1938 The W154 made its debut in the opening race of the
1938 Grand Prix season, in which it would win 3 of 4 championship races, in the non-championship
Pau Grand Prix in early April. Cars were entered for both Caracciola and Lang. Lang crashed during practice and the team withdrew his car.
René Dreyfus took pole position in a
Delahaye, but Caracciola was second and managed to beat Dreyfus away from the line at the start of the race. Despite leading, Caracciola was suffering from an old leg injury, and when he pitted for fuel he handed the car over to Lang. Dreyfus took the lead and would not need to pit as his car's lower fuel consumption meant he could complete the race non-stop. Lang's car developed a
spark plug problem and finished the race in second place, nearly two minutes behind. The car's next outing was at the Italian North Africa
Tripoli Grand Prix, again a non-championship race, was much more successful.
Raymond Sommer was allowed to enter as Independent with a fourth factory
Alfa Romeo 158 quickly repainted in
French racing blue. Mercedes wanted to do the same but a fourth W154 for
Richard Seaman, that would be entered in full
British Racing Green instead of just some green markings, was denied. The three Silver cars that were entered for Lang, von Brauchitsch and Caracciola qualified first, second and third respectively. The gap from Caracciola to fourth placed
Clemente Biondetti was over three seconds. The cars retained these positions at the end of the race and although von Brauchitsch and Caracciola had both suffered engine problems, Caracciola still finished over eight minutes ahead of fourth placed
Raymond Sommer. The first race of the European Championship was the
French Grand Prix, held at the
Reims-Gueux circuit. Three cars were entered, for Caracciola, von Brauchitsch and Lang. A poor turnout meant that there were only nine competitors. Team manager
Alfred Neubauer offered to enter a fourth W154 for
Richard Seaman, but the organisers insisted on a maximum of three cars per team. Lang took pole position, with von Brauchitsch second and Caracciola third, ahead of the two
Auto Unions of
Christian Kautz and
Rudolf Hasse. The Mercedes-Benz cars led from the start. After two laps, four cars had retired, leaving only the Mercedes-Benz and
Talbot cars in the race, the Talbots already a minute behind. Lang had difficulties in a pit-stop and Caracciola's engine started firing on only eleven of its twelve cylinders. This left von Brauchitsch to claim victory ahead of Caracciola and Lang. The only other finisher was
René Carrièrè in a Talbot, ten laps behind. Three weeks after the French Grand Prix came the second race of the European Championship, the
German Grand Prix. Four W154s were entered and they took the first four positions on the starting grid; von Brauchitsch took pole position from Lang, Seaman and Caracciola. At the start, Lang took the lead but on lap three his car's spark plugs oiled up and he had to make an emergency pit stop. Shortly afterwards, team manager Alfred Neubauer brought Lang into the pits so that
Walter Bäumer, a reserve driver for Mercedes-Benz, could take over. Lang's mechanical problems allowed von Brauchitsch to take the lead. Meanwhile, Caracciola had been struggling with
abdominal pain and stopped on lap ten to allow Lang to take over his car. Von Brauchitsch came in for his second pit stop on lap sixteen, followed by Seaman in second position. During von Brauchitsch's pit stop, a mechanic spilt fuel over the car which was then ignited by a spark from the car's exhaust pipe. This allowed Seaman to exit the pits in the lead of the race. When his car's fire had been extinguished, von Brauchitsch also left the pits, only to crash his car later during the lap. Seaman continued on to win the race, followed by Lang in Caracciola's car. Lang's car, being driven by Bäumer, retired from the race with engine problems. Following the French Grand Prix, Mercedes-Benz travelled to Italy to contest two non-championship races on each side of the Italian coast - the
Coppa Ciano at
Montenero (Livorno) and the
Coppa Acerbo at
Pescara. For the Coppa Ciano, Caracciola was entered in an experimental car with a larger saddle tank and a shorter tail section. Pole position went to
Carlo Felice Trossi in a
Maserati 8CTF, but he retired on lap eight with engine troubles. Caracciola retired due to a punctured fuel tank, leaving von Brauchitsch to win from Lang. After the race, von Brauchitsch was disqualified for receiving outside assistance, which left Lang as the winner. At the Coppa Acerbo, Mercedes-Benz failed to win the pole position for the second race in a row;
Tazio Nuvolari took pole position in an Auto Union Type D. In the race, Nuvolari retired when his
differential broke, leaving Caracciola to win. The two other W154s of von Brauchitsch and Lang retired with engine problems. Lang's car caught fire after a
conrod severed the fuel pipe to his car's engine; the fire burnt away all of the
aluminium bodywork.
1939 The W154 was modified with a new lower front for the
1939 Grand Prix season, in which it again would win 3 of 4 championship races.
1951 Formula Libre in Argentina Three of the W154 that remained after the war were shipped overseas for two
Formula Libre races in the 1951 "Temporada Argentina" series, the February
1951 Buenos Aires Grand Prix (I) and
1951 Buenos Aires Grand Prix (II). Drivers were Herrmann Lang, newcomer
Karl Kling and home favorite
Juan Manuel Fangio. Only the modern supercharged
Ferrari 166 FL of
José Froilán González could beat the outdated Mercedes, but second-place finishes is not was Mercedes was aiming for. Mercedes discontinued the W154 programme The car was sold to Don Lee, an American racing team owner. During 1938, the rules for the Indianapolis 500 were modified to allow the European Grand Prix cars to compete, and in 1947, Lee entered his W154 with
Duke Nalon as the driver. Nalon discovered that
Riley Brett, an
Offenhauser mechanic, had obtained some Mercedes engine blueprints. Nalon was able to make copies and from these, the team was able to prepare the engine. The mechanics started the engine but left it running on
idle which caused the fuel to
condense in the engine
manifold. Due to the engine being mounted at an angle, the rear cylinders filled up with fuel, breaking the
conrods and one
piston. A new piston was hastily
sand cast in time for the race. Although Nalon set the second fastest qualifying speed, the qualifying system meant that he would start the race from 18th position. During the race, the replacement piston failed after 119 laps and the car had to retire from the race. In 1949, Don Lee sold his W154 to
Joel Thorne, another team owner. Thorne had the Mercedes engine removed and a
Sparks straight-six engine installed. The car's
bonnet no longer fit, so a new one had to be manufactured. Thorne drove the car himself, but failed to qualify for the race. Alfred Neubauer attended the 1949 race, in order to investigate the feasibility of a works Mercedes entry at Indianapolis. Neubauer studied Lew Welch's Novi team, and based on the information he had gained, Mercedes attempted to adapt the W154 for oval racing. Mercedes also had the pre-war 1500cc
Voiturette (F2) Mercedes-Benz W165 which won the 1939
Tripoli Grand Prix and still was qualified for Grand Prix racing according to outgoing rules. The company studied concepts for a new
Mercedes-Benz W195 GP car but then waited for new rules to be published that were come in effect in 1954, for which
Mercedes-Benz W196 was made. Another target was an entry in the
1951 Indianapolis 500. For two
Formula Libre races in the "Temporada Argentina" series that year, the February
1951 Buenos Aires Grand Prix (I) and
1951 Buenos Aires Grand Prix (II), three W154 cars were shipped there and entered, with Herrmann Lang, newcomer
Karl Kling and home favorite
Juan Manuel Fangio driving. Only the modern supercharged
Ferrari 166 FL of
José Froilán González could beat the outdated Mercedes, but second-place finishes is not was Mercedes was aiming for. Mercedes discontinued the W154 programme. ==Complete results==