1959 German Grand Prix: F1 Race, Qualifying & Winners

Tony Brooks led a Ferrari sweep at the 1959 German Grand Prix, winning both heats at AVUS to bring the championship fight closer. The extraordinary high-speed venue rewarded Ferrari‘s power, but the meeting was overshadowed by Jean Behra‘s death in a separate support race.

Result	Driver / Time	Team
Pole position	Tony Brooks	Ferrari
Pole time	2:05.900
Fastest lap	Tony Brooks	Ferrari
Fastest-lap time	2:04.500 on lap 18
First	Tony Brooks	Ferrari
Second	Dan Gurney	Ferrari
Third	Phil Hill	Ferrari

Weekend Schedule

Date	Session	Local Time
30 July 1959	Thursday timed practice	Start time unconfirmed
31 July 1959	Friday morning timed practice	Start time unconfirmed
31 July 1959	Friday afternoon final qualifying	Start time unconfirmed
2 August 1959	Race — heat 1	Start time unconfirmed
2 August 1959	Race — heat 2	After heat 1 and servicing interval; start unconfirmed

All times are local. The race time is the scheduled start; weather delays and interruptions are described below.

Championship background

Jack Brabham arrived at round 6 leading the 1959 F1 World Championship on 27 points, with Tony Brooks on 14.

Race entries

Stirling Moss returned to Rob Walker’s Cooper, leaving Hans Herrmann to drive British Racing Partnership’s BRM. Ferrari entered Brooks, Dan Gurney and Phil Hill, with Cliff Allison initially a reserve. Behra and Wolfgang von Trips were due to race Formula Two Porsches, but neither started the Grand Prix after Saturday’s tragedy.

Thursday timed practice

The teams faced an unusual compromise between AVUS‘s fast straights, its steep brick banking and the flat southern hairpin. Suspension, gearing and tyre loads dominated the work. Gurney set the opening pace for Ferrari, while Rob Walker’s Coopers initially proved overgeared. Lotus struggled for outright speed, and Innes Ireland encountered chassis and engine trouble. With the pits and paddock far apart, even clearing the circuit between sessions caused problems.

Friday morning timed practice

The Grand Prix cars returned for the first of two Friday sessions as drivers grew more familiar with the banking. Ferrari could exploit its maximum speed, while the Coopers needed careful gearing and slipstreaming to stay close. Not every team used both periods, and the surviving contemporary account records the day’s improvements together rather than assigning every lap to one session.

Friday afternoon final qualifying

By the end of Friday, reserve entrant Allison had recorded the outright fastest lap at 2:05.8. Brooks was only a tenth slower and secured pole among the accepted starters. Allison’s reserve status meant that his eventual admission did not promote him to the front. The unusual distinction between the quickest practice lap and pole was therefore crucial to understanding the grid.

Qualifying Classification

Brooks took pole although Allison, initially a reserve, set a faster lap. Allison started at the back when admitted. The Grand Prix comprised two 30-lap heats, with aggregate time deciding the result; only first-heat finishers could start the second heat, in first-heat finishing order.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Best Time
1	4	Tony Brooks	Ferrari	2:05.900
2	7	Stirling Moss	Cooper	2:06.8
3	6	Dan Gurney	Ferrari	2:07.2
4	1	Jack Brabham	Cooper	2:07.4
5	3	Masten Gregory	Cooper	2:07.5
6	5	Phil Hill	Ferrari	2:07.6
7	9	Jo Bonnier	BRM	2:10.3
8	10	Harry Schell	BRM	2:10.3
9	2	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	2:10.4
10	16	Graham Hill	Lotus	2:10.8
11	11	Hans Herrmann	BRM	2:11.4
12	8	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper	2:12.7
13	15	Innes Ireland	Lotus	2:14.6
14	17	Cliff Allison	Ferrari	2:05.8
15	18	Ian Burgess	Cooper	2:18.9
DNS	12	Jean Behra	Behra-Porsche	—
DNS	14	Wolfgang von Trips	Porsche	—

What happened in the 1959 German Grand Prix?

Brooks and Gurney were immediately challenged by Gregory in the opening heat. The Cooper driver made effective use of the slipstream and exchanged the lead with Ferrari before engine trouble ended his challenge. Brabham and Moss also retired, leaving Brooks to lead Gurney and Phil Hill home at the interval.

After the permitted break for tyres and minor servicing, the remaining cars lined up for the second heat. McLaren initially kept Ferrari company, but transmission trouble removed the last serious Cooper challenge. Herrmann suffered a spectacular accident approaching the southern turn and was thrown clear of his rolling BRM; remarkably, he survived.

