Juan Manuel Fangio

Juan Manuel Fangio (June 24, 1911 - July 17, 1995) was a legendary race car driver. The Argentine often referred to as The Maestro, dominated the first decade of Formula One. According to the official Formula One website, he is considered by many to be the greatest Formula One driver of all time. He won five world championship titles with four completely different teams - Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Maserati, a feat that has not been repeated since. After surpassing Fangio's long standing record for total number of World Championship titles, Michael Schumacher said - "Fangio is on a level much higher than I see myself. What he did stands alone and what we have achieved is also unique. I have such respect for what he achieved. You can't take a personality like Fangio and compare him with what has happened today. There is not even the slightest comparison."

Early life
He was born in Balcarce, Argentina to Italian parents from the small central Italian village of Castiglione Messer Marino, near Chieti. He began his racing career in Argentina in 1934, mostly in long distance road races and he was Argentine National Champion in 1940 and 1941. The outbreak of World War II halted his rise, and he could not begin racing in Europe until 1947.

Formula 1
Juan Manuel Fangio, unlike most later Formula One drivers, started his racing career at a mature age and was the oldest driver in many of his races. During his career, drivers raced almost without protective equipment. The notable rivals he had to face consisted of the likes of Alberto Ascari, Giuseppe Farina and Stirling Moss.

Later drivers, like Jim Clark, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher all, in their time, had comparisons drawn to Fangio. However, it is generally acknowledged that such comparisons are not realistic, given driver qualities required for successs and competition levels have varied with time in this sport. Additionally, the rules have varied incredibly. In Fangio's era, for example, drivers could actually use multiple cars in the very same race.

Initially Fangio was not particularly successful until racing an Alfa Romeo in 1950. He finished second in the world championship in 1950 and won his first title in 1951. He was competing well in 1952 in a Maserati until a serious accident at Monza, Italy ended his season with a neck injury. Fangio soon returned to win La Carrera Panamericana, the 2000-mile Mexican road race the following year in a Lancia D24. In 1954 he raced with Maserati until Mercedes-Benz entered competition in mid-season. Winning eight out of twelve races (six out of eight in the championship) in that year, he continued to race again with Mercedes—driving the superb W196 Monoposto—in 1955 (in a dream team that included Stirling Moss). At the end of the second successful season (which was overshadowed by the 1955 Le Mans disaster in which 81 spectators were killed) Mercedes withdrew from racing.

In 1956 Fangio moved to Ferrari, replacing Alberto Ascari who had been killed in an accident, to win his fourth title. He finished first in three races and second in all the other championship races. In 1957 he returned to Maserati and won his fifth title, notable for an extraordinary performance to secure his final win at the Nürburgring in Germany. After his series of back-to-back championships he retired in 1958, following the French Grand Prix. He won 24 Grand Prix in 51 starts (the best winning percentage in the sport's history).

Cuban rebels kidnapped him on February 23, 1958 but he was later freed.

During the rest of his life, Fangio represented Mercedes-Benz, often driving his former race cars in demonstration laps. In 1990, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame. Juan Manuel Fangio died in Buenos Aires in 1995, at the age of 84. He was interred in the cemetery of his home town Balcarce in Argentina.

His nephew, Juan Manuel Fangio II, was also a successful racing driver.

In 2005, the Zonda 2005 C12 F was named after him due to the endorsement from Fangio for Pagani.