Juan Manuel Fangio
Juan Manuel Fangio is widely considered the greatest driver in the history of motorsport. He won five world championships in eight seasons across four different constructors — something that has never been equalled. He was kidnapped by Cuban revolutionaries during the 1958 Havana Grand Prix, survived, and later said it was an interesting experience.
6 Things You Might Not Know
On the eve of the 1958 Cuban Grand Prix, Fangio was kidnapped from his Havana hotel by members of the 26th of July Movement, Fidel Castro's revolutionary organisation. He was held overnight and treated cordially — his captors wanted the propaganda value of embarrassing the Batista government, not to harm Fangio. He was released the next day. He later said the revolutionaries were decent people and that he bore them no ill will. The kidnapping is one of the strangest footnotes in sports history.
Fangio's victory at the 1957 German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring is analysed in racing books as possibly the most perfect competitive drive ever completed. After a slow pit stop dropped him 45 seconds behind the leaders, Fangio — aged 46, the oldest man ever to win a world championship — drove the final laps at a pace that broke the lap record on almost every circuit, catching and passing both leaders in the closing stages. He himself called it his greatest drive.
Fangio won world championships with Alfa Romeo (1951), Mercedes-Benz (1954, 1955), Ferrari (1956), and Maserati (1957). Moving between manufacturers mid-career was unusual, and doing it successfully enough to win with all four is extraordinary. He was courted by the best teams in the sport throughout his career and chose his machinery with strategic precision.
Despite being one of the most famous athletes in the world during his career, Fangio returned to Argentina after retiring and lived a relatively unpretentious life in Buenos Aires and his hometown of Balcarce. He ran a Mercedes-Benz dealership for many years. The contrast between his global status and his personal modesty is frequently noted by biographers.
Fangio never married, and for most of his life it was understood that he had no children. After his death in 1995, DNA testing established that he had fathered at least one child. Fangio had maintained longstanding relationships throughout his life — particularly with Andreína 'Beba' Berruet, with whom he was associated for decades — but chose not to formalise these through marriage.
Before his racing career, Fangio worked as a mechanic in Argentina and built a deep understanding of how cars functioned from the ground up. This mechanical knowledge informed his driving career — he was known for his ability to feel what a car was telling him and adjust his driving accordingly. He drove his first race in 1936 in an old car he and his colleagues had repaired themselves.