F1 remembers Fangio at 100th anniversary

DPA/Berlin

A file picture dated 04 August 1957 shows Argentinian Formula One driver Juan Manuel Fangio (C) celebrating on the podium after winning the Formula One Grand Prix of Germany to become Formula One world champion for the fifth time after 1951 and 1954 to 1956 on the Nuerburgring circuit near Nuerburg, Germany

Michael Schumacher shed a few tears when he matched Juan Manuel Fangio’s five Formula One world titles in 2002, but at the same time he was well aware that their achievements can not really be compared. “I can never reach what he achieved then,” said Schumacher when he reached the milestone at the French Grand Prix. Schumacher went on to eclipse Fangio’s mark with a tally of seven titles, but the Argentinian, who would have turned 100 today, June 24, remains an icon on the sport. Fangio won his world titles 1951 and 1954-1957 for four teams, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Maserati and Ferrari. He competed in 51 Grands Prix, winning 24 races and claiming 28 pole positions. The clinching of the final world title, at age 46, epitomises the career of Fangio, a car mechanic who started racing in South America back in 1936 in a borrowed Ford T. At the German Grand Prix on August 4, 1957, Fangio did what was all but unheard of at the time, pitting for fuel at the Nuerburgring. The pit stop did not go well and Fangio fell almost two minutes behind the Ferraris of Peter Collins und Mike Hawthorn. But Fangio then smashed the track records to win the race after all. Fangio agreed that he drove “in a state of grace,” and that experience may have played a role as well in his decision to retire two races into the 1958 campaign. “I didn’t have to prove anything to myself and the world anymore.  I was satisfied and felt at the same time that it was time for me (to quit),” he said. A museum in Balcarce, where he was born on June 24, 1911, as one of six children of Italian immigrants, commemorates the national idol who died on July 17, 1995, of a kidney illness. He maintained a special relationship with Italy by winning titles for Alfa Romeo, Ferrari and Maserati, with Maserati standing out. “I always had a special relationship with Maserati. Not only were they safe and reliable cars, always on the cutting edge of technology, but there was friendship and a special atmosphere there.  I felt at home,” he said. But Fangio also maintained a special relationship with Mercedes, in whose silver arrows he won two titles 1854 and 1955, working as a representative of the German company in Argentina after his racing career. Fangio would be pleased to know that he remains an F1 idol as the affection of the fans never bothered him. “I don’t consider the affection of my countrymen and others a burdon, but rather as praise for good performances,” he said.