Juan Manuel Fangio

This article deals with the racing driver born in 1911, for the racing driver of the same name born in 1956 see Juan Manuel Fangio II .

Juan Manuel Fangio

Nation:	Argentina
Automobile world championship
First start:	Great Britain Grand Prix 1950
Last start:	1958 French Grand Prix
Constructors
1950–1951  Alfa Romeo  • 1953–1954  Maserati  • 1954–1955  Mercedes  • 1956  Ferrari  • 1957  Maserati  • 1958  Scuderia Sud Americana
statistics
World Cup balance:	World Champion ( 1951 , 1954 , 1955 , 1956 , 1957 )
Starts Victories Poles SR 51 24 29 23
World Cup points :	277.64
Podiums :	35
Leadership laps :	1,313 over 9,031.7 km

Juan Manuel Fangio (born June 24, 1911 in Balcarce , † July 17, 1995 in Buenos Aires ) was an Argentine automobile racing driver . He shaped the early years of Formula 1 and became world champion five times in this class  - a record that was only exceeded in 2003 by Michael Schumacher . Not least because of this, Fangio is still considered one of the most successful and best racing drivers in the history of Grand Prix racing. In 51 Grand Prix starts, he won 24 times, which means he has won 47% of the races in which Juan Manuel Fangio participated, which is an unmatched success rate within Formula 1 to this day.

Life

Childhood and adolescence

Fangio was the son of Don Loreto and Herminia Fangio. During his school days he wanted to become a doctor, but he became more and more enthusiastic about cars and soon took part in a public race.

He started school when he was six and ended when he was an apprentice in a metal shop at age eleven. He soon got a job in an auto repair shop, where he first came into contact with these “hellish machines”. By cleaning and repairing the parts, he acquired a lifelong fascination with auto mechanics. At 13 he got a job as a locksmith's apprentice. To his delight, this company also prepared racing cars. In this way he expanded his knowledge of mechanics many times over. His duties also included making delivery trips to neighboring cities with pick-ups.

Career

Fangio competed in rally events in South America before World War II , killing his co-driver Daniel Urrutia in an accident. From then on he only drove alone if possible, even in sports car races in Europe.

Fangio came to Europe in 1949 and immediately won the Gran Premio di San Remo in Italy in 1949 . In the same year he got a contract in the works team of Maserati . For the Modena-based manufacturer , he quickly achieved success on the 4CLT and was hired by Alfa Romeo for the 1950 season , in which the drivers' world championship was held for the first time . In 1950, Fangio won three Grands Prix and was runner-up behind Giuseppe Farina .

It soon turned out that "El Chueco" ("The crooked leg") was superior to the competition in terms of driving ability and tactical skills despite his almost 40 years of experience. In 1951 Fangio became world champion for the first time with 37 points on the Alfetta . In 1952, Fangio drove a few races for the British BRM team, but achieved no success with the complicated and unreliable BRM P15 developed as a joint project . After Fangio suffered a serious accident in Monza , he was out for half a year. In 1953 he drove for Maserati again, but could only win one championship run. His fiercest competitor that year was Alberto Ascari , who drove a clearly superior Ferrari 500 . Fangio was runner-up behind Ascari in 1953. In the same year he won the Carrera Panamericana for Lancia .

For the 1954 season , Juan Manuel Fangio was hired as a driver by Mercedes-Benz . The new racing cars, with which the factory wanted to return to Grand Prix racing, were not finished until the French Grand Prix . In order not to risk the chances of the World Championship, Fangio drove the first races of the season in Argentina and Belgium for Maserati. With a total of six wins this season, he won the world championship for the second time. He was then named Argentina's Sportsman of the Year 1954.

In 1955 , too , Fangio drove a Mercedes-Benz W 196 and was world champion for the third time with 40 points and four wins this season. At the end of the season, Mercedes withdrew. The board of directors had already made the decision to withdraw at the end of the year in the spring of 1955 and Fangio moved to Scuderia Ferrari . In 1956 he became world champion for the fourth time with this team.

Juan Manuel Fangio in the Maserati 250F (1957)

For the 1957 season, Fangio moved again to the Maserati team, with whom he became world champion for the fifth time on a 250F . In the same year, he showed his most inspiring performance on August 4, 1957 at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring , when he caught up with his rivals Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins , a seemingly hopeless deficit caused by a botched pit stop, by constantly setting new lap records drove. Fangio finished the race as the winner and thus secured his fifth world title.

