If the Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix return had been a little disappointing, then it was triumphant in 1935. Rudolf Caracciola was sufficiently recovered to lead the team, albeit now walking with a pronounced limp. He won the French, Belgian, Swiss and Spanish GPs to secure the inaugural European Championship for Drivers. Luigi Fagioli led all the way at Monaco and won at Avus, but he simply parked his perfectly healthy second placed car at Spa-Francorchamps and stormed away when ordered to remain behind Caracciola.
Hans Stuck again won for Auto Union (at Monza) but it was the arrival of Bernd Rosemeyer that was most notable for the team. The former motorcyclist began his first year racing cars as an Auto Union reserve and ended it with his maiden GP victory at Brno. Rather than struggle on with an outdated Alfa Romeo, Achille Varzi joined Auto Union and won on his debut in Tunis before finishing second to Caracciola in Tripoli.
The greatest victory of the year was reserved for Tazio Nuvolari in the German GP despite driving the old fashioned Alfa Romeo Tipo-B “P3”. He hounded the Mercedes of Manfred von Brauchitsch until the German suffered a puncture at the Karoussel on the last lap, allowing Nuvolari to score a stunning victory on German soil.
One overly-complicated development from the marque was the Scuderia Ferrari-built Alfa Romeo Bimotore which was powered by two “P3” engines, mounted ahead and behind the cockpit. Louis Chiron finished second in the Avusrennen in the car but it had poor fuel consumption and was overly hard on its tyres.
nb The Monaco, French, Masaryk and Donington GPs were non-championship events.
