Juan Manuel Fangio: the real master of Formula One

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 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd 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.

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.