On February 26, 1958, Fangio was kidnapped in Cuba by the July 26th Movement ( Fidel Castro ). Instead of taking part in a sports car race in Havana organized by the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista , he had to spend time with the revolutionaries. After his release the next day, he reported good treatment in the world's press.

In 1958 , Fangio started again, but only drove two world championship races and announced his retirement from motorsport after the French Grand Prix in Reims-Gueux . However, he continued to take part in classic car races.

Back in Argentina, Fangio passed the driving test in 1961. Despite his success story and talent, Fangio carried out his entire career without a license .

In addition, Fangio remained connected to the Mercedes-Benz brand and set up an engine plant for the Stuttgart-based company in his home country Argentina . From 1974 he was President of Mercedes-Benz Argentina SA.

Juan Manuel Fangio, who had pneumonia, had a heart attack and died of kidney failure on July 17, 1995 in Buenos Aires at the age of 84.

statistics

Juan Manuel Fangio (1952)

Records

• Oldest world champion: 46 years and 31 days (1957)
• highest win rate: 47.06%
• highest pole quota: 56.86%
• highest rate of starts from the first row: 94.11%

Statistics in the automobile world championship

These statistics include all the driver's participations in the World Automobile Championship .

Grand Prix victories

1950 Monaco ( Monte Carlo )  1950 Belgium ( Spa-Francorchamps )  1950 France ( Reims )  1951 Switzerland ( Bremgarten )  1951 France (Reims)  1951 Spain ( Barcelona )  1953 Italy ( Monza )  1954 Argentina ( Buenos Aires )

1954 Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)  1954 France (Reims)  1954 Germany ( Nürburg )  1954 Switzerland (Bern)  1954 Italy (Monza)  1955 Argentina (Buenos Aires)  1955 Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)  1955 Netherlands ( Zandvoort )

1955 Italy (Monza)  1956 Argentina (Buenos Aires)  1956 Great Britain ( Silverstone )  1956 Germany (Nürburg)  1957 Argentina (Buenos Aires)  1957 Monaco (Monte Carlo)  1957 France ( Rouen )  1957 Germany (Nürburg)

general overview

season	team	chassis	engine	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	nice Round	Points	WM-Pos.
1950	Alfa Romeo SpA	Alfa Romeo 158/159	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L8C	6th	3	-	-	4th	3	27	2.
1951	Alfa Romeo SpA	Alfa Romeo  159/159 M.	Alfa Romeo 1.5 L8C	7th	3	2	-	4th	5	37 (31)	1.
1953	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati A6GCM  / A6SSG	Maserati 2.0 L6	8th	1	3	-	2	2	29.5 (28)	2.
1954	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati 250F	Maserati 2.5 L6	2	2	-	-	1	1	17th	1.
	Daimler-Benz AG	Mercedes-Benz W 196	Mercedes 2.5 L8	6th	4th	-	1	4th	2	40.1 (25)
1955	Daimler-Benz AG	Mercedes-Benz W 196	Mercedes 2.5 L8	6th	4th	1	-	3	3	41 (40)	1.
1956	Scuderia Ferrari	Lancia-Ferrari D50	Ferrari 2.5 V8	7th	3	2	-	6th	4th	33 (30)	1.
1957	Officine Alfieri Maserati	Maserati 250F Tipo 2	Maserati 2.5 L6	7th	4th	2	-	4th	2	46 (40)	1.
1958	Scuderia Sud Americana	Maserati 250F Tipo 2 / Tipo 3	Maserati 2.5 L6	2	-	-	-	1	1	7th	14th
total				51	24	10	1	29	23	277.6

Single results

season	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11
1950
	DNF	1		DNF	1	1	DNF / DNF
1951
	1		(9)	11 / (1)	2	2	DNF	1
1953
	DNF		DNF	DNF	2	2	2	DNF / (4)	1
1954
	1		1	1	(4)	1	1	(1)	(3)
1955
	1	(DNF)		1	1	2	1
1956
	DNF / 1	4 / 2		DNF	4th	1	1	8 / (2)
1957
	1	1		1	DNF	1	2	(2)
1958
	4th			DNQ		4th

