The 10 best ever wins in Formula 1

Formula 1 drivers are an exceptional lot. Today’s racers are among the fittest men on the planet, whilst the yesteryear heroes were the bravest. We may find one driver’s a bit slow, one is mesmerising-ly quick, we see that some are erratic, some are incredibly consistent, some talents are fulfilled and some are not, but the fact remains that the best driver on the grid is separated from the (apparently) worst by a wafer thin margin. And so we might think that the drivers are equal, and its the car and the circumstances that make the difference.

But every now and then, there comes a day when a bloke proves every single one of us utterly wrong. Just completely messes up every prediction, makes a mockery of all the ‘expert opinions’ and gives us fans an unforgettable day of motor racing. The drivers who pulled off such feats attain immortality in the world of Formula 1. Those are the drives that we remember with warmth in the heart and a knowing smile.

Here is my personal compilation of what I think are the 10 greatest wins in Formula 1 history. The strange part is that while compiling this list, I found several some spectacular performances that weren’t able to secure victory due to reasons beyond the driver’s control and some amazing drives to point-scoring finishes. So there’s definitely a “10 Best Drives” list and maybe a “10 greatest wins that got-away” to come in the near future. In the meantime, here are the 10 best wins according to me.

10. Kimi Raikkonen at the 2004 Belgian GP

The 2004 F1 season is remembered for Michael Schumacher’s utter dominance more than anything else. After a closely fought 2003 season where Kimi Raikkonen harried the long-standing champion all the way to the final round in Suzuka, it was reasonable to expect that F1’s newest star would take over the mantle in 2004. It was not to be. Despite Ferrari’s F2004 looking like a modified F2003-GA, the car was utterly invincible – fastest in every circuit and not a hint of a reliability issue – in stark contrast to Mclaren. The Scuderia wrapped up the Constructor’s title as early as the Hungarian GP in mid-August by which time Michael had won 12 of the 13 races and was looking unbeatable.

To rub it in further, Schumacher’s only rival for the Driver’s title going to Spa was his own team mate Rubens Barrichello, and all he needed to do was get two more points than the Brazilian to put an end to the title fight. In the practice sessions it was apparent that the Michelins were way too soft for a normal 16 lap stint, but were ferociously quick in the first few laps – when the Bridgestone runners were struggling to get heat into their tyres. Despite that, the Ferraris were well ahead in the practice sessions, and a Red 1-2 looked likely. But F1’s self-styled Iceman had other ideas.

In qualifying, Renault were a surprise 1-3, with the Ferraris right behind, and Kimi was only 10th. Nevertheless, we know a wet weekend at Spa renders qualifying redundant. True to form, La Source at the start sparked the usual chaos. Four cars retired and six needed repairs. Kimi was hit by Massa at the start but he escaped serious damage and was running fifth behind the safety car.

The Bridgestone issues bogged down Michael at the restart and Kimi was magnificent, getting a run out of Eau Rouge and sweeping past. As if to show that the tyres weren’t really an issue, he nailed his team mate Coulthard immediately and went after the two Renaults. As he closed in, the French cars saved him the trouble, with Alonso retiring with an oil leak and Trulli diving into the pits after just 10 laps. Kimi though, now had a new problem, with the car behaving erratically on downshifts. But Michael had been passed by Montoya and we were happy for Kimi to take a well deserved victory when Button’s high speed tyre failure and subsequent crash with Baumgartner’s Minardi brought out the safety car. This gave Schumacher a free pitstop and he came out right behind the Mclaren, negating its 13 sec lead. It seemed as though Michael’s legendary luck was going to ruin Raikkonen’s day, but we had underestimated the youngster.

Displaying a terrific presence of mind, Kimi brought the pack to a near halt several times before the restart, thus ensuring that Michael’s tyres cooled down. He launched into the distance while the soon-to-be world champion struggled to get heat into the tyres and maintained a three second lead over his rival. Enough of testing the young gun, we yelled to the heavens, let him get on with it. As if to mock us, there came a third safety car period to stretch Kimi and Mclaren’s resurgence to the limit. Michael was on the back of the Mclaren again, with his world championship secure thanks to his being in front of Rubens, but this was Michael Schumacher, and he so badly wanted to wrap it up with a win at his favourite circuit, one which he has been the master of.

