Juan Manuel Fangio: the real master of Formula One

Surojit
Argentinian racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio (1911 - 1995) wins the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, 14th July 1956. (Photo by George Stroud/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Argentinian racing driver Juan Manuel Fangio (1911 – 1995) wins the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, 1956. (Getty Images)

Motor racing started in France, way back in 1894, and it was at the legendary circuit of Le Mans in the same country that the word ‘Grand Prix’ entered the racing lexicon for the first time in 1906.

But Formula One as we know it didn’t make an entry until the spring of 1950, and since then, racing has never been the same again. A lot of legends have come and gone but few racers, if any, have dominated the sport as much as Juan Manuel Fangio did in the twilight years of F1 in the early 50s.

Formula One has always been a sport of contradictions. On one hand, Ferrari from Italy has dominated the constructor’s championship right from the very beginning to the present day, while on the other hand only two Italian drivers have managed to win the drivers’ championship so far, the sport being dominated primarily by the British, and more recently, the German drivers.

But our story’s protagonist has the distinction of being the only F1 World Drivers’ Champion to hail from Argentina, no mean feat considering that their Brazilian neighbours have far outrun them in the realm of F1 racing led by the legendary trio of Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Emerson Fittipaldi.

So without tarrying any further, let’s jump straight to business and get a glimpse into the wonderful life of Fangio, known lovingly as El Maestro - “The Master”.

It was in the midnight of the summer of 1911 that Fangio drew his first breath in a cottage at Balcarce, Argentina. Born to Italian parents, he was thus an Argentine by birth. Like most children of this great Latin American nation, he took to football like fish take to water; his footballing skills earned him the nickname of El Chueco - “The Bowlegged One”.

Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Argentinian Grand Prix driver Juan Manuel Fangio, the world champion pictured at the wheel of a BRM, as he tests the car at Falkingham Airfield, Lincolnshire, Juan Fangio was five times world champion in the 1950's  (Photo by Paul Popper/Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Juan Manuel Fangio pictured at the wheel of a BRM in 1952, as he tests the car at Falkingham Airfield, Lincolnshire. (Getty Images)

But he showed a penchant for automobiles from the very beginning, ultimately bidding farewell to school-life at the raw age of 13 to become an assistant mechanic. Besides, his dreams of attaining greatness in the beautiful game were virtually crushed when he was diagnosed with pneumonia after a football match.

And at the age of 21, in the course of his compulsory military service, his driving skills were first recognised by his commanding officer, and Fangio was appointed as his official driver. A modest start no doubt, but a start nevertheless.

Fangio’s inception into racing was officially in 1934 in Argentina but it was the Turismo Carretera which started in 1937, the oldest car racing event in the world, that made him famous. He started racing with Ford – the Ferrari of Turismo Carretera – but later shifted to Chevrolet with whom he won two consecutive editions of the tournament in 1940 and 1941.

In a sport dominated by Ford, Fangio showed that the driver mattered as much as the car in racing. Besides, it was but the first of his many team switches all throughout his racing career and he still remains the only racer to have won the F1 drivers’ championship five times racing with four different teams.

Thereafter came a lull in his career, thanks to the Second World War and it was finally his switch to the European circuits in 1947 that helped him achieve his current legendary status. These were interesting times for motor sports with the coming into being of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) in 1946 and the idea of Formula One gaining shape.

But it was not until the spring of 1950 that the first F1 Grand Prix took place. Prior to that Fangio raced for several national Grand Prix with moderate success. Italian Alberto Ascari proved to be his nemesis in most of these races, and they carried forward their bitter rivalry to F1 as well.

Though Fangio started racing in Europe with Simca Gordini, he switched team with the advent of F1 and joined Alfa Romeo. The first edition of F1 consisted of just seven races including the Indianapolis 500 and it turned out to be a very close season with Giuseppe Farina, Fangio and Luigi Fagioli coming 1st, 2nd and 3rd in that order – all racing for the same team.

Fangio narrowly missed out on becoming the first F1 World Drivers’ Champion but he made amends the following season when he won the title from right under the nose of Ascari, who was driving for Ferrari. This was but the first of Fangio’s five titles and the years that followed will forever remain etched in gold in the annals of F1 racing.

