F1 Champions: Juan Manual Fangio

Juan Manual Fangio was second driver to add his name to the list of F1 world champions, claiming his first title in 1951, winning three of the eight races that season.

 

Born in Balcarce, Argentina in 1911, Fangio started work as a mechanic at an early age, spending nearly four decades in the trade. Fangio began his racing career in 1934, driving a 1929 Ford Model A that he had rebuilt.

 

Fangio won the 1940 and 1941 Argentine National Championship, before he would begin his racing career in Europe in 1948, funded by the Argentine Automobile Club. Being 36 at the start of his career in Grand Prix racing, Fangio was recognised as the ‘old man’ on the grid, with most his challengers being near half of his age. Despite his old age, Fangio has one of the most impressive careers in Formula One, spanning over 7 seasons, having missed one season following a fatal accident.

 

Fangio won his maiden title in 1951, followed by 4 more from 1954 – 1957, with 5 titles he held the record for 46 years before it was broken by Micheal Schumacher in 2003. While the Argentine no longer holds the most titles, he remains the only driver to win multiple titles with 4 constructors, including Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes and Ferrari.

 

Having faces very few accidents in his career, Fangio was a driver of high talent and control. Fangio, however, did face a serious accident as a result of impaired judgement caused by extreme fatigue following an all-nigh drive in 1952 following a pre-season, non-championship race in Monza. In a heavy collision, Fangio suffered a broken neck which left him with a permanent stiff torso. With no other choice, Fangio was forced to sit out the 1952 season.

 

Fangio was a highly respected driver off track, with his former rival and Mercedes teammate, Sterling Moss, commenting “most of us who driver quickly were bastards”, Moss couldn’t however say the same for Fangio sharing “But I can’t think of only facets of Juan’s character which one wouldn’t like to have in one’s own”. Known to be generous, humble and a true gentleman, Fangio would credit these traits to his parents and his upbringing.

 

1958 marked the end of Fangio’s career in motorsport but would also be the year he would become even more of an international celebrity following his kidnapping.

 

On the eve of the 1958 Cuban GP, Fangio was held at gun point by a member of the socialist revolutionary 26th of July movement. Fangio had previously won at the track in 1957, while driving a Maserati 300S. The group had no intent of harming Fangio, but hoped to gain worldwide attention to their cause by kidnapping an international motorsport celebrity. Fangio reportedly was treated like a king over the course of his kidnapping, beginning with a meal of steak and potatoes before being taken to a well-furnished apartment where he would be sleeping like a ‘blessed one’.

 

Despite the kidnapping, the race would still go on the next day. The race would be won that saw the death of 7 spectators, with 40 injured following the loss of control of Cifuentes Ferrari after sliding on the oil leak from one of the Porsche’s, hitting a kerb before flying into the sea of people. Cifuentes would later be charged for manslaughter, while fighting for his life in hospital.

 

In a bizarre race, Moss would take the win.

 

Soon after the race, Fangio was handed to the Argentine Embassy, with criminal charges filed against ‘person or persons unknown’ for kidnapping the 5-time world champion. By New Years Eve 1958, Castro’s revolution would be successful allowing Cuba to become a race location once again in 1960.