1935 Grand Prix season
However, in one of the great motor-races in sporting history, Tazio Nuvolari in a Scuderia Ferrari Alfa Romeo beat the combined numbers of the German teams in their home Grand Prix.
Thus, this year saw the formation in Paris of the Independent Drivers' Association, as they were gradually consigned to the lesser, local races in the Grand prix calendar.
Designer Dr Hans Nibel had died of a stroke the previous November, and former racer Max Sailer had replaced him as Technical Director.
[44][45] By contrast, Auto Union unveiled its Type B, with 56 individual changes, including torsion bar rear suspension and increasing the engine size to 4.9-litres (and then 5.6-litres late in the season).
Scuderia Ferrari stayed on as the works team, however the Tipo B was also now released to private sale and there were a number of buyers from Italy, France and Britain.
Success had attracted private interest with cricketer Pat Fairfield the first to buy one, for £1700, and the second was young, up-and-coming British driver Dick Seaman.
Mercedes-Benz, managed by Alfred Neubauer, stayed with their experienced driver line-up of Rudolf Caracciola, Luigi Fagioli and Manfred von Brauchitsch.
August Momberger had retired with worsening arthritis and personality clashes with team manager Willy Walb, while Wilhelm Sebastian recognised he was too slow with such powerful machinery.
[57] The Scuderia Ferrari remained Alfa Romeo's primary team, but after the death of Guy Moll and loss of Varzi to Auto Union were in a difficult position.
Louis Chiron remained but it took a personal directive from Italian leader Benito Mussolini to force Ferrari to re-hire the great Tazio Nuvolari to maintain Italy's racing prestige.
For the first time, Alfa Romeo also released the Tipo B for sale to privateers and a number were quickly snapped up, being instantly competitive in their local races.
Maserati followed Alfa Romeo's lead and took on board the Scuderia Subalpina of Conte Luigi della Chiesa as its de facto works team.
Whitney Straight had given up racing but Maserati still had a variety of customer teams including Gino Rovere and the Gruppo Genovese San Giorgio (Italy), Écurie Braillard (Switzerland) and Scuderia Villapadierna (Spain).
Bugatti was in the worst shape of the five manufacturers, stripped of their best drivers and running an increasingly dated car based on the elderly Type 35 chassis.
Anglo-American Whitney Straight had left Grand Prix racing at the start of the year after unsuccessfully trying to buy an Auto Union car for his team.
Aside from the works team run by Raymond Mays, there were notable privateer efforts by Englishman Richard Seaman and wealthy Siamese Prince Birabongse (racing under the pseudonym of 'B.
Nuvolari re-opened his account with Scuderia Ferrari with a victory at the revised circuit at Pau, after his teammate Dreyfus had led for most of the race.
These were Frenchman Raymond Sommer (Alfa Tipo B), Italians Giuseppe Farina and Luigi Soffieti, Spaniard Conte de Villapadierna (all Maseratis) and the Englishman Earl Howe in the sole Bugatti.
Von Brauchitsch was impressive breaking the lap record in the second practice on a circuit he had never raced on before, but it was Caracciola who pipped him in the final session, and with Fagioli going third fastest, it was an all-Mercedes front row.
The two Italian Scuderia, Ferrari and Subalpina had six cars between them, while Wimille arrived for Bugatti and Varzi convinced the Auto Union managers to allow him to bring one of the previous year's A-models.
[69][70] Their dominance continued after the mid-race refuelling, racing in close formation until Fagioli had to pit with a sick engine, and change plugs losing two laps.
After a strong start, Wimille fell back with engine problems, leaving Chiron and Dreyfus, driving in tandem chasing the German cars.
Mercedes went one better with five cars entered: a mix of A and B models and 4.0-litre engines (Caracciola, Fagioli, von Brauchitsch) and 3.4-litre (Geier and Lang).
There were a number of Maseratis, including three cars for Subalpina (Zehender, Étancelin and Ghersi), San Giorgio's Balestrero and privateers Hartmann and Ruësch.
[72][76][77] However, the German cars were also having issues – Fagioli with his shock absorbers, Rosemeyer his fuel pump, Varzi distracted with worries of having hit his team's mechanic at the start.
After 15 laps, von Brauchitsch had a 97-second lead over Nuvolari, both racing almost ten seconds faster than any other drivers except for a resurgent Rosemeyer back in fifth.
In the twisty hill section, he had spun at speed going backwards into a ditch before threading the needle between a power pole and a stone wall (subsequently measured as 6 cm narrower than his car).
Stuck had lost a tyre tread and with brake and shock absorber problems just gave up in disgust, handing the car over to Pietsch (who had never driven a lap of the circuit).
[41][87] Like the French, the Italian officials looked to limit the power of the German cars by putting five chicanes around the Monza circuit, using straw bales.
[41][88][84] The final race of the championship was the Spanish Grand Prix, held on the Lasarte circuit in the north of the country in an increasingly tense political climate.
