Karl Kling

Karl Kling (16 September 1910 – 18 March 2003) was a German racing driver and motorsport executive who entered 11 Formula One Grands Prix. He joined Daimler-Benz in the mid-1930s and debuted in Formula One at the 1954 French Grand Prix, placing second behind teammate Juan Manuel Fangio. That result made him the first German driver to earn a podium finish in the series. Over ten further World Championship races, he added a second podium at the 1955 British Grand Prix and accumulated 17 championship points. After retiring from driving, Kling led Mercedes-Benz motorsport operations from 1956 to 1968.

Kling was born in Giessen, then part of the German Empire, on 16 September 1910. His timing in motorsport was unlucky: too late for Mercedes’ successful 1930s team and too early for a strong chance in later eras. He entered racing through his first job as a reception clerk at Daimler-Benz in the mid-1930s, competing in hillclimbs and trials with production cars in his spare time. During World War II, he gained mechanical experience servicing Luftwaffe aircraft. After the war, he resumed motorsport in a BMW 328.

Kling helped plan Mercedes’ return to international competition in the early 1950s, beginning with the 1951 Buenos Aires Grand Prix Formula Libre races, using the pre-war supercharged Mercedes-Benz W154 and giving Juan Manuel Fangio his first factory drive with the team. In 1952, Mercedes campaigned sports cars, the Mercedes-Benz 300SL (W194). Kling’s win in the 1952 Carrera Panamericana was crucial in convincing Daimler-Benz management that motorsport had a future for the company, boosting North American sales and leading to the road-going 300 SL Gullwing and the smaller 190 SL roadster. Alongside Hans Klenk, he also pioneered the use of pacenotes in racing.

Kling was called up to the revived Mercedes Grand Prix squad for the 1954 Formula One season, after the team skipped the first two rounds (won by Fangio in a Maserati). On his debut at the fast Reims-Gueux circuit, he finished less than a second behind Fangio, then a one-time champion, taking second place. That promising start did not continue; Kling scored only one more podium, in 1955. Teammates Hans Herrmann (third driver) and veteran Hermann Lang (fourth driver at the 1954 German GP) also struggled. Away from the championship, Kling won the September 1954 Berlin Grand Prix at the high-speed AVUS circuit with its banking.

During the 1955 season, Mercedes also entered the World Sportscar Championship, where endurance races typically required two drivers per car. With Stirling Moss joining the team, Kling was effectively demoted to third driver in a four-driver lineup. In January, four cars ran the very hot 1955 Argentine Grand Prix, and in May four 300 SLR cars contested the Mille Miglia. Kling drove solo, like Fangio, but crashed exiting Rome, broke ribs, and missed the Monaco Grand Prix. He then took two second-place finishes in the two sports car races that followed the Le Mans disaster. Those results, alongside Fangio, helped Mercedes secure the World Sportscar Championship—not by adding more points than Moss’s wins, but by preventing rivals from scoring higher.

After winning all three world championships they entered—Formula One in 1954 and 1955, plus sports cars in 1955—Mercedes withdrew from international racing to focus on road car development. Kling succeeded Alfred Neubauer as head of Mercedes motorsport, overseeing campaigns with stock models. During his tenure, the team ran successful rally campaigns in the 1960s, and Kling occasionally drove himself. In 1961, he won the trans-African Algiers-Bangui-Algiers Rally in a Mercedes-Benz 220SE. Kling died in 2003 at age 92.