 Juan FANGIO crossing the finish line first in his FERRARI at the Silverstone Grand Prix in England.  (Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)

Fangio crossing the finish line first in his Ferrari at the Silverstone Grand Prix, 1956, in England. (Getty Images)

The 1952 and 1953 seasons were Formula One only in name as the FIA decided to follow Formula Two regulations for these seasons. This also turned out to be the death nail for Alfa Romeo and the start of F1’s dominance by Ferrari. Needless to say, Ferrari’s Ascari won both these seasons quite comfortably.

The year 1952 turned out to be rather dark for Fangio, who left without a team after the departure of Alfa Romeo, started plying his trade with BRM V16 in the non-championship races. And it was during one such race at Monza, Italy that he had a terrible crash and ended up with a broken neck. The 1953 season was far better and he came in second driving for Maserati.

But in the four years that followed, namely from 1954-1957, Fangio came to the fore and won four drivers’ championships in a row leading to a total of five career championships, a record that took Michael Schumacher almost 50 years to break.

He won the 1954 championship by a record 17 points (approximately) driving for two different teams – Maserati and Mercedes. Of course, loyalty was never a virtue of Fangio and he never thought twice before switching teams, if it seemed to brighten his prospects of winning.

The 1955 season went equally well for him but this was the year of the tragic “24 hours of Le Mans” where a racer and more than 80 spectators were killed leading to the cancellation of four Grand Prix. This was also the season that the ill-luck of Stirling Moss began as he ended up second consecutively four times from 1955-1958 and finally ended his career without a single drivers’ championship.

Fangio shifted from Mercedes to Ferrari for the 1956 season. This was also the only time that Fangio had to depend on luck, and also on the sportsmanship of his fellow racers for the championship title. Teammate Peter Collins agreed to share his car, and thus his points as well, for the season finale at Italy and Fangio became the world champion once again at the cost of Collins.

But the 1957 season was, beyond doubt, the best of Fangio, especially his drive at the German Grand Prix, which is argued to be the greatest F1 race ever to this very day. He fell behind the two Ferrari drivers, Collins and Hawthorn, twice during the course of the race and still managed to win the race by three seconds, having overtaken both the drivers in the penultimate lap. He thus ended up winning the final race, and as it turned out, the final championship of his career.

Fangio returned as a privateer in 1958, but came fourth in both the races he participated in and finally ended up as a distant 14th in the championship. He ended his Grand Prix career where he had first begun, at the French Grand Prix at Reims. He made an unsuccessful attempt to revive his career at Indianopolis 500, but at 47, he realised that age was not on his side and he rightly decided to call it a day.

Thus ended the marvellous career of the father of F1 racing – Juan Manuel Fangio, who won 24 races out of the 52 he had participated in with a win percentage of 46%, a record that stands to this day.

Gianmaria Aghem and Diego Cumino of Italy in a Lancia Fulvia HF 1.6 (1970) drive past the statue of Formula one legend Juan Manuel Fangio during the 12th Monte Carlo Historical Rally on January 31, 2009 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Over three hundred cars are entered in four different age categories, all having competed in at least one of the Monte Carlo rallies.  The cars compete in sixteen stages over four days in the south-east region of France.  (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)

Statue of Formula one legend Juan Manuel Fangio during the 12th Monte Carlo Historical Rally on January 31, 2009 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. (Getty Images)

Fangio’s life was even more fascinating off the track. He was kidnapped on the eve of the 1958 Cuban Grand Prix and spent 29 hours in captivity before being released. He is also known to have famously challenged the traffic personnel in his home province of Buenos Aires to a race when he was denied a drivers’ license owing to his old age. Fangio was never one to retreat from a fight.

It has been eighteen years since Fangio breathed his last in Buenos Aires at the ripe age of 84 but his legend still lives on. No matter how many great drivers have come and gone, be it Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost or Senna or any other F1 great for that matter, none have been able to outclass the great that was Fangio.

And the fact that he remains in the records book as the oldest world champion at 43 years, twice the age of the youngest ever world champion, Sebastian Vettel, it just goes to show Fangio’s calibre and never-say-die attitude.

Fangio competed with drivers almost half his age in his heyday and still came out victorious. His age is long gone and his bones have long turned to dust, but his indomitable spirit lives on, for now and forever. He was the master of his art, the primeval great of this wonderful sport, the true hero of his country, the real maestro of racing.

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Edited by Staff Editor