For Mercedes faithful, Rosberg-Hamilton rekindle memories of Fangio-Moss

Two silver cars running away at the head of the field in a league of their own, sweeping up the tree clad slopes in tandem before plunging back down again as they pick their way among the forested hills of the Ardennes. Given Mercedes’ dominance this season, it’s a scene that we could well see played out in today’s Belgian Grand Prix, with Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton almost certain to be locked in their own personal duel as they race toward a commanding one-two finish. But perhaps unknown to them, as they race away at the head of the field on Sunday afternoon, they will be following in the wheel tracks of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss and – if the inevitable happens – claim the Silver Arrows’ first one-two finish at the fabled Spa-Francorchamps circuit since the legendary duo swept to an imperious win at the 1955 Belgian Grand Prix more than half a century ago. Then, as now, Mercedes were the dominant force in Formula One. They had returned to the sport mid-way through the eight-race 1954 season and, with Fangio at the wheel, had instantly established themselves as the benchmark. [caption id=“attachment_1679085” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Stirling Moss (right) and Juan Manuel Fangio were a brilliant team as well. Getty Images[/caption] The Argentine, who had been allowed by the German marque to drive a Maserati for the first two rounds of the season – which Mercedes had missed as they prepared to unleash their formidable W 196 on the opposition –, highlighted the potency of their challenger by driving it to victory at the French Grand Prix, the Silver Arrows’ very first race back. Fangio took three further wins on his way to the 1954 drivers’ championship and his victories in the German, Swiss and Italian Grands Prix meant Mercedes ended the season having won four of the six races they had contested that year. Mercedes had clearly picked up where they left off on their return to top flight motor-racing as, despite 1954 being their first season of racing since the Formula One championship was formed in 1950, they had already established a rich and successful legacy going back to the pre-War years. Backed by Adolf Hitler, an auto enthusiast keen to showcase the might of Nazi Germany in the motorsport arena, Mercedes along with fellow German marque Auto Union set about dominating Grand Prix racing in the years leading up to the Second World War. Mercedes driver Rudolf Caracciola won the European drivers’ championship (as it was known back then) three times between 1935 – when the title was introduced – and 1939 when motor-racing was brought to an abrupt end by the War. The one year that Caracciola didn’t win it, in 1936, the European drivers’ title was claimed by Auto Union great Bernd Rosemeyer, while in 1939, in a contentious decision, it was awarded to Mercedes’ Hermann Lang. Having rekindled their former pre-War glories, Mercedes – who had over the winter signed young British star Stirling Moss to drive alongside Fangio – carried over the form they had displayed in their debut year into the 1955 season. Fangio got the year off to a winning start, taking victory in his home race in Argentina which opened the season. The next race in Monaco was won by Maurice Trintignant in his Ferrari but Mercedes were still the team to beat as the Formula One circus arrived in Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix. The atmosphere heading into the race – held in early June – was tinged with sadness, however, as Formula One’s first double world champion Alberto Ascari had been tragically killed a little over a week earlier while testing a Ferrari sportscar at Monza. But driver fatalities in those days were common and the race went ahead as planned. Eugenio Castellotti in a privately entered Lancia overcame Mercedes’ might to take pole position for the race. Fangio and Moss were second and third and started alongside the Italian on the front row of the grid. Castellotti’s triumph over the Mercedes factory team was short lived, however, and Fangio took the lead at the start. Moss soon moved up to second behind his team-mate and, as the imposing figure of dictatorial team-manager Alfred Neubauer looked on, giving the drivers instructions as they went past via a self-devised but highly effective system of flag signals, the two silver cars raced away from their rivals, leaping through the air as they crested the fearsome Eau Rouge while pressing on at the front. Once in the lead, Fangio and Moss were not to be headed. The world champion took the flag, while Moss – his young protégé – dutifully followed him across the line eight seconds later. The next car, Nino Farina’s Ferrari, finished over a minute and a half behind Moss in third. But then, less than a week later tragedy struck, one that – even in those days of heightened danger and high attrition – sent shockwaves through the motor-racing world. On 11th June 1955, while contesting the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Pierre Levegh, driving a Mercedes was involved in an accident that killed over 80 people including the Frenchman himself. Most of those killed in the accident, which to this day remains motor-racing’s gravest tragedy, were spectators and as a mark of respect, Mercedes which was leading and on course to win, withdrew their cars from the race. Following the Le Mans disaster, the French, German and Swiss Grands Prix were cancelled, with motor-racing in Switzerland remains banned to this day. And though Mercedes won the final three races of the Formula One season – all of them dominant one-two finishes – the automaker withdrew from motor-racing altogether at the end of the year. Just like that Mercedes’ motor-racing programme was mothballed and the formidable silver cars were consigned to the museum and their legacy to the pages of record books. There the legend of the Silver Arrows would gather dust for the next five decades and, despite having made a successful return to the sport as an engine supplier, it wouldn’t be until 2010 that Mercedes would return to the sport with a full-fledged works team. But the sport they had dominated in the 1930s – and then again in the 1950s – had changed. New benchmarks had been established and success wasn’t as easy or instantaneous to come by as it had been in the past. Four years of middling results followed and it is only this season that the luster of the Silver Arrows, burnished to gleaming by the genius of such greats as Caracciola, Fangio and Moss, has begun to be restored until finally, 59 years after Fangio and Moss finished first and second at Spa, Rosberg and Hamilton are ready to do the same.