#1 · Alfa Romeo / Mercedes / Ferrari / Maserati
Juan Manuel Fangio
Five-time World Champion (1951, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957) — at four different constructors. The original GOAT; the standard against which the 1950s and 60s drivers measured themselves.
24
Race wins
35
Podiums
29
Pole positions
5
Championships
Why he matters
Fangio’s five championships in eight active F1 seasons remain a per-season win rate higher than any modern champion’s. He won titles for Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Ferrari, and Maserati — the only driver to ever win the championship at four different constructors.
His era is barely comparable to modern F1. Cars had no seatbelts. Tracks had no run-off. Drivers died regularly. Fangio survived a near-fatal accident at Monza in 1952 and came back the following year to win two more championships.
How he drove
Smooth, exact, calculating. His famous quote: “You must always strive to be the best, but you must never believe that you are.” He drove with the patience of a chess player and the precision of a metronome.
Why to remember him
- The 1957 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring — at age 46, he came back from a 51-second deficit after a slow pit stop, broke the lap record nine times in a row, won by 3 seconds. The single greatest drive in F1 history per most historians.
- His relationship with the cars: he insisted on knowing every component of every car he raced, decades before that was normal.
- Argentina’s national hero. The Fangio museum in his hometown is one of the most-visited motorsport sites in South America.