Juan Manuel Fangio

Born in Balcarce, not far from Mar del Plata, this Argentinian began an apprenticeship as a locksmith at the age of 13 and came into contact with racing cars for the first time. From the very beginning, he was enthusiastic about automotive technology, learned the technical interrelationships from scratch and deepened his knowledge more and more. Even before the Second World War, he competed in rallies in South America. In October 1948, he crashed his Chevrolet Coupé on the seventh stage of the Vuelta a la América del Sur, which covered more than 9500 km from Buenos Aires to Caracas. His co-driver Daniel Urrutia, also from Balcarce, was killed, and Fangio decided to race alone from then on.

in 1949, the Argentinian went to Europe and caused a sensation there with a commanding victory in his very first race, the Gran Premio di San Remo. He was signed by Maserati and went on to win four more Grand Prix races in quick succession. For the 1950 season, in which the Drivers' World Championship was held for the first time, Fangio switched to Alfa Romeo and was runner-up with three victories behind Guiseppe Farina. In 1951, he became World Champion for the first time in an Alfa Romeo.

After the Milanese brand's surprise withdrawal and a change in the regulations, which now adopted the technical rules of Formula 2, Fangio relied on Maserati, but the new racing car was not ready in time. Fangio then drove two races outside the World Championship standings with a British BRM, but failed to finish either time.

At the Monza Grand Prix – a Formula 2 World Championship race for which he had a Maserati at his disposal – the Argentinian had a serious accident and subsequently had to recover from a spinal injury. In the 1953 season, Fangio again raced in a Maserati, but after one victory, three second places and four retirements he had to admit defeat to Alberto Ascari in Ferrari, finishing runner-up in the World Championship for the second time. In November 1953, he won the gruelling Carrera Panamericana in Mexico in a Lancia.

So the Argentinian was already a famous racing driver when he joined the Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 team in 1954. The first contacts between Mercedes-Benz and the racing driver, who had been active since 1934, date back to 1951. "El Chueco" (the bow-legged one), the Argentinian-born driver's nickname, started with a pre-war Silver Arrow W 154 in his home country and fought his way to a respectable third place. Mercedes-Benz racing director Alfred Neubauer was enthusiastic about the South American driver and included Juan Manuel Fangio firmly in his plans for the future.

Consequently, he became the top driver for Mercedes-Benz's re-entry into Formula 1 after the Second World War. As the Mercedes-Benz W 196 R racing car was not ready for action until the beginning of July, Fangio completed the Argentine and Belgian Grand Prix on Maserati in order not to maximise his chances of winning the Formula 1 World Championship drivers' title. He won both races and also took victory in the very first race with the new Mercedes-Benz streamlined racing car, the French Grand Prix in Reims, which was followed by three more – two of them in the variant with free-standing wheels. At the end of the season, he brought new glory to the brand with the star – but also to himself: He was crowned Formula 1 World Champion for the second time.

In the following season, Juan Manuel Fangio was able to defend his World Championship title in the Silver Arrow W 196 R with four victories in a total of seven races. He also played an important role in the World Sports Car Championship, where he was very successful in the 300 SLR racing car. Although his team-mate Stirling Moss came out on top, Fangio's three second places earned him important points for the Constructors' Championship. In addition, he also won the Eifel race, in the 300 SLR, which did not count as a World Championship race.

After Mercedes-Benz withdrew from Formula 1 and the World Sports Car Championship, the Argentinian first switched to Ferrari and then to Maserati in 1957. In both years, he succeeded in winning the Formula 1 World Championship again. After Maserati pulled out for financial reasons, Fangio only competed twice in 1958 in a privately entered Maserati, but it was no longer capable of winning due to a lack of further development. This is how he ended his impressive motorsport career in 1958, during which he won a total of five Formula 1 World Championship titles – a track record that was only surpassed by Michael Schumacher in 2003.

Fangio showed a special talent with his gentle driving style, with which he not only kept the load on the car within limits, but also usually had the lowest fuel and oil consumption within his team. The five-time World Champion only ever drove as fast as it took to win. Juan-Manuel Fangio ran an agency for Mercedes-Benz vehicles in Buenos Aires from the mid-1950s and became President of Mercedes-Benz Argentina S.A. in 1974. In July 1995, the outstanding driving personality, who had been considered an Argentine national hero for many years, died in Buenos Aires at the age of 84.