instead recruited veteran Nico Hulkenberg to partner Magnussen.

Read Also:

Steiner says he has no regrets about how he is portrayed by Netflix, because he is focused on his role as team principal and not interesting in acting.

Review: Drive to Survive Season 5 – Still a must-watch despite drawbacks

“Put yourself in my shoes, the best is they don’t do anything,” he added. “But is that good? No. So again, you don’t get involved with your own performance, because I’m not an actor. It’s not acting.

“I did my job and I think I judge my job on what we achieve at the race track, not if Netflix looks good or bad. You know, I don’t really care about that.”

Grand prix racing had been around for nearly half a century before the arrival of Formula 1. The inaugural world championship in 1950 is often used as a starting point, but there had been plenty of brilliant machines and epic races already.

The rules were modified regularly from the inaugural French GP in 1906 to the outbreak of the Second World War. It was a period of huge change and innovation, creating a wide variety of eclectic machines – and some milestone ones.

For this list, we’ve considered the success of each car that competed in major GP events between 1906 and 1939, and the impact they had on motorsport.

10. Delage Type 15 S8

The Delage was a strong car against weak opposition

Photo by: GPL

Years: 1926-27
Major success: 1927 world title
Key driver: Robert Benoist

There were various regulations prior to the arrival of the famous 750kg weight formula in 1934 and one of those was a 1500cc engine limit for 1926-27. Albert Lory’s exquisite Delage straight-eight Type 15 was undoubtedly the car of the era, but minimal opposition means it can’t climb higher on this list.

Teething problems, including extreme cockpit heat, were addressed following outings in 1926 and the Type 15 was ready for the following season. Delage’s lead driver Robert Benoist won four of the five qualifying races for the short-lived World Manufacturers’ Championship, including the French GP, easily giving the financially troubled firm the 1927 title.

Key to the car’s success was its expensive powerplant, which featured a nickel-chromium crankshaft and nine roller bearings, producing 170bhp at 8000rpm, a high engine speed for the time. “The Delages were masterpieces of design and construction,” wrote George Monkhouse in his 1950 book Grand Prix Racing. “They were extremely reliable and ran like sewing machines.”

Although not strictly top-level GP events, the 1936 Voiturette successes scored by Richard Seaman in his modified and lightened 1927 Delage – against strong, newer ERA and Maserati opposition – underlined the design’s quality and helped launch the Briton’s GP career.

9. Fiat 804-404

The Fiat 804 set a template for future race cars

Photo by: GPL

Year: 1922
Major success: 1922 French GP
Key driver: Felice Nazzaro

Fiat was one of the major players in the early days of GP racing and the 804-404 was the best car at the start of the new two-litre regulations in 1922.

It won the all-important French GP and the Italian GP. Veteran Felice Nazzaro overcame the Bugatti opposition in Strasbourg, but a lost wheel due to the rough circuit caused his nephew Biagio Nazzaro to crash fatally in one of the sister entries.

Nevertheless, the 804 helped set the template for the future. “It showed that a racing car should be small, light, and compact, with a body of efficient aerodynamic shape that the driver and mechanic could sit in instead of on,” wrote Autosport’s legendary technical editor John Bolster.

“The 1922 Fiat was the biggest advance in the design of the complete racing car until the Auto Union came along. No racing car was built after 1922 that did not betray some Fiat influence.”

Fiat managed another major milestone in 1923, before withdrawing from GP competition. While others followed the 804’s lead, Sunbeam even being accused of copying it for its successful 1923 contender, Fiat introduced the 805, which became the first supercharged machine to win a major GP at Monza.

8. Alfa Romeo P2

The Alfa Romeo P2 was still competitive into 1930, six years after its debut

Photo by: GPL

Years: 1924-25
Major success: 1925 world title
Key driver: Antonio Ascari

Designed by the legendary Vittorio Jano, poached from Fiat, the straight-eight, supercharged P2 was a winner from the moment it appeared, Antonio Ascari (father of Alberto) taking the Cremona GP. It was probably the best car of GP racing’s two-litre 1922-25 period.