Brooks won again and secured the aggregate victory ahead of Gurney and Phil Hill. Trintignant finished fourth, followed by Bonnier, while Brooks added the fastest-lap point. The result cut Brabham‘s championship advantage to four points, but Behra’s death left a sombre mark on the weekend.

After the race, Jack Brabham headed the drivers’ standings with 27 points, followed by Tony Brooks on 23.

Heat 1 classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Grid
1	4	Tony Brooks	Ferrari	30	1:03:17.6	1
2	6	Dan Gurney	Ferrari	30	+ 1.3	3
3	5	Phil Hill	Ferrari	30	+ 1:04.5	6
4	2	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	29	+ 1 Lap	9
5	10	Harry Schell	BRM	29	+ 1 Lap	8
6	8	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper	29	+ 1 Lap	12
7	9	Jo Bonnier	BRM	29	+ 1 Lap	7
8	11	Hans Herrmann	BRM	29	+ 1 Lap	11
9	18	Ian Burgess	Cooper	28	+ 2 Laps	9
Ret	3	Masten Gregory	Cooper	23	Engine	5
Ret	1	Jack Brabham	Cooper	15	Transmission	4
Ret	16	Graham Hill	Lotus	10	Gearbox	10
Ret	15	Innes Ireland	Lotus	7	Crown wheel/pinion	13
Ret	17	Cliff Allison	Ferrari	2	Clutch	14
Ret	7	Stirling Moss	Cooper	1	Transmission	2

Heat 2 classification

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Grid
1	4	Tony Brooks	Ferrari	30	1:06:14.0	1
2	5	Phil Hill	Ferrari	30	+0.3	3
3	6	Dan Gurney	Ferrari	30	+0.6	2
4	8	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper	30	+18.4	6
5	9	Jo Bonnier	BRM	29	+1 Lap	7
6	18	Ian Burgess	Cooper	28	+2 Laps	9
7	10	Harry Schell	BRM	20	+10 Laps	5
Ret	2	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	6	Transmission	4
Ret	11	Hans Herrmann	BRM	6	Accident	8

1959 German Grand Prix race results

The 1959 German Grand Prix was held on 2 August 1959.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Laps	Time / Retired	Pts.
1	4	Tony Brooks	Ferrari	60	2:09:31.6	9
2	6	Dan Gurney	Ferrari	60	+ 2.9	6
3	5	Phil Hill	Ferrari	60	+ 1:04.8	4
4	8	Maurice Trintignant	Cooper	59	+ 1 Lap	3
5	9	Jo Bonnier	BRM	58	+ 2 Laps	2
6	18	Ian Burgess	Cooper	56	+ 4 Laps	0
7	10	Harry Schell	BRM	49	+ 11 Laps	0
Ret	2	Bruce McLaren	Cooper	36	Transmission	0
Ret	11	Hans Herrmann	BRM	36	Accident	0
Ret	3	Masten Gregory	Cooper	23	Engine	0
Ret	1	Jack Brabham	Cooper	15	Transmission	0
Ret	16	Graham Hill	Lotus	10	Gearbox	0
Ret	15	Innes Ireland	Lotus	7	Differential	0
Ret	17	Cliff Allison	Ferrari	2	Clutch	0
Ret	7	Stirling Moss	Cooper	1	Transmission	0
DNS	12	Jean Behra	Behra-Porsche		Fatal accident in support race	0
DNS	14	Wolfgang von Trips	Porsche		Withdrew	0

1959 German Grand Prix Fastest Laps

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Lap	Time
1	4	Tony Brooks	Ferrari	18	2:04.500

Only drivers with a recorded lap time appear. One championship point was awarded for fastest lap, divided equally when shared.

1959 Post-Race F1 Championship Standings

Championship standings after the 1959 German Grand Prix.

