Hans Herrmann

I took this photograph on practice day for the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1959.

On the left is Hans Herrmann who drove in Grand Prix races from 1953 to 1969 for a variety of teams, including Mercedes-Benz, Maserati and Porsche, several private entrants, and in cars ranging from a Veritas Meteor to a Lotus 59B. I think that the gentleman on the right could be Guglielmo Dei, founder of the Scuderia Centro Sud, for whom Hans Herrmann drove a Maserati-engined Cooper T51 in this race. He qualified in nineteenth position on the grid alongside his team-mate Fritz d'Orey who drove a Maserati 250F. Hans Herrmann retired with gearbox problems after 21 laps of the race.

Hans Herrmann's best season in Formula One was 1954 when he had 3rd and 4th place finishes in the Swiss and Italian Grands Prix respectively, but he is probably better known for his efforts with the Porsche team at Le Mans between 1953 and 1970, gaining four class wins, and an overall victory with Richard Attwood in a Porsche 917K in 1970 - after which he announced his retirement from motor racing.

Maserati 250F

This is another of those Kodak Brownie 127 camera photographs, this time from the British Grand Prix at Aintree in July 1959.

It's Fritz d'Orey's Scuderia Centro Sud 1954 Maserati 250F, chassis number 2515, that he qualified in a lowly 20th place on the grid and failed to finish the race due to an accident on lap 57. Car number 24 next to it is another Scuderia Centro Sud car, the rear-engined Cooper T51 Maserati of Hans Herrmann who also failed to finish. The Maserati 250F was a remarkable car, several competing in the 1954 Argentine Grand Prix, the first race of the 2½ litre Formula, and the last race of the 2½ litre Formula, the 1960 United States Grand Prix, included a 250F in the hands of the American Bob Drake. Fritz d'Orey was the driver who drove the 1958 Tec-Mec Maserati in its only Grand Prix race, the 1959 United States Grand Prix.