compare


Multiple possible
to


Karl Kling, F1 driver

personalia

German
16 September 1910
18 March 2003 (92)
Josef Peters (16 September 1914)

Buy Karl Kling merchandise Buy Karl Kling merchandise

statistics

0 (0%)
2 (18.2%)
0 (0%)
0 (0%)
2nd (1954 French Grand Prix)
2nd (1954 French Grand Prix)
2
11
11
17 (1.5 points per race avg)
5 (45.5%)
1954 French Grand Prix
1955 Italian Grand Prix

about Karl Kling

Karl Kling (16 September 1910, Gießen – 18 March 2003, Gaienhofen on Lake Constance, Germany) was a motor racing driver and manager from Germany. He participated in 11 Formula One Grands Prix, debuting on 4 July 1954. He achieved 2 podiums, and scored a total of 17 championship points.

It is said, that he was born too late and too early. Too late to be in the successful Mercedes team of the 1930s and too early to have a real chance in 1954 and 1955. Unusually, Kling found his way into motorsport via his first job as a reception clerk at Daimler-Benz in the mid-1930s, competing in hillclimb and trials events in production machinery in his spare time. During the Second World War he gained mechanical experience servicing Luftwaffe aircraft, and after the cessation of hostilities he resumed his motorsport involvement in a BMW 328.

Kling was instrumental in developing Mercedes' return to international competition in the early 1950s, and his win in the 1952 Carrera Panamericana road race, driving the then-experimental Mercedes-Benz 300SL was a defining point in assuring the Daimler-Benz management that motorsport had a place in Mercedes' future. Called up to the revived Mercedes Grand Prix squad in 1954 he finished less than one second behind the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio on his Formula One debut, taking second place in the 1954 French Grand Prix at the fast Reims-Gueux circuit. This promising start was not to last, and with the arrival of Stirling Moss at Mercedes in 1955 Kling was effectively demoted to third driver. However, away from the World Championship, Kling took impressive victories in both the Berlin Grand Prix (at AVUS, another high-speed circuit) and the Swedish Grand Prix. He left the Formula One team at the end of the season, to succeed Alfred Neubauer as head of Mercedes motorsport. He was in this post during their successful rallying campaigns of the 1960s, occasionally taking the wheel himself. On one such occasion he drove a Mercedes-Benz 220SE to victory in the mighty 1961 Algiers-Cape Town trans-African rally.


source: Wikipedia

seasons

1954, 1955,

finishing positions

grid positions

wins Karl Kling

# event constructor

pole positions Karl Kling

# event constructor

teams & teammates Karl Kling

season teammate
1954 Juan Fangio
Hans Herrmann
Hermann Lang
Maserati compare 1954
1955 Juan Fangio
Hans Herrmann
Stirling Moss
André Simon
Piero Taruffi
Mercedes compare 1955

news

Following driver outrage over the use of a recovery vehicle on track in torrential rain during last month's Japanese Grand Prix, the FIA promised a full investigation, the findings of which were released less than two weeks later at the United States Grand Prix.
A number of steps were introduced in the wake of Suzuka, such as putting an end to race director rotation for the remainder of the ...

read on

All 10 teams are currently working flat out on their 2022 programmes and designing all-new cars to meet the demands of the biggest package of rules changes in years.
They are doing it against the background of a cost cap that reins in the biggest-spending teams, as well as a sliding scale of aerodynamic testing restrictions that works against the best performers. Those two factors provide a ...

read on

In a deal announced on Tuesday, F1 says that Ferrari Trento has been named as the official Sparkling Wine of F1 in a partnership that will last for the next three years.
Bottles of the Italian company's beverage will be used on the podiums after each race and its products will be available in F1's Paddock Club and other official venues.

Read Also:

Mercedes has no intention to ...

read on

There's a long established routine and rhythm to the process, but this particular off- season has required a fresh approach, and for a variety of reasons.
Firstly, the 2020 racing season ended so late, running until the Abu Dhabi finale on December 13. In addition, all teams are having to work around tight COVID-19 restrictions in their factories.
Then there's a significant change to the ...

read on

Link to or share this page

share or save

Karl Kling, F1 driver

Social media


Copy link

just click on the link and then copy it so you can use it on another website.