1959 Post-Race F1 Drivers' Championship Standings

POS	Driver	Nationality	Car	PTS
1	Jack Brabham	Australian	Cooper	27
2	Tony Brooks	British	Ferrari / Vanwall	23
3	Phil Hill	American	Ferrari	13
4	Jo Bonnier	Swedish	BRM	10
5	Maurice Trintignant	French	Cooper	9
6	Stirling Moss	British	Cooper / BRM	8.5
7	Bruce McLaren	New Zealander	Cooper	8.5
8	Rodger Ward	American	Watson	8
9	Dan Gurney	American	Ferrari	6
10	Jim Rathmann	American	Watson	6
11	Johnny Thomson	American	Lesovsky	5
12	Masten Gregory	American	Cooper	4
13	Harry Schell	American	BRM	3
14	Innes Ireland	British	Team Lotus	3
15	Tony Bettenhausen	American	Epperly	3
16	Olivier Gendebien	Belgian	Ferrari	3
17	Jean Behra	French	Ferrari	2
18	Paul Goldsmith	American	Epperly	2
—	Roy Salvadori	British	Cooper / Aston Martin	0
—	Ron Flockhart	British	BRM	0
—	Ian Burgess	British	Cooper	0
—	Johnny Boyd	American	Epperly	0
—	Graham Hill	British	Team Lotus	0
—	Duane Carter	American	Kurtis Kraft	0
—	Eddie Johnson	American	Kurtis Kraft	0
—	Giorgio Scarlatti	Italian	Maserati	0
—	Alan Stacey	British	Team Lotus	0
—	Carel Godin de Beaufort	Dutch	Porsche / Maserati	0
—	Cliff Allison	British	Ferrari	0
—	Paul Russo	American	Kurtis Kraft	0
—	Fritz d'Orey	Brazilian	Maserati	0
—	Anthony Foyt	American	Kuzma	0
—	Chris Bristow	British	Cooper	0
—	Gene Hartley	American	Kuzma	0
—	Henry Taylor	British	Cooper	0
—	Bob Veith	American	Moore	0
—	Peter Ashdown	British	Cooper	0
—	Al Herman	American	Dunn	0
—	Ivor Bueb	British	Cooper / Cooper	0
—	Jimmy Daywalt	American	Kurtis Kraft	0
—	Chuck Arnold	American	Kurtis Kraft	0
—	Jim McWithey	American	Kurtis Kraft	0
—	Hans Herrmann	German	Cooper / BRM	0
—	Carroll Shelby	American	Aston Martin	0
—	Wolfgang von Trips	German	Porsche	0
—	Bruce Halford	British	Team Lotus	0
—	Eddie Sachs	American	Kuzma	0
—	Jack Fairman	British	Cooper	0
—	Al Keller	American	Kuzma	0
—	Pat Flaherty	American	Watson	0
—	Dick Rathmann	American	Watson	0
—	Colin Davis	British	Cooper	0
—	Bill Cheesbourg	American	Kuzma	0
—	David Piper	British	Team Lotus	0
—	Don Freeland	American	Kurtis Kraft	0
—	Azdrubal Fontes	Uruguayan	Maserati	0
—	Brian Naylor	British	JBW	0
—	Ray Crawford	American	Elder	0
—	Mike Taylor	British	Cooper	0
—	Don Branson	American	Phillips	0
—	Bob Christie	American	Kurtis Kraft	0
—	Bobby Grim	American	Kurtis Kraft	0
—	Jack Turner	American	Christensen	0
—	Chuck Weyant	American	Kurtis Kraft	0
—	Jud Larson	American	Kurtis Kraft	0
—	Mike Magill	American	Sutton	0
—	Red Amick	American	Kurtis Kraft	0
—	Len Sutton	American	Lesovsky	0
—	Jimmy Bryan	American	Epperly	0

1959 Post-Race F1 Constructors' Championship Standings

POS	Car	PTS
1	Cooper – Climax	29
2	Ferrari	24
3	BRM	16
4	Team Lotus	3
—	Cooper – Maserati	0
—	Aston Martin	0
—	Maserati	0
—	Porsche	0
—	Cooper – Borgward	0
—	JBW	0
—	Vanwall	0

Drivers counted their best 5 results. The first five places earned 8–6–4–3–2 points, with one further point for fastest lap, shared equally when necessary. Shared drives earned no championship points. Constructors also retained their best 5 results, scoring through only their highest-placed eligible car, without fastest-lap points. Indianapolis counted for drivers only.

1959 Formula 1 Race Calendar

Round	Grand Prix	Circuit	Date
1	1959 Monaco Grand Prix	Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo	10 May
2	1959 Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Indiana	30 May
3	1959 Dutch Grand Prix	Circuit Zandvoort, Zandvoort	31 May
4	1959 French Grand Prix	Reims-Gueux, Reims	5 July
5	1959 British Grand Prix	Aintree Motor Racing Circuit, Liverpool	18 July
6	1959 German Grand Prix	AVUS, Berlin	2 August
7	1959 Portuguese Grand Prix	Monsanto Park Circuit, Lisbon	23 August
8	1959 Italian Grand Prix	Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, Monza	13 September
9	1959 United States Grand Prix	Sebring International Raceway, Sebring, Florida	12 December