Juan Manuel Fangio was the first racer to dominate the first decade of Formula One, which was inaugurated in 1950 at the Silverstone racing circuit
An Argentinian by birth, Juan Manuel Fangio was born in 1911. During his childhood, he dropped his studies to pursue all and everything about automobiles. Nicknamed El Chueco and El Maestro, Fangio began his racing career with the Turismo Carretera in 1938 in a Ford V8. In 1940, he won the Grand Prix International Championship with Chevrolet and ventured into the world of Formula One where he won five world championship titles with four different teams; a record that has not been matched to date. That’s not all, as his record of winning five world championship titles remained intact for 46 long years until German racer Michael Schumacher picked up a sixth and then a seventh Formula One world championship title.
After retiring from Formula One, Fangio accepted the role of the President at Mercedes-Benz (Argentina) in 1987. In 1995, the renowned racer left for his heavenly abode, living behind a legacy in the world of motorsports. As a tribute to Fangio, we’ve listed some of his best quotes in this article.
“You must always strive to be the best, but you must never believe that you are.”
“You need great passion, because everything you do with great pleasure, you do well.”
“Everything has changed. When I was at school and was told I had better learn English, I said: What for? The English are a hell of a long way away!”
“Driving fast on the track does not scare me. What scares me is when I drive on the highway, I get passed by some idiot who thinks he is Fangio.”
“Never think of your car as a cold machine, but as a hot-blooded horse.”
“Before going into the army, one thinks that one is a God. In the army, you realized that you were nothing more than a number, a small cog.”
“There are those who keep out of mischief, and there are the adventurers. We racing drivers are adventurers; the more difficult something is, the greater the attraction that comes from it.”
“A crazy man finishes in the cemetery.”
“Women rule our lives, don’t they?”
“When I first came out of Argentina to Europe, the flight took 36 hours. Now it takes 12 hours, and the world is still shrinking.”
