Recently on a flight home from the beautiful city of Athens, Greece, I decided to watch a documentary that had been sitting in my Netflix downloads for some time - A Life of Speed: The Juan Manuel Fangio Story.
Now, I've been into motorsport and Formula One since a young age, so of course, names like Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clarke and Alberto Ascari, just to name a small handful, are familiar to me. But never have I truly delved into the deeper depths of Formula One history. This documentary was an eye opener, and gave me a whole new appreciation for those early decades of Formula One and how the sport has transpired into what it has today.
Juan Manuel Fangio started his racing career racing in local events in his hometown of Balcarce in Argentina, with a 1929 Ford Model A that he had rebuilt. Over the years, Fangio impressed the motor racing community in his home country, eventually being sent to Europe to compete, with a Maserati in tow. The Argentine would line up on the grid of the first ever Formula One race in 1950, before continuing in the series for several years. Despite being the oldest driver in the majority of his F1 races, Fangio battled through the physical and mental challenges of 1950's F1 to win the championship five times - in 1951, 54, 55, 56 and 57. He would go onto retire after the French Grand Prix of 1958, declaring to his team that "it is finished."
Fangio's F1 stats are very much impressive, even more so when the challenges of 1950's F1 are put into consideration. But regardless, since his retirement in 1958, Formula One has gone onto produce a range of different world champions and drivers who have crushed long standing records; some being Fangio's own. So, what really is it that makes Fangio so... special? When, as already established, in terms of success, other drivers in modern day F1 have gone onto to achieve bigger things.
One of the more interesting aspects of this Netflix documentary, which is better than Drive to Survive might I add, is a piece of research that was conducted by The University of Sheffield's Dr Andrew Bell, in which he used different F1 statics and analysis to figure out who may be the greatest driver in F1 history. This piece of research was focused on quite heavily during the course of the documentary and there's no prize for guessing who takes the top spot. Juan Manuel Fangio. This interesting read puts Fangio way above the likes of Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton, both of whom are the only drivers to have won more championships than Fangio himself, and both of whom barely make the top ten on Dr Bell's list. Intriguing, isn't it? But, maybe we needn't be so surprised. After all, in terms of percentages and ratios, his records were pretty immense, with a likelihood of never being beaten. You can read this piece of research in depth here.
"What he did in his time is something that was an example of professionalism, of courage, of style, and as a man, a human being. Every year there is a winner of the championship, but not necessarily a world champion. I think Fangio is the example of a true world champion." - Ayrton Senna
But back in the real world, the honest reality is that comparing drivers from the 1950's to drivers from today is a relatively impossible task. All you need to do is look at how much the sport has evolved in it's 70-odd years. Could Fangio win five championships in today's era? Could Max Verstappen do it in 1950? These are interesting thoughts to consider, for sure.
Despite this, with decades and decades passed since the 1950's, there really is no surprise to see Fangio's name still lighting up the subjective lists of F1 records. And, what about his memorable win at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in 1957? Pit stops were slow in the 1950's. But, slow pit stops were slower, and because of one Fangio came from nearly two minutes down on his rivals, catching and overtaking them, eventually winning the race. It was in this race he broke the lap record an astonishing NINE times!
But, do we really need to be wasting our time debating and researching - using scientific evidence, to work out who is the greatest driver in F1 history? The ever raging debate will continue on for infinity I'm sure. Even if we stop debating on this matter, achievements, such as Fangio's, should continue to be celebrated. They are pivotal moments in our sport's history, after all. Regardless, there is no denying, what Fangio achieved back in the yonder days is mesmerising and maybe watching this documentary will make people appreciate them and our sport's history the way it should be. At the end of the day, there are plenty of great drivers in Formula One, including the man of this post - Juan Manuel Fangio.
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