There were three laps to run. Kimi pulled the same trick again, much to Schumacher’s consternation, slowing the pack to a halt, cooling the Bridgestones, and then he was off, rocketing past the line, into Eau Rouge, leaving the Ferrari for dead. The 24 year old then drove a stonker of a pressure lap – the combined pressure of Spa and Schumacher is tremendous – and despite the downshift problem, he crossed the line in 1:45.104, setting a new lap record, a massive four-tenths faster than Michael’s fastest lap of the race. He crossed the line 3 sec ahead of a champion who knew he’d been beaten fair and square. And as such, he admitted it in the press conference – “Today”, the 7 times world champion said, “The better man won.” Praise doesn’t get any higher than that.

9. Lewis Hamilton at the 2007 Japanese GP

Lewis Hamilton came into Formula 1 on the back of impressive title wins in F3 and GP2. The world knew that this youngster was a spectacular racer with supreme confidence and racecraft.  But still F1 is a different ball game altogether. So on his debut, people talked about managing expectations and watching the rookie learn from his double world champion teammate. But Hamilton’s debut at Australia was a surprise to even his own fans – and a huge shock for Alonso. Not only did Alonso have to contend with a super-fast teammate, he also felt that the team wanted Hamilton to win more than him. His cage seriously rattled, Fernando found it difficult to keep a cool head and as a result, the rookie not only put himself strongly in contention for the championship, a hitherto unheard of feat, but also led the championship for most part of the season.

But the Spanish ace fought back, and as the season progressed, he closed the gap to just two points with three races to go. Kimi Raikkonen was closing in as well. With the double world champion breathing down his neck and the Iceman ready to pounce, the pressure on Lewis going into the Japanese GP was astronomical. Not only was he the youngest championship leader, he had been the most dominant. With the composure of a veteran, he beat Fernando to pole in Fuji’s 1976-like treacherous conditions.

Ferrari made a fool of themselves by putting their cars on intermediates at the start, apparently unaware of the order by the FIA to bolt on full wets. After 19 laps of the race being run under the safety car, the scarlet cars were at the back of the field. This made it a straight fight between Fernando and Lewis barring any other untowardly incidents. As the safety car went in, we knew it was going to be fight to the death between the champion and his rookie nemesis. But Lewis Hamilton didn’t put a foot wrong in conditions that were conducive to mistakes and accidents. He timed his stop to perfection, putting a gaggle of surviving mid-fielders between him and Alonso.

Alonso fought back, and started closing in on the sister Mclaren, pushing his car way beyond the limit. Then the world champion pushed it a touch too far, and went into the wall. Game over, or so we thought. Behind the safety car, here was Mark Webber, and the wonderkid Sebastian Vettel eager to get their first win. Sadly, that battle didn’t get started, with Vettel running into Webber in the atrocious conditions. And so it was upto Mclaren’s rookie to keep his car on the track and win the race. Despite Kimi coming through the field to take third, the day belonged to the young Brit. He was flawless in Fuji, and put in a brilliant drive. Against Fernando Alonso, against all expectations. A two-hour race in very, very wet and treacherous track conditions.

There has never been a rookie like Hamilton. 107 points from 15 starts, with the veterans on the ropes and struggling to stay in the fight. This is the stuff champions are made of.

8. Sebastian Vettel at the 2008 Italian GP

Sebastian Vettel’s name first popped up on the radar at Istanbul in 2006, when he emerged fastest of all in his very first F1 practice session. In 2007, he made his F1 debut to replace Kubica at BMW Sauber and became the youngest points scorer ever. The lanky German lad’s pace was never in doubt, and Toro Rosso signed up the latest young gun for the last leg of the season. Although Vettel’s crash into Webber at Japan remains a low point, his fourth place in Shanghai convinced everyone of his supreme talent.

In 2008, in his first full season of Formula 1, things didn’t start off so well, with four retirements in the first four seasons. He started picking up points regularly after that, and the Toro Rosso team made some excellent progress during the European leg of the season. It was obvious to see that Seb was making all the difference with his phenomenal pace, compared to his teammate Sebastian Bourdais. The No.15 STR-Ferrari was a regular sight behind the championship leaders, confirming that Seb was a star of the future.

