The last 40 years of the history of Formula 1 have seen some of the greatest champions of this sport at work, whose deeds are still etched in the memory of many: Nelson Piquet, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, up to Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton, just to name the most present in the roll of honor. And yet, again on the subject of the most successful of all time, for those who have a few more white hairs it is almost blasphemy to set aside or even forget the protagonists of the most remote years of Formula 1, starting with the one who, with his records , still puts the personal goals of today’s protagonists in serious difficulty: Juan Manuel Fangio.
When F1 was established (1950), it was the Argentine who imposed himself as the man to beat throughout the 1950s, in a world still wounded by the horrors of the Second World War and who was trying to recover, to motorsport level, with competitions as tough as they are extremely dangerous, even more so when compared to today’s safety standards. Driving skills, intelligence, respect and knowledge of the vehicle mixed with the ability to quickly adapt to the characteristics of the numerous cars with which he won his five world titles in totalwhich elevated him to the absolute “God” of this category, as Stirling Moss called him.
A story that would never have existed if it weren’t for the June 24, 1911, 111 years ago, when Juan Manuel Fangio was born in Balcarce, in a town near the Argentine capital Buenos Aires. First name from Latin American, but Italian surname, deriving from parents who emigrated to Argentina from Abruzzo, in a historical period in which our compatriots found in the South American country a basis to start another life, professional and social. Of short stature and with slightly crooked legs, enough to be nicknamed ‘El Chueco’, Fangio was present in the list of drivers who took part in the first world championship in the history of Formula 1, in which, however, he did not manage to get the better of Giuseppe Farina after an exhilarating battle. Revenge, however, came as early as 1951when he finished the season as world champion at the wheel of theAlfa Romeo. A success that, moreover, opened the doors to four consecutive world championships, with three different car manufacturers. In fact, after the absence from the 1952 championship due to an injury, Fangio opened the waltz of triumphs already in 1954in particular conditions.
After starting at the wheel of the Maserati, waiting for the debut of the Mercedes, the Argentine then passed to the court of the newborn German team during the current season, establishing himself both in that year and in the following one. Historical was then the passage of him to the Ferrari in 1956, ‘seasoned’ by the victory and the immediate divorce from Maranello, thanks to a clash between two tough personalities like his own and that of Enzo Ferrari. Circumstances, those, which led him to sign for the Maserati in 1957, winning his fifth and last world title as protagonist. Only Michael Schumacher, 47 years later, will be able to match the number of worldwide achievements of ‘El Quintuple’, retired from racing in 1958 with two other hits of absolute prestige: 1 Carrera Panamericana and two 12 Hours of Sebring, again in the 1950s. Sixty-four years after his stop from racing, the Argentine – who died in 1995 – nevertheless holds two perhaps unattainable records: highest percentage of pole position in career55.8%, which is added to that of victory obtained at 46 years of agethe longest-lived for a driver on the top step of the podium.
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