Heinz Brendel
| Heinz Brendel | |
|---|---|
| Born | Heinz Brendel 16 January 1915 |
| Died | 1 December 1989 (aged 74) Frankfurt-am-Main |
Heinz Brendel (16 January 1915 - 1 December 1989) was a German Grand Prix racing driver.[1]
Career
[edit]The son of a racing driver, Brendel started racing in sportscars as a 17 year old, finishing 2nd in the 1100cc class at the Eifelrennen in 1935, At the end of the 1936 Grand Prix season, Brendel was invited by Mercedes-Benz to take part in an evaluation session, at the 14 mile long Nürburgring, as to his suitability for a Grand Prix drive.[2] Despite a crash in a Mercedes-Benz W25, he was one of the 5 fastest to be invited to a follow-up test at the Monza circuit in March 1937, but he proved to be the slowest of the drivers tested there, and was not selected for a Grand Prix seat.[3] He was however kept on as a reserve driver and took part in practice at the 1937 German Grand Prix.
Brendel's Grand Prix debut came at the 1939 German Grand Prix, at the Nürburgring; Brendel qualified a sensational 5th. After team-mate Hermann Lang retired from the lead, Mercedes-Benz manager Alfred Neubauer signalled Brendel to stop at the pits, and let Lang take over his car. Brendel missed the signal and, halfway around the following lap,[4] was caught up in an accident when Paul Pietsch (Maserati) spun in front of him, and Brendel was forced to retire. Brendel rang the Mercedes-Benz pits from a trackside telephone and asked for transport back to the pits; an angry Nuvolari told him to walk.[5]
The race proved to be Brendel's only Grand Prix, but he took part in sportscar races after the Second World War and won the 1952 German sportscar championship (1,100cc class) in a Glöckler-Porsche.[6] Brendel retired in 1953 after a serious accident.[7]
Results
[edit]Grands Prix
[edit](key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | Daimler-Benz AG | Mercedes W125 | Mercedes 5.7 L8 | BEL – |
GER reserve |
MON – |
SUI – |
ITA – | ||||
| 1939 | Daimler-Benz AG | Mercedes W154 | Mercedes 3.0 V12 | BEL – |
FRA – |
GER retired |
SUI reserve | |||||
Source:[8]
| ||||||||||||
External sites
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Heinz Brendel". Mercedes Benz. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
- ^ Snellman, Leif; Muelas, Felix. "V Gran Premio di Modena". Retrieved 6 May 2026.
- ^ Williams, Richard (April 2010). "Dick Seaman: England's tainted hero". MotorSport: 114.
- ^ At Wehrseifen.
- ^ Nixon, Chris (1987). Racing the Silver Arrows. London: Osprey. p. 199.
- ^ Ludvigsen, Karl. "911 & Porsche World columns by Karl Ludvigsen". Bentley Publishers. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
- ^ "Kameruner Motorsportidole" (PDF). Frankfurter Sportstätten. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
- ^ "THE GOLDEN ERA – OF GRAND PRIX RACING". goldenera.fi. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2025.
