Young Herrmann displayed considerable promise both in a Veritas (ninth in the German GP and fourth at the AVUSrennen) and a Porsche sports car in 1953, which earned him a golden opportunity to race for Mercedes-Benz on their return to Grand Prix and sports car racing in 1954. Although naturally somewhat overshadowed by his more experienced peers, he scored good championship finishes at Bremgarten and Monza, and took third behind Kling and Fangio in what amounted to a Mercedes demonstration race against meagre opposition at AVUS. He still drove for Porsche in sports cars, and won the support race at AVUS and another at the Nurburgring. Better still he took sixth in the Mille Miglia, again taking the up-to-1500 cc class, before venturing across to Mexico to compete in the Carrera Panamericana. In another superb drive, Hans took his Porsche 550 Spyder to third overall and naturally won his class.

   Prospects were promising indeed for the young German in 1955, but after sharing fourth place with Moss and Kling in the searing heat of Argentina, a practice accident for the next Grand Prix at Monte Carlo left him in hospital with cracked vertebrae and broken ribs.
With Mercedes' withdrawal from racing after the Le Mans tragedy, Herrmann, now fully recovered, joined Porsche for 1956 and with von Trips he took sixth (and a class win) at Sebring. Sharing a Ferrari with Gendebien he was third in the Targa Florio that year, but would then become a mainstay of the Porsche team. He was third at Le Mans with Behra in 1958 and fourth in the Nurburgring 1000 Km the following year with Maglioli. Sadly his subsequent Grand Prix appearances were generally restricted to less-than-competitive machinery, and he caused a stir only with his spectacular crash in the 1959 German GP at AVUS, when he was thrown from his BRM, fortunately without serious injury.

   Hans enjoyed some excellent drives in Formula 2 for Porsche in 1960, taking second at Solitude, fourth at Modena and fifth in the non-championship German Grand Prix, but found real success throughout the decade in sports cars, winning the Sebring 12 Hours (1960 and 1968), the Daytona 24 Hours (1968), the Targa Florio (1960) and the Paris 1000 Km (1968). He was of course involved in the incredible finish at Le Mans in 1969 when his Porsche was pipped by Jacky Ickx's Ford, but he made amends a year later to bow out on a high note, retiring from racing after winning the Sarthe classic in a Porsche 917 with Richard Attwood.

(c) 'Who is Who' by Steve Small, 2000