At Monza, we had no idea that the Toro Rosso was quick, really quick, until qualifying. We knew that Seb had the goods to challenge for a win if his car was capable of a podium, but there wasn’t a soul in the old Autodromo expecting it to happen that day. Beaten only by the Mclaren of Kovalainen in Q1, Vettel emerged fastest in Q2, and blitzed everyone in Q3 to get both his and Toro Rosso’s first ever pole position. And lets not forget that Toro Rosso is essentially the Minardi team, hitherto the perennial backmarkers. We knew their boy was special, but this was a great moment for the sport. The youngest driver ever to score points was now F1’s youngest ever pole sitter as well.

But with a Mclaren alongside, we didn’t expect him to win the race, that was ludicrous. Come on, how could the ex-Minardi car hold back the mighty Mclaren? It just wasn’t possible. So we thought. On Sunday, Der Seb just launched into the lead and Kovalainen didn’t have a prayer of keeping up with the flying German. Such was the youngster’s pace that the Mclaren ended up more than 12 seconds behind the Toro Rosso. Under damp conditions, with next to no downforce, with no references for braking points, it was a stunning performance from a rookie. Pretty much everyone was delighted to see Seb win.

The best part of the race though was the celebration from the Toro Rosso team on the pitwall. The passionate men and women of the Minardi team have endured so many years of last place finishes, and their sheer joy at becoming a race winning team put a lump in my throat. The unsung heroes of Italy’s ‘other’ F1 team finally had their moment of glory. And a grinning, 21 year old rookie, showed the rest how its done. It was one of those days that made you fall in love with Formula 1 all over again.

7. Gille Villeneuve at the 1981 Spanish GP

Gille Villeneuve may not have achieved greatness in terms of numbers in his brief Formula 1 career, but he was the fastest and the most loved on and off the track. In the modern era, we have had a few gentlemanly drivers and a lot of drivers with incredible pace, such as Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher, etc. But Gilles was a rare exception – he was the most genuine and sporting driver on the track, and also mind numbingly fast. Breathtaking commitment, and an ability to drive a racing car way beyond its limit earned Gilles both respect and admiration from his colleagues.

Gilles is remembered for two of his performances. One was the epic duel with Rene Arnoux in the French Grand Prix of 1979, where the two men put on an unforgettable display of wheel-to-wheel racing. Those few laps have become immortal in the history of Grand Prix racing. The other was during practice for the East US Grand Prix in the same year. The track was wet and the conditions were so bad that only six drivers ventured out. One of them was his world champion teammate Jody Scheckter, who gave it everything he had, and was confident of being fastest. He was astounded to learn that Gilles had gone a scarcely believable eleven seconds quicker. It was an other-worldly performance and the rest of the drivers admitted that he was in a different league altogether.

There was one Gilles Villeneuve win though that has gone almost unnoticed. It was at the Spanish Grand Prix at Jarama in 1981, where he managed to keep a gaggle of much faster cars behind him till the chequered flag. Gilles qualified seventh, but scythed through the pack to take the lead despite being handicapped by his poorly designed Ferrari. The Ferrari engine was powerful though, and he used every horsepower it had to keep the faster cars following him at bay. The four cars behind tried everything they could to pass the ill-handling Ferrari, but Gilles drove brilliantly to defend the onslaught and held on for a well deserved win.

The designer of the Ferrari 126C, Harvey Postlethwaite himself admitted that the car was useless. He commented “That car…had literally one quarter of the downforce that, say Williams or Brabham had. It had a power advantage over the Cosworths for sure, but it also had massive throttle lag at that time. In terms of sheer ability I think Gilles was on a different plane to the other drivers. To win those races, the 1981 GPs at Monaco and Jarama — on tight circuits — was quite out of this world. I know how bad that car was.”

6. Jim Clark at the 1963 Belgian GP

Jim Clark was one of the greatest Grand Prix drivers ever to grace the track. The shy and gentle Scottish farmer had an incredible ability to push a car to the limit and beyond without appearing to be trying hard – and his sheer invincibility on the track coupled with his humility off it, made him one of the sport’s best loved champions. His pace was unarguable – he won more than a third of the races he contested in, and was on pole in almost half the races he started. Combined with the abilities of design genius Colin Chapman, the reluctant champion was beaten only when he had mechanical problems.

