On this day… 22st August
1954
Juan Manuel Fangio won what was to be the final Swiss Grand Prix for Mercedes-Benz at Bermgarten in Berne.
The Mercedes domination continued as Fangio led from start to finish. Stirling Moss attempted to make a race of it as he quickly overtook the Ferrari of Gonzalez after the race start and set off in pursuit of Fangio.
Moss soon found himself under pressure from another Ferrari driver, Mike Hawthorne and the two Brits duelled ferociously only for Moss’s engine to fail him. Hawthorne too suffered engine problems and Fangio lapped almost the entire field, with P2 Gonzalez escaping his clutches.
This was Fangio’s fifth win of the season and It was here in Switzerland Fangio clinched the F1 driver’s title for the second time.
At the time no one realised F1 would never again return to Switzerland because following the 1955 Le Mans disaster the Swiss government banned all forms of motor racing. Two Swiss Grands Prix were in fact held in 1975 (non-championship) and 1982 – but both races were held in France.
