Hans
Herrmann

Hans Herrmann was born in Stuttgart on 23 February 1928 and was a baker by trade. His racing career began with Porsche in 1953. He took part in road races such as the Mille Miglia, the Targa Florio and the Carrera Panamericana. He made his Formula One World Championship debut in August 1953, driving for Veritas.

From 1954 to 1955 he was a junior driver in the Mercedes works team, behind Juan Manuel Fangio, Karl Kling, Hermann Lang and later Stirling Moss. At the 1954 French Grand Prix he set the fastest lap but retired. He took a podium at the Swiss Grand Prix and finished the year seventh in the championship. In Argentina in 1955 his teammates Kling and Moss had to give up early because of the heat. Herrmann shared his car with them, and it finished fourth. A practice crash at Monaco then ended his season.

He went on to drive for Maserati (1957 and 1958), for BRM and Cooper in 1959, and for Porsche in 1960 and 1961. At the 1959 German Grand Prix on Berlin's AVUS circuit, the brakes on his BRM failed and the car overturned. At the 1961 Dutch Grand Prix he finished 15th and last, in the first World Championship race without a single retirement. In total he made 18 starts in Formula One, the last of them in 1966 for Brabham. In 1969 he was entered by Lotus but did not start.

From 1962 to 1965 he drove minor races and hillclimbs for Abarth. He returned to Porsche in 1966. In 1968 he won the 24 Hours of Daytona in a Porsche 907 and the 12 Hours of Sebring with Jo Siffert. At the Nürburgring 1000 km he finished second three years running, from 1968 to 1970. He had already won at Sebring and in the Targa Florio in 1960.

In 1970 he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Sharing a Porsche 917K of the Porsche Salzburg team with Richard Attwood, he won in heavy rain. It was Porsche's first overall victory there. The 42-year-old then announced his retirement. He stayed involved in the sport, demonstrating historic cars at events such as the Solitude Revival. Hans Herrmann died on 9 January 2026, aged 97.

Source: Wikipedia, “Hans Herrmann”. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.