After several near misses, Lotus finally gave him a reliable car and Clark stormed to 7 wins en route to his second championship. In an era where flat-out driving and fatalities in racing were common, Jim Clark’s precision and controlled aggression on the track was unique. Jim was also deeply affected by the deaths of his colleagues, and almost decided to leave the sport on a number of occasions. He especially hated Spa for the number of lives it claimed, but he always produced a special drive at the Ardennes circuit. He won at Spa four times, and his best victory was in 1963.

Jim qualified eighth on the grid, but he started as if the others were in reverse. He took to the grass, held the car on full opposite lock, and raced past the field into the lead, into Eau Rouge. From then on, Jim Clark was in a league of his own. Despite heavy rain and fog, and the slippery track conditions, Jim drove out of his skin to lap everyone except Bruce Mclaren, whom he lead by 5 minutes. It was a stunning drive, partly because it was Spa, with all its intimidation and the lack of safety barriers, but mainly because of the sheer speed of the man in such treacherous conditions.

Great man, great circuit, great victory.

5. Jackie Stewart at the 1968 German GP

Sir Jackie Stewart is one of the sport’s most successful drivers – a three time world champion with 27 GP wins under his belt. But the Scottish racer has influenced the safety regulations of the sport unlike any other racing driver. He was a remarkable driver in the same mould as Jim Clark – he caressed the car rather than bullying it. He also demonstrated the traditional Scottish acumen in his intelligent approach to racing. It would’ve been interesting to see Jackie and Jim Clark battling at the height of their powers.

Like Jim before him, Jackie also had a unique ability to drive the car on the limit without appearing to try too hard. It was apparent especially when track conditions were poor, as Stewart seemed to win effortlessly while his rivals fell by the wayside. His greatest win came in 1968, at the daddy of all circuits – the Nurburgring. Back then, it was the 14 mile course that had claimed quite a few men over the years. Driving on this magnificent piece of tarmac built by the Weimar Republic is intimidating in the dry, but when it rained, it was truly terrifying.

The 1968 German Grand Prix took place on a soaking wet track, with near-zero visibility thanks to rain and fog. Sir Jackie, nursing a broken wrist, put his Matra-Cosworth 6th on the grid. At the start of the 14 lap race, he took the lead immediately and romped away to a nine second lead over Graham Hill at the end of the first lap. He was an unbelievable 34 seconds ahead of the Lotus driver when he completed the second lap. By the time he won the race, he was a stunning 4 minutes in front. One could say he was on the better-performing Dunlop tyres, but lets not forget that this was 1968, this was the Nurburgring, and the race was held in dangerous conditions. Sir Jackie Stewart won the race for one simple reason – he was the best driver out there by miles.

4. Michael Schumacher at the 1996 Spanish GP

The 1996 season was Schumacher’s first for Ferrari, and the sternest test of his resolve to bring back the glory days of the Scuderia. To put it simply, the car was crap. The F310 designed by John Barnard was no match for the phenomenal Williams-Renault cars, and didn’t have a prayer of winning the championship. In dry conditions, it was downright slow, it was unreliable and only Schumacher’s remarkable abilities prevented outright humiliation. But there were some days when the natural elements leveled the field, and allowed Michael’s talent free rein.

In qualifying, Michael was third behind the two Williams-Renaults. Damon Hill was a full second quicker than the Ferrari, but considering his massive car advantage, it didn’t surprise anyone. Schumacher himself admitted that the circuit was not compatible with his car, and he was never in the fight for pole. That was too kind to the car, considering that the F310 was hopeless on every circuit on the calendar. Everyone expected a Williams 1-2, with the rest scrabbling for the remaining podium place.

On Saturday afternoon rain began to fall on the Circuit de Catalunya, which became a torrential downpour on Sunday morning. As the rain continued to drench the track, and visibility got poorer and poorer, a safety car start was expected. But someone in Race Control decided a standing start was the way to go, and it proved to be a bonkers decision. The two Ferraris and Hill were slow away, but the top seven drivers made it safely into Turn 1 in a different order, with Schumacher at the tail. Behind them, chaos ensued, as the drivers couldn’t see their own front wings in these atrocious conditions. As the midfield runners played Bumper-karts for a while, we had know idea who was winning this smash-up thanks to the white cloud of spray covering the lot.

