After the end of the Second World War, around 90 percent of the Stuttgart-Untertürkheim plant lay in ruins. The first priority was to establish economic momentum by rebuilding production facilities. No one seriously considered reinstating motorsport activities except for one man. Race organiser Alfred Neubauer began to search for intact Mercedes-Benz racing cars in the three-litre category – and found them. And so it was in 1951 that three W 154 cars competed in works races in Buenos Aires (Argentina). They were driven by former champion Hermann Lang, Karl Kling and the Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio.
The three Mercedes‑Benz works drivers (Lang, Fangio and Kling) finished the "Premio Presidente de la Nación Juan D. Perón" race in second, third and sixth positions respectively. But this respectable result did not gloss over the fact that the twelve-year-old W 154 was no longer the state of the art. All other formula race plans were stopped as a result. From 1954, Daimler-Benz moved its focus to developing a competitive 2.5‑litre racing vehicle using a naturally aspirated engine in accordance with a new formula defined by the international sport commission FIA. From 1952 onwards, Daimler-Benz also participated in a highly promising sports-car racing series with the 300 SL.