1954 French Grand Prix

The long-awaited Mercedes W196 with its straight-8 fuel-injection engine made its debut with Juan Manuel Fangio transferring from Maserati to join an otherwise all-German line-up of Hans Herrmann, Karl Kling and pre-war driver Hermann Lang. It was a dominant return with Fangio recording a practice lap of 124.31 mph. He and Kling led away and continued to race side by side around the Rheims track. The Ferrari drivers simply couldn't cope with the pace. José Froilán González retired after 12 laps and Mike Hawthorn's car blew up spectacularly. Former Ferrari double World Champion (1952 & 1953) Alberto Ascari drove a Maserati, as the Lancia D50 was not yet ready for racing, and lasted only 1 lap after starting on the outside of the front row. Herrmann set fastest lap before retiring, but Fangio and Kling continued their duel until the last lap when team orders were put in force and Fangio led Kling over the line by a mere 0.1 seconds-half a car length. Only six cars finished the gruelling race.

• F1 Debut: Jacques Pollet, Karl Kling, Mercedes and Continental tyre.
• Debut win for Mercedes and Continental in Formula One.
• Excluding the Indianapolis 500, this was the first time a non-Italian constructor won a Formula One World Championship race.
• The Thillois hairpin had been changed from the year before. The original corner's surface was laid out with bricks; the new corner bypassed this hairpin with a new smooth tarmac surface.

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Juan Manuel Fangio	25
	2	Maurice Trintignant	9
	3	Bill Vukovich	8
	4	José Froilán González	6.5
	5	Nino Farina	6
Source: [3]

• Note: Only the top five positions are included. Only the best 5 results counted towards the Championship.