Alfred Neubauer: Hero, or melodramatic front man?

So did Alfred Neubauer mastermind the company’s racing or was he a showman, not really responsible for the racing strategy at all? Hans Hermann,who drove for Mercedes in I 955,agrees with his former team-mate Karl Kling that Neubauer had no technical input which was the exclusive province of Rudolf Uhlenhaut “Neubauer was good at finding the best restaurants,” says Hermann with a twinkle in his eye.”He also went into the pits and kicked out journalists who were in the way, as well as telling his drivers which trousers to wear and what time to go to bed. I remember sharing a room with him and he snored so hard that I couldn’t sleep:’

However, the late Denis Jenkinson, the legendary former continental correspondent of this journal, thought otherwise.

“He brooked no interference with his decisions and was the absolute commander-in-chief:’ he recalled.”Strict as he was, he had a great sense of comedy at the right time.

“One thing that will always endear that grand old gentleman to me was when Stirling and I crashed the factory training 300SL preparing for the Mille Miglia,and went into his office to tell him about it, feeling like two naughty schoolboys.

“His very first words to us were”are you both unhurt?The car is nothing; we can repair that, but to repair you is more difficult:’ I am sure that anyone who came under his strict, but exceedingly warm influence, had the greatest respect for him, not only as a team manager but as a man:’