This August, Juan Manuel Fangio is joining the F1® Clash roster of legends for the very first time, giving players an opportunity to emulate one of the greatest drivers to ever sit at the wheel of a race car. Fangio is the second Argentinian in the game, along with current Alpine star Franco Colapinto, who was recently included as a special edition in our Paddock Picks collection.

Juan Manuel Fangio

Born in Balcarce, Argentina in 1911, El Chuecho (literally ‘the bandy-legged one’ for his bowed legs as a youth) was not born into wealth like many of his F1® contemporaries. The Fangios were a working-class family, with his father a stonemason and his mother a housekeeper. But when a young Juan became a mechanic and was tasked with driving waste to a nearby scrapyard - a novelty in rural Argentina at the time - the seed of speed was sown.

He spent his youth honing his craft as a mechanic, taking part in sporadic local races and repairing cars that came into his workshop. Then, at the age of 27, Fangio began entering long-distance cross-country races across South America that were as popular as they were dangerous, testing a driver’s stamina, improvisation and mechanical ability every bit as much as their driving talent. Fangio excelled in these long-form races, winning the Gran Premio Internacional del Norte in 1940, a race that covered a staggering 5,868 miles, cementing his status as a local legend in the process. 

(Image courtesy of the Juan Manuel Fangio Museum (@museo_fangio) and Peter Nygaard / Grand Prix™ Photo (@peternygaardf1))

After years spent establishing himself as one of the premier racers in Argentina, Fangio eventually made the transition across the Atlantic, although it wasn’t until 1948, when he was 37, that El Chueco finally got a chance to experience European racing firsthand, when many thought his best years were behind him.

He proved any doubters wrong in 1950, when he finished second in the inaugural Formula 1 season, following that up a year later by claiming the first of his five championship wins, driving for Alfa Romeo.

In the blizzard of success that followed, Fangio finished either first or second in seven consecutive F1 seasons, including a run of four championship wins in a row between 1954 and 1957. Fangio’s triumphs in the 50s were made all the more remarkable because they came with four different teams: Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes and Ferrari, a record that has not been broken to this day.

While Fangio was a fierce competitor who was willing to stretch both his body and his car to the limit during a race, the Argentine was quiet and understated off the track, with a magnetic appeal that made him incredibly popular with trackside fans and visiting dignitaries alike. The unassuming Argentine even got a laugh out of King George VI ahead of a Silverstone Grand Prix™ without speaking a word of English, such was his appeal.

His charisma was never more evident than in 1958 when he was kidnapped at gunpoint by a group of Cuban revolutionaries while attending a race on the island nation. He charmed his captors, who were in awe of the legendary driver, and they spent the day listening to the race he was supposed to be driving in on the radio together, before they released him without a scratch the following day.

Fangio was beloved by his fellow drivers, too. Legendary Briton Sir Stirling Moss, to whom Fangio was a mentor, came to call the great man El Maestro, high praise from someone as talented as Moss.

By the time he retired in 1958, Fangio had solidified his reputation as one of the greatest drivers of all time, winning a staggering 47 per cent of the Grand Prix he entered. For context, modern-day great Max Verstappen has won a comparatively meagre 29 per cent of his.

Career Highlights

Fangio’s list of career achievements can be held up against any modern-day drivers. Five world championships (third all time behind Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher), the only driver to win a championship with four different manufacturers and an immense 47% win percentage in Grand Prix, a record that seems impossible to better.

Fangio set a blistering array of lap records at a time when a driver’s safety was far from guaranteed, willing to risk it all in pursuit of victory. His ability to nurse limping cars to the chequered flag, a skill he doubtlessly learned from his marathon race exploits back in Argentina, meant that Fangio finished the vast majority of races he entered, not something to be taken for granted in an era of immensely unreliable cars.

Fangio in F1® Clash

Juan Manuel Fangio’s card in F1® Clash exemplifies his best qualities as a driver. While he’s strong in all categories, he particularly excels in qualifying and overtaking. Players lucky enough to obtain Fangio in select crates can expect to dominate right through Champions Tier events.

Base stats:

Overtaking: 76

Defending: 67

Tyre Management: 73

Qualifying: 79

Race Start: 70

Max stats:

Overtaking: 103

Defending: 94

Tyre Management: 100

Qualifying: 100

Race Start: 97

Play Now and Add Juan Manuel Fangio to your Roster!

The Museum

Balcarce is now home to the Juan Manuel Fangio Museum. It houses a range of notable Fangio paraphernalia, including a replica of the legendary Mercedes-Benz W196, in which El Maestro won two of his championships, along with an array of the historic vehicles that Fangio deployed in his long-distance triumphs.

Any fans of Formula 1’s earliest years who find themselves in Argentina should definitely visit to view a massive array of racing paraphernalia, including Fangio’s iconic racing gear, his Copa FIA trophies and the original signed 1951 FIA World Championship diploma, awarded for El Maestro’s first championship win.

Purchase tickets here.

If you ever find yourself in Balcarce, it's a stop no F1 fan should skip. Take a glimpse of their collection:

Exterior of the Museo Fangio in Balcarce, Argentina (Image courtesy of the Juan Manuel Fangio Museum (@museo_fangio))

Fangio's Driving Equipment (Image courtesy of the Juan Manuel Fangio Museum (@museo_fangio) and Peter Nygaard / Grand Prix Photo (@peternygaardf1))

Mercedes-Benz W196

(Image courtesy of the Juan Manuel Fangio Museum (@museo_fangio))

Historic 1957 photos of Fangio in action

(Image courtesy of the Juan Manuel Fangio Museum (@museo_fangio) and Peter Nygaard / Grand Prix Photo (@peternygaardf1))

Fangio's 1951 FIA World Drivers' Championship trophy

(Image courtesy of the Juan Manuel Fangio Museum (@museo_fangio))

This is the steering wheel from Juan Manuel Fangio's 1951 Alfa Romeo 159, the car in which he won his first Formula One World Championship.

(Image courtesy of the Juan Manuel Fangio Museum (@museo_fangio))

FIA certificate awarded to Juan Manuel Fangio for winning the 1951 Formula One World Championship (second Championship ever held)

(Image courtesy of the Juan Manuel Fangio Museum (@museo_fangio))