The European Drivers' Championship was an annual competition in auto racing that existed prior to the establishment of the Formula One world championship in 1950. It was established in 1931 and ran until the end of 1939 with a hiatus from 1933–34, and awarded points to drivers based on the results of selected Grand Prix races, the so-called Grandes Épreuves. The championship was discontinued because of the outbreak of World War II in 1939, and no champion was officially declared for the last season.
Hermann Lang demonstrating a Mercedes-Benz W125 at the Nürburgring in 1977. Lang drove a W125 to victory on its 1937 début.
Hermann Lang, despite finishing second on points in 1939 in the Mercedes-Benz W154 (shown here in 1986), was declared champion by the Nazis.
The German Grand Prix was a motor race that took place most years since 1926, with 75 races having been held. The race has been held at only three venues throughout its history: the Nürburgring in Rhineland-Palatinate, Hockenheimring in Baden-Württemberg and occasionally AVUS in Berlin. The race continued to be known as the German Grand Prix, even through the era when the race was held in West Germany.
Rudolf Caracciola and his mechanic Eugen Salzer celebrate victory at the first ever German Grand Prix in 1926.
Bernd Rosemeyer racing an Auto Union Typ C in 1937, he finished third.
Juan Manuel Fangio won the European Grand Prix at the Ring in 1954 in a Mercedes-Benz W196.
In 1962, Graham Hill won the race on his way to the World Championship.