“I never thought I could win this race”; German GP 1957

The 1957 German Grand Prix is regarded as being one of the greatest races in the history of F1. Fangio made a remarkable recovery from a disastrous pit stop, which would lead to him taking a record breaking 5th title.

In the 8th race of the season, driving a Maserati 250F, Fangio faced the Ferrari’s and Vanwall’s along with his teammate Jean Behra. The BRM team withdrawing from the race due to a ‘driver shortage’.

During a practice session, the Maserati team decided the wear rate of the Pirelli tyres were too high to make it to the chequered flag. In response to this team manager, Nello Ugolini and chief mechanic Guerino Bertocchi proposed the strategy, which would involve Fangio starting with a light fuel load and coming in halfway through the race to refuel and change tyres. The mechanics were convinced they could refuel and change the tyres in 30 seconds.

Fangio started the race on pole, with both Ferrari’s running a traditional no stop strategy. The Vanwall’s lost pace on the bump of the Nürburgring, Stirling Moss was quotes saying “the Vanwall’s taut suspension was totally unsuitable for Nürburgring”.

On the 12th lap of the race Fangio came into the pits with a 28 second lead over the Ferrari’s, allowing Collins to inherit the lead. During the stop, Fangio stepped out the car for new goggles, while the mechanics faced a challenge when changing the tyres. The stop ended up being 55 seconds instead of the intended 30 seconds.

Fangio re-entered the track “30 seconds plus another 48 seconds” behind the Ferrari’s, Fangio told Autosport in a podcast back in 2020.

As Fangio re-entered the track, he phases no threat to the Ferraris, as the laps went on Fangio recovered by over 14 seconds on lap 15. Unaware of Maserati’s strategy, Maserati were able to lead Ferrari into a false confidence before any driver could be notified of Fangio’s progression.

Long laps gave Fangio an advantage as he was able up to make up significant time on each lap, Fangio ended up breaking a lap record on lap 18, setting a time of 9 minutes 17.4 seconds, which he would go on to break multiple times.

By lap 21, Fangio had passed Collins at the Norakurve before catching Hawthorn at Breidschield for the lead of the race. Breidschield went into the final lap 3 seconds behind Fangio, eventually losing another second through the lap, allowing Fangio to take the win in an astonishing race.

The 1957 German Grand Prix would become Fangio’s last race win, as he completed the season finishing second at the Italian and Pescara Grand Prix. Fangio finished the season with a record breaking fifth title before he would make the decision to retire from the sport at the age of 46.

In an podcast with Autosport titled ‘Juan Manuel Fangio's Race of My Life’, Fangio admitted “I never thought I could win the race. I risked for the first time in my life.”