Saturday June 24, 2023 marks the 112th anniversary of the birth of the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio, a multiple world champion in Formula 1. Fangio, often referred to simply by his last name with an exclamation point attached, was a hero in the 1950s when the F1 World Championship was still in its early stages. He was celebrated in every country the sport visited and his greatness continued even in his retirement. Despite starting his first official World Championship race at the age of 38 and retiring at 47, Fangio achieved remarkable success, winning 24 races and securing five world championship titles between 1951 and 1957. His record for wins stood until 1968 when it was broken by Jim Clark, and his five titles were eventually equaled and surpassed by Michael Schumacher in 2002 and 2003. Fangio’s win rate of 47.06% remains unbeaten. Despite his humble beginnings in the potato-producing town of Balcarce in Argentina, Fangio quickly gained recognition and impressed notable figures in the racing world. He began his career as a riding mechanic before becoming a racer in the 1930s. Fangio’s talent caught the attention of Argentine President Juan Perón, who sent him to participate in races in Indianapolis and Europe. Fangio’s skill and success led him to race for various teams, always in search of the best car. In 1957, he achieved one of his greatest victories at the German Grand Prix in the Nürburgring. Despite facing challenges during the race, including a broken seat, Fangio overcame adversity and emerged triumphant. Fangio retired from racing in 1958 at the age of 47, believing that champions should quit at their peak. Throughout his career, Fangio was known for his self-confidence, aggressive racing style, and gentlemanly demeanor on and off the track. He was regarded by many as the best driver in the world, consistently delivering exceptional performances. Fangio’s formula for success emphasized the importance of the car, the driver, and luck, with luck often favoring him throughout his career. Beyond his racing achievements, Fangio’s charismatic presence had a profound impact on those who knew him. His legacy as one of the greatest drivers in F1 history continues to be celebrated and honored.
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Saturday June 24, 2023 marks the 112th anniversary of the birth of multiple world champion Juan Manuel Fangio.
Long before single name recognition became the hallmark of famous singers or footballers, he was known simply by his last name, usually with an exclamation point attached. In the 1950s, when the F1 World Championship was in its infancy, he was the hero so many times that he was lauded in every country the sport visited.
READ MORE: 1950s hero Tony Brooks on racing Fangio and Moss in F1’s first decade
And such was his enduring majesty that he was revered as much in his retirement as he had been in his heyday, and dwelt in the rarefied realm of the truly great.
Newcomers to F1 might wonder why all the fuss over a man who was 38 when he started his first official World Championship race, 47 when he retired and started just 51 races. However, he won 24 victories and five world championship titles between 1951 and 1957.
It would not be until Jim Clark scored his 25th (and last) win in South Africa in 1968, that Fangio’s record for wins was broken. And it wasn’t until 2002, when all five of his titles were equaled by Michael Schumacher, who then surpassed that tally in 2003. His 47.06% win rate remains unbeaten.
For all his greatness, Fangio’s beginnings were humble. He was born on San Juan Day in the potato-producing town of Balcarce, 180 miles from Buenos Aires, the fourth of six children born to Loretto and Erminia Fangio.
His father was an Italian immigrant who painted houses and his son’s first love was soccer. They called him ‘El Chueco’, the bandit, applauding his ability to hit the goal with his left foot.
He built an early reputation in the popular long-distance races in South America, where he learned the importance of strength and stamina. He was first a riding mechanic on a friend’s Model A Ford, but after enduring bouts of pneumonia and national service, he began racing his own Model A in 1934. Balcarce supporters later financed a Chevrolet coupe. Recognition came quickly.
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Argentine President Juan Perón loved racing and sent a group of cars to Indianapolis and then to Europe in 1948. Fangio was 37 years old, but nevertheless the logical choice as one of the drivers, although his debut in a Simca -Gordini surpassed was not auspicious.
For 1949, however, the Automóvil Club Argentino bought him a Maserati 4CLT/48, and in the blue and yellow car he beat all the European aces at the Mar del Plata Grand Prix, drawing the attention of French star Jean-Pierre Wimille. , who championed their cause.
He also won races at San Remo, Pau, Perpignan and Marseille and the following season, when the F1 World Championship opened, he finished a close second behind Alfa Romeo teammate Giuseppe Farina.
His first title came with Alfa in 1951, and after Alberto Ascari dominated the 1952 and 1953 seasons with Ferrari, Fangio dominated from 1954 to 1957.
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Undoubtedly his great race was the 1957 German GP at the old Nürburgring. There, in his beautiful Maserati 250F, he gambled to start on low fuel and had opened up a strong lead over the Ferraris of England’s Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins when he pitted for refuelling.
