Karl Kling

Karl Kling (16 September 1910 - 18 March 2003): German racing driver and motorsport executive who competed in Formula One at 11 Grands Prix from 1954 to 1955. Karl Kling started as a reception clerk in the PR department of Daimler-Benz in 1936 and competed with Mercedes production cars in rallies and reliability trails up to the start of World War II. After the war he resumed his racing with a BMW 328 and after becoming national sports car champion in 1947, he acquired a Veritas RS in 1948 and won the title for the next two seasons. Kling's golden period began in 1952 when he enjoyed outstanding success in international circuit and long-distance races at the wheel of the new Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing prototype.

He won the Grand Prix de Berne and though he missed out at Le Mans, he took overall victory in the notoriously demanding Carrera Panamericana in Mexico with Hans Klenk. His win in the 1952 Carrera Panamericana road race driving the then-experimental Mercedes-Benz 300SL was a defining point in assuring Daimler-Benz management that motorsport had a place in Mercedes' future. An employee of Daimler-Benz since the mid-1930s, Kling made his Formula One debut at the 1954 French Grand Prix where he finished second to Mercedes teammate Juan Manuel Fangio, becoming the first German driver to score a podium finish in Formula One. Called up to the revived Mercedes Grand Prix squad in 1954 he finished less than one second behind the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio on his F1 debut, taking second place in the 1954 French Grand Prix at the fast Reims-Gueux circuit.

This promising start was not to last, and with the arrival of Stirling Moss at Mercedes in 1955 Kling was effectively demoted to third driver. He participated in 10 further World Championship Grands Prix, achieving another podium at the 1955 British Grand Prix and scoring 17 championship points total. Upon retiring from motor racing, Kling became the head of Mercedes-Benz in motorsport from 1956 to 1968. On one such occasion he drove a Mercedes-Benz 220SE to victory in the mighty 1961 Algiers-Cape Town trans-African rally.