Alfa Romeo faced strong opposition at the blue-riband 1924 French GP at Lyon in a field that included Fiat, Sunbeam and Delage entries, as well as the new Type 35 Bugatti. After early pacesetters Henry Segrave’s Sunbeam and the Fiat of Pietro Bordino hit trouble, Alfa Romeo took control. Ascari suffered late engine problems, but Giuseppe Campari came through to take a big win for Alfa.

Ascari won the Italian GP against weaker opposition and Alfa Romeo then took the often-forgotten inaugural world championship in 1925, despite the death of Ascari at the French GP.

When European motorsport entered a tumultuous and random period in terms of regulations late in the decade, the reliable P2 was still good enough to compete and won the 1930 Targa Florio in modified form, driven by Achille Varzi.

7. Auto Union Type C

The Type C was another that forced greater cars to follow in its era

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Years: 1936-37
Major success: 1936 European drivers’ title
Key driver: Bernd Rosemeyer

The ultimate evolution of the first line of Auto Unions designed by Ferdinand Porsche, the mid-engined V16-powered Type C wrestled the advantage away from German rival Mercedes in 1936. Although tricky to drive despite handling refinements, with a tendency to oversteer, the six-litre 520+bhp Auto Union had its perfect foil in the fearless and flamboyant Bernd Rosemeyer.

Aside from a wet-weather masterclass from Mercedes ace Rudolf Caracciola at Monaco, Rosemeyer dominated the major races of the season. He won the German, Swiss and Italian GPs to secure the 1936 European crown, as well as taking non-championship victories at the Eifelrennen and Coppa Acerbo, while Varzi won in Tripoli.

It might sound harsh, but perhaps the Type C’s greatest contribution was to force Mercedes into producing the W125, a legendary car that appears higher on our list. Nevertheless, even against that big, front-engined monster, the Auto Union still won the Belgian GP, Eifelrennen, Vanderbilt Cup, Coppa Acerbo and Donington GP in 1937.

Bolster once described the Auto Union as “the father of the modern racing car” owing to its layout. It didn’t make the mid-engined approach stick, but it proved it could be successful.

6. Mercedes W25

The W25’s successor actually made Mercedes take a step back in development

Photo by: Mercedes-Benz

Years: 1934-36
Major success: 1935 European drivers’ title
Key driver: Rudolf Caracciola

Mercedes was already a proven force in GP racing – most notably with the 1914 18/100 that almost made this list – when it decided to return to the pinnacle of motorsport for 1934.

The straight-eight W25, built to the new 750kg maximum weight formula, was the car with which Mercedes made its comeback and featured all-independent suspension, not a new idea but one that had seldom been made to work successfully before. It also had its gearbox in the unit with the back axle, a set-up that would soon become widespread.

The W25, a streamlined machine for the era that utilised light materials to keep weight down, took the Eifelrennen, Coppa Acerbo and Spanish and Italian GPs. It then won almost all the major races in 1935 as lead driver Caracciola took the European championship.

Developments and increasing engine capacity pushed power output well beyond 400bhp but, when combined with the lighter and shortened 1936 chassis, the W25K’s handling deteriorated.

Rosemeyer and Auto Union dominated the season and Mercedes withdrew before the end of the campaign to develop a new car, but Caracciola still managed wins at the Monaco and Tunis GPs before the W25 bowed out.

5. Alfa Romeo P3/Tipo B

The Alfa Romeo Tipo B/P3 was seen as the first true single-seater racer

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Years: 1932-35
Major success: 1932 European drivers’ title
Key driver: Tazio Nuvolari

Grand prix racing’s requirement for a riding mechanic had already gone but Jano’s P3 was the first true single-seater GP machine. The P3 arrived for 1932, during the era in which races were still run to relatively loose Formula Libre regulations and was the car to beat.

Tazio Nuvolari was the European champion in 1932, winning the Italian and French GPs, while Caracciola took German glory.

The Alfa Romeo factory temporarily withdrew in 1933, leaving Enzo Ferrari to run the main Alfa attack. He was not initially allowed to use the P3s, having to make do with the 8C Monza, but that decision was reversed when Maserati’s 8CM started winning and Nuvolari defected to the ‘other’ Italian team.