But disaster struck in the midst of the chaos and a 28 second lead turned into a 28 second deficit. But despite having to wedge himself into position because his seat had broken, he proceeded to break the lap record for the daunting 14.1-mile circuit no less than nine times before catching and passing both red cars to a brilliant victory. number 24.
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Afterwards, even he admitted that he had never driven so hard, for so long. “And I don’t want to do it again,” she added.
“If it goes well, the driver is one more element,” he said. “But when the car is bad, the really good drivers, the strong ones, come to the fore. Like life, motorsport favors those with character.”
READ MORE: Best F1 Races #5: Fangio’s Race of a Lifetime at the Nurburgring
While Clark stuck to Lotus, Fangio had no qualms about moving from team to team in search of the best car. In 1954, he was Maserati and then Mercedes-Benz W196. He won again with Mercedes in 1955 before moving to Ferrari in 1956. They won another championship together, but it was never a happy relationship, and he was relieved to return to Maserati for the rest of his career, winning his fifth title. in 1957…
He retired from racing at the French GP in Reims in mid-1958. He was 47 years old and believed that champions, actors and dictators should always quit at the top.
Behind the wheel, he had unwavering self-confidence, racing aggressively but with the innate etiquette of a gentleman. He wasn’t always the fastest, and Ascari, Stirling Moss and Mike Hawthorn could match him, but Stirling always believed that Fangio was the best driver in the world.
“He didn’t have on and off days, he didn’t have on and off laps. He was ethical in every way. He was just constantly fast. There may be faster drivers in certain corners or whatever, but in general, which is what matters, when the chips were low, he could go out and win.
READ MORE: The king who was never crowned – recalled Sir Stirling Moss
“It is also true that he always had the best car, but you make your own luck. The reason he had the best car was because he was the best damn driver!
He was a champion, for whom the races passed in slow motion. He is strong, tenacious, precise and persistent, still able to get fast times out of sick cars. And perceptive. In Monaco in 1950, he avoided a multi-car crash on a blind corner because he realized, as he got closer, that the crowd was looking the wrong way.
His only serious accident occurred at Monza in 1952 when he was too tired and suffered a neck injury. Later he told his biographer Roberto Carozzo: “I woke up in the hospital and understood that it was very easy to go from life to death without even knowing it.
“And I also understood something else: now that I had been injured, the people around me started to leave, thinking that my racing days were over. I learned who my real friends were.”
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His formula for success was simple. “It’s made up of 50% car, 25% driver and 25% luck.” And above all luck ran with him. When he was kidnapped by Fidel Castro’s July 26 Movement on February 23, 1958, he was treated with respect by his captors, who served him breakfast in bed. They later became friends as he was sympathetic to his cause.
He once said: “Running is living. But those who died in the races knew, perhaps, how to live more than all the rest.
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People who knew him talked about how his charisma would light up a room. I had the privilege of witnessing that in 1987, at a Pirelli function to launch Bob Newman’s book on motorsport history. His voice was high-pitched but soft, and since we didn’t speak each other’s language, our communication was limited.
But when I asked him to sign my book and he wrote down the page I had chosen, he looked up and in his piercing blue eyes there was pleasure at the selection representing his drifting Maserati leading the understeering Vanwalls of Tony Brooks, Stirling and Stuart Lewis. -Evans around the corner Parabolica de Monza. I felt in the presence of greatness that day.
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He said he would have liked to be friends with his rivals, but “on the track we were all enemies.” And he spoke to his car, revealing: “I can hear when a car isn’t feeling its best. It’s like music when an instrument sounds out of tune.”
But despite all that enduring greatness, he remained a fundamentally humble man.
“During a race,” he said, “I thought all the time that I was the best.” But outside the booth he said: “You must always believe that you will become the best, but you must never believe that you have.
“All my life I have been lucky. I feel an honor to be Argentine, because whoever doesn’t love his country can’t love his family.
“I do not consider the honor that my compatriots and others do me a burden, but a compliment for a job well done. And I’m grateful for it. I still have all my trophies. They are not mine, but of all those who have supported me.
LOOK: The history of the record of victories in F1, from Farina and Fangio to Hamilton
“I am not a rich man. I have enough to enjoy life and can leave some for my family. And I’ve always been in a position to leave something behind. If I were really rich, I would ask myself: ‘What for?’ I have more fun than others who have made materialism their maxim. Friendship is the greatest wealth that anyone can possess.
“When one is in danger of losing one’s sense of proportion, it is time to go home, sleep in the same bed you dreamed of when you were still a nobody and eat the simple and healthy dishes of childhood.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.tremayne-on-fangio-why-f1s-first-record-breaker-is-still-revered-by-racing.4iwnx9VAfaBeSKL6DbQclt.html
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