Renowned German sports car and Formula 1 driver Hans Herrmann has died, aged 97. Herrmann was the last surviving driver to race for Mercedes-Benz during its ephemeral post-war era and delivered Porsche the first of its 19 outright victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970.
Born in Stuttgart on 23 February 1928, Herrmann trained as a confectioner, under the expectation that he would eventually take over the coffee shop run by his mother. Yet his dream – and true calling – was to become a top-level racing driver.
Herrmann began his motor sport career in a BMW 328, campaigning the ageing sports car in domestic German events and hillclimbs in the immediate post-war years. The ageing BMW’s uncompetitiveness, however, limited his ability to showcase his real talent.
That all changed in 1952, when his mother helped him buy a Porsche 356 by selling a gold bracelet gifted to her by Herrmann’s father, who had died when Hans was just eight years old. The Porsche immediately unlocked Herrmann’s innate potential and marked the beginning of a legendary motorsport career.
Herrmann found immediate success with the Porsche 356, finishing his debut outing at the 1952 Hessen Winter Rally strongly before taking his first victory at the Deutschland Rally, where he won his class in only his second competitive appearance with the car. He then made a prolific switch to circuit racing, winning on his first outing at the fearsome Nürburgring.
His inexorable rise continued in 1953, becoming German Sports Car Champion and securing class victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Mille Miglia. He then joined Juan Manuel Fangio, Stirling Moss, and Karl Kling as a Mercedes-Benz Works driver in 1954.
Herrmann’s first race for the Silver Arrows was at Reims for the 1954 French Grand Prix. He showed impressive speed, securing the fastest lap of the race with his legendary W196R on his way to a seventh-place finish. He achieved two podium finishes that season – at the Avus and Swiss Grands Prix.
Meanwhile, he continued racing Porsches in the smaller-displacement classes that year, securing a second Mille Miglia class victory and adding a class win at the Carrera Panamericana.
Adversity struck in 1955 – motorsport’s annus horriblis – when he suffered a horrific accident during a practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix. A hip injury sustained in the accident put Herrmann’s season to an early end. This incident, along with several other big crashes, earned him the nickname ‘Hans in Luck’.
After Mercedes-Benz withdrew from international motor sport at the end of 1955, Herrmann continued his career – despite the uncertainty that followed the 1955 Le Mans disaster – with Maserati, BRM, Borgward and Porsche.
Although Formula 1 success remained elusive, Herrmann thrived in sports car racing, securing Porsche’s first overall World Sports Car Championship victory at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1960, triumphing at the Targa Florio the same year in a 718 RS 60 Spyder, and claiming the Formula 2 title.
His crowning achievement came in 1970, when he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a Porsche 917 – a triumph made all the sweeter after several near-misses, including a narrow defeat to the Ford GT40 of Jacky Ickx just one year prior.
After winning Le Mans, the German immediately decided to walk away from active competition, honouring a promise he had made to his wife, Magdalena, before the race began. After fulfilling his promise, Herrmann ran a successful car accessory business, but remained closely associated with motorsport for the rest of his life and actively participated in classic car events worldwide.
Herrmann leaves behind his wife, Magdalena, two sons and a grandson. He will be missed.