Luigi Fagioli’s P3 immediately beat Nuvolari’s Maserati in the Coppa Acerbo and Italian GP, while Louis Chiron won the Spanish GP after Nuvolari crashed. Maserati had undoubtedly shown its pace, but the P3 kept Alfa Romeo at the top of the GP tree… until German teams Mercedes and Auto Union arrived for 1934.

The Tipo B’s engine grew from 2.6 to 2.9 litres for the 750kg maximum weight formula and won both the Monaco GP (before the silver cars arrived) and the French GP (when the new German cars failed). But, after that, the P3 was increasingly outgunned by the Mercedes W25 and Auto Union Type A.

The engine continued to grow but the P3 was still on the back foot in 1935, aside from Nuvolari’s most famous win in the German GP with the ultimate 3.8-litre version, which had also given the German teams a fright in the French GP. Nuvolari had returned from Maserati and was usually the main thorn in the side of the silver cars but the P3’s time at the top was over.

4. Peugeot L76 (and L56/L45)

Peugeot’s L76 led the shift to compact and smaller engines being a way to win

Photo by: GPL

Years: 1912-14
Major successes: 1912 French GP, 1913 Indianapolis 500
Key driver: Georges Boillot

Simply making engines bigger so they could produce more power was one of the main methods of improving performance in motoring’s early days. The arrival of the Peugeot L76 in 1912 changed that.

Ernest Henry designed a four-cylinder, twin overhead camshaft 7.6-litre engine that produced nearly 150bhp at a time when monsters such as the gargantuan 14.1-litre Fiat S76 gave less than 200bhp.

David Bruce-Brown’s Fiat led the first day of the French GP but was disqualified after refuelling away from the pits following a collision on day two. That left Georges Boillot’s Peugeot to beat Louis Wagner’s Fiat to win.

“Peugeot’s defeat of Fiat was justification for the French company’s faith in the new philosophy of small engine and light construction,” wrote Adriano Cimarosti in The complete history of grand prix motor racing. “Racing engine design underwent tremendous technical change in the 1912-13 period, much of it pioneered by Peugeot.”

Peugeot’s success continued when Jules Goux won the Grand Prix de France (a separate race to the French GP!) in 1912 and the following year’s Indianapolis 500.

Rule changes meant Peugeot produced the 5.7-litre EX3 version of its concept, complete with hemispherical combustion chambers and two pairs of valves per cylinder, for the 1913 French GP. It also used dry-sump lubrication, another trendsetting development, and Boillot led Goux in a Peugeot 1-2.

Engine capacity was restricted further to 4.5 litres for the 1914 French GP and Boillot’s EX5/L45 led for much of the race, chased by the crack Mercedes team, before being struck by engine problems in the closing stages. The start of the First World War made the Lyon event the last in Europe for five years, but Peugeot success continued when Dario Resta won the 1916 Indy 500 and Howdy Wilcox took the 1919 edition.

“The design concept devised by Henry for the 1912 Peugeot, with two overhead camshafts and hemispherical combustion chambers, was almost universally adopted after the First World War,” concluded Cimarosti. “It would not have been possible to develop such powerful engines with the push-rod and rocker-arm system in use before then.”

3. Bugatti Type 35

The Bugatti T35 won more races than any other in the pre-Second World War era

Photo by: Motorsport Images

Years: 1924-30
Major success: more GP wins than any other car
Key driver: Louis Chiron

The most successful racing car of the pre-Second World War era, with probably more wins than any racing car in history, the Bugatti T35 was driven by professionals and amateurs alike in a wide variety of events. It became a workhorse in GP racing and there was even an easier-to-maintain, less-powerful ‘sportscar’ version available for privateers.

The T35 appeared at the 1924 French GP but the elegant two-litre machines hit trouble with their non-standard tyres. The wheels had the novelty of featuring the brake drums as an integral part, but that year and 1925 belonged to the Alfa Romeo P2.

Various developments and different engines nevertheless kept the T35 in play throughout the decade, helped by its fine handling and light weight. Bugatti won the five-round world manufacturers’ championship in 1926 – the first year of the new 1500cc regulations – with the closely related T39, while the T35 carried on winning elsewhere.