Legend
colour	abbreviation	meaning
gold	-	victory
silver	-	2nd place
bronze	-	3rd place
green	-	Placement in the points
blue	-	Classified outside the point ranks
violet	DNF	Race not finished (did not finish)
	NC	not classified
red	DNQ	did not qualify
	DNPQ	failed in pre-qualification (did not pre-qualify)
black	DSQ	disqualified
White	DNS	not at the start (did not start)
	WD	withdrawn
Light Blue	PO	only participated in the training (practiced only)
	TD	Friday test driver
without	DNP	did not participate in the training (did not practice)
	INJ	injured or sick
	EX	excluded
	DNA	did not arrive
	C.	Race canceled
		no participation in the World Cup
other	P / bold	Pole position
	SR / italic	Fastest race lap
	*	not at the finish, but counted due to the distance covered
	()	Streak results
	underlined	Leader in the overall standings

Le Mans results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1950	Automobiles Gordini	Gordini T15S	José Froilán González	failure	ignition
1951	Louis Rosier	Talbot-Lago T26S	Louis Rosier	failure	Leak in the oil tank
1953	SpA Alfa Romeo	Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 CM	Onofre Marimón	failure	Engine failure
1955	Daimler-Benz AG	Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR	Stirling Moss	withdrawn

Sebring results

year	team	vehicle	Teammate	placement	Failure reason
1954	Scuderia Lancia	Lancia D24	Eugenio Castellotti	failure	differential
1956	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 860 Monza	Eugenio Castellotti	Overall victory
1957	Maserati Factory	Maserati 300S	Jean Behra	Overall victory

Individual results in the sports car world championship

season	team	race car	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th
1953	Alfa Romeo Lancia	Alfa Romeo 6C 3000 CM Lancia D24	SEB	MIM	LEM	SPA	ONLY	RTT	CAP
				2	DNF	DNF	DNF		1
1954	Lancia	Lancia D24	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	CAP
				DNF			2
1955	Daimler-Benz AG	Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR	BUA	SEB	MIM	LEM	RTT	TAR
					2	DNF	2	2
1956	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari 410 Sport Ferrari 860 Monza	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	KRI
			DNF	1	4th	2	DNF
1957	Maserati	Maserati 450S	BUA	SEB	MIM	ONLY	LEM	KRI	CAR
			DNF	1		5
1958	Scuderia Centro Sud	Maserati 300S	BUA	SEB	TAR	ONLY	LEM	RTT
			DNF

literature

• Ronald Hansen, Federico B. Kirbus : The Life Story of Juan Manuel Fangio. Edita SA, Lausanne 1956.
• Hartmut Lehbrink: Fangio & Mercedes-Benz. Alliance of the best. Heel-Verlag, Königswinter 2011, text in German and English, ISBN 978-3-86852-551-9
• Günther Molter: Juan Manuel Fangio. Most successful racing driver of the 20th century. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, ISBN 978-3-613-03313-9 .

Web links

Commons : Juan Manuel Fangio  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Wikiquote: Juan Manuel Fangio  - Quotes

• Literature by and about Juan Manuel Fangio in the catalog of the German National Library
• Fan page for Fangio
• Juan Manuel Fangio at motorsportmemorial.org (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Olimpias de oro www.cpd.com.ar. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
2. ^ "Le Mans battlefield" (faz.net on June 14, 2005)
3. ↑ Anecdotal fact mentioned in “Fangio & Mercedes Benz - Alliance of the Best”, Hartmut Lehbrin, Heel-Verlag, text in German and English, 192 pages, 200 illustrations, ISBN 978-3-86852-551-9
4. ↑ Anecdotal fact mentioned on Eurosport. https://www.eurosport.fr/formule-1/les-petites-histoires-de-la-f1-fangio-ferrari-bravoure-le-temps-des-pionniers-1950-1965_sto4167883/story.shtml
5. ↑ Anecdotal fact mentioned by the Franco-Argentine Chamber of Commerce https://ccfa.fr/antibrouillard/balcarce-un-musee-pour-juan-manuel-fangio-au-bout-du-monde/
6. ↑ Since 2015, the FIA ​​has decided to introduce a new rule in Formula 1: Drivers must be at least 18 years old and have passed their driving license.