GP racing entered a somewhat odd period in 1928, with few races being run to the official AIACR (forerunner of the FIA) regulations. Although the P2 scored some success, the next three years really belonged to the T35, which by now was also available in supercharged form despite Ettore Bugatti’s dislike of the technology. The T35B, featuring a 2.3-litre supercharged engine, was perhaps the ultimate version.

Evan as late as 1930, the six-year-old design was capable of winning the Belgian/European (Chiron), French (Philippe Etancelin) and Monaco (Rene Dreyfus) GPs.

Bugatti produced the Type 51 for 1931, outwardly similar to its predecessor but featuring a double overhead camshaft supercharged engine that produced an extra 25bhp. Chiron and Varzi shared one to win the epic 10-hour 1931 French GP and there were other victories, but the T51 was quickly surpassed by the Italian opposition and could not repeat the success of the legendary T35.

2. Mercedes W154

The W154 was Mercedes at the peak of its powers before war broke out

Photo by: Mercedes-Benz

Years: 1938-39
Major success: 1938 European drivers’ title
Key driver: Hermann Lang

Mercedes’ answer to the three-litre regulations of 1938, the W154 was the culmination of all the research and development the manufacturer had conducted during the 1930s. Its road-holding matched its near-500bhp output as well as could be expected in a pre-downforce, pre-slick tyre era and the W154’s engineering was regarded as the sport’s benchmark for years following the Second World War.

No expense was spared. “I could have as much as I wanted, nobody said I was spending too much,” said chief engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut in a 1984 TV interview on the cost of Mercedes’ racing programme. “I don’t even know what we spent…”

The W154, which even in its earliest form produced more than 150bhp/litre, won most of the major races in 1938, aside from its troubled debut at Pau (won by Delahaye) and two Nuvolari victories in the Auto Union Type D. Caracciola won his third European title, but the balance of power within the team was shifting and it was Hermann Lang who arguably made the car his own.

Lang was the top driver of 1939, with the developed W154 now sporting two-stage supercharging to boost acceleration, and more streamlined (and attractive) bodywork. Due to confusion over the points system and the outbreak of hostilities, Lang was never officially made European champion, but he won the Pau, Belgian and Swiss GPs, as well as the Eifelrennen, while Caracciola added the German GP to underline Mercedes’ position as the top team of the time.

The W154s did appear after the war for two 1951 races in Argentina, driven by Lang, Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling. But the tight circuit and local fuel did not allow the cars to run to their full potential and they were beaten by Jose Froilan Gonzalez in a newer Ferrari.

1. Mercedes W125

The Mercedes-Benz W125 held records for decades after its heyday

Photo by: Mercedes-Benz

Year: 1937
Major success: 1937 European drivers’ title
Key driver: Rudolf Caracciola

The W154 was probably the better car, but the W125 is simply one of motorsport’s great monsters. Powered by a 5.6-litre, supercharged straight-eight producing over 600bhp, the W125 made a mockery of the 750kg maximum weight regulations aimed at limiting performance. It produced 114bhp per litre, impressive for such a large engine, and 850bhp/tonne.

Stung by defeat at the hands of Auto Union in 1936, Mercedes withdrew from the final races and reorganised its team. Uhlenhaut’s design department came up with a response and the W125 turned the tables in 1937. Uhlenhaut identified that the car’s predecessor, the W25, had a chassis that flexed too much and suspension that was too stiff, so addressed both.

The result was that even Auto Union’s 1936 European champion Rosemeyer was left struggling. Mercedes won all but one of the five European Championship rounds and its drivers filled the top four spots in the final standings, led by Caracciola.

The ludicrous speeds of the leading 1937 cars (Lang won the Avusrennen at an average speed of over 162mph, faster than any world championship F1 race), which sorely tested the tyre technology of the era, resulted in GP cars being limited to three-litre supercharged engines for 1938. That meant the W125 held lap records for several years. It also stood as GP racing’s most powerful car until the first turbo era got into its stride in the early 1980s.

“The designers had developed a machine whose performance would not be surpassed for decades,” wrote Cimarosti. “Mercedes once again took the limelight.”