At the front, Irvine and Hill found it difficult to keep the car on the treacherous track and were soon off, leaving Michael to fight for third with Berger. Hill spun a few more times until he clunked into the wall and retired. The rainmeister then put the hammer down, and over the next seven laps, he imperiously drove past  Berger, Alesi and Villeneuve to take the lead with ridiculous ease. After taking the lead, the reigning world champion started to lap an incredible four seconds a lap faster than anyone else, the gap growing to almost 15 seconds in the next three laps.

 

Despite his engine behaving a bit erratically, down on power most of the time, he still pulled away from the rest as if they were standing. He was so quick that by the time he rejoined after his second pitstop he was a whole minute ahead of the others. He let it slide to 45 seconds at the finish, but it was a day when all Michael’s rivals could do was acknowledge defeat, and admit that the man was way beyond anyone else in Formula 1 at the moment. These are the races when the good racers are separated from the great ones.

3. Michael Schumacher at the 1998 Hungarian GP

Michael Schumacher arrived at the Hungaroring in 1998 with a considerable 16 point deficit to his arch rival Mika Hakkinen. Despite a purple patch midway through the season, Mclaren still had the edge over Ferrari and was gradually nudging the German driver out of championship contention. Schumacher knew he had to pull out something special at the Hungarian GP if he was to stay in the title race. His battle with Mika was complicated by the excellent performance of the Bridgestone tyres used by Mclaren.

Despite Michael giving it everything in qualifying, he was unable to beat the Mclaren drivers, who locked out the front row. His lap was impressive though, as he beat his teammate and Damon Hill who were on the softer Goodyear tyres, while he was using the hards. With overtaking next to impossible at the Hungaroring, the chances of Schumacher winning the race looked bleak. Mclaren were pretty confident going into the race.

At the start, the top three maintained positions, but Schumacher was all over Coulthard’s gearbox immediately. The pace of the Ferrari was a complication for Mclaren’s strategists. Was it pure pace or was Michael running a three-stop strategy to get himself out of sync with the two-stopping Mclarens? The men on the pitwall decided it was the latter, and waited for Schumacher to make his move, and revised their strategy to try to hold up the Ferrari in the crucial second and third stints. Michael put in some blisteringly quick laps during the second round of pitstops and managed to leapfrog the two Mclarens.

Even so, he still had one more pitstop to make, and with his Ferrari fueled to go only 19 more laps, it seemed as though Ross Brawn’s daring strategy hadn’t worked. But we forgot about the driver in question. Ross came on the radio and calmly said “You have 19 laps to build a 25 second lead.” Ross knew if there was one driver capable of pulling this one of, it had to be Michael. And then the man proceeded to show us all why Ferrari pay him 67,000 pounds every day. He drove a tremendous stint, 19 qualifying laps on the trot, lapping in the 1:19s, while Coulthard and Hakkinen couldn’t dip below the 1:21s. By the time he made his stop, he was 29 seconds ahead, allowing him to rejoin 5 seconds ahead of Coulthard.

Hakkinen had problems, but it didn’t matter. No one could’ve beaten Michael Schumacher that day. Mclaren knew they were beaten by a raw, supernatural talent. That the race was lost purely because of Michael’s other-worldly driving abilities. Ross Brawn’s bold strategy could not have worked with any other driver. Michael rose to the occasion – and delivered. And it remains his best win till date. It is the sort of awe-inspiring drive that you see once in a lifetime. It is the stuff of legends.

2. Ayrton Senna at the 1993 European GP

Ayrton Senna is probably the single most revered driver in the history of Formula 1. He was not a gentleman on the track, but his immense pace, awesome commitment, and supreme car control on track coupled with his magnetic personality, eloquence, and philanthropic nature off it, singled him out as the most intense racing driver ever to have lived. Martin Brundle described his unique talent as ‘a sixth sense of where the grip was, before he turned into a corner.’ We often see drivers putting in spectacular laps or drives at some races in their career. Senna was possibly the only driver to be on the limit, every single second of every lap he ever drove, whether it was for a win or a 15th place finish.

One of the outstanding abilities of Senna was qualifying. His bewitching Saturday afternoon speed was enough reason to watch a qualifying session. Ayrton was so good at that one-lap-winner-takes-all game that his teammate, the great Alain Prost qualified second in an equal car so many times. Some of Senna’s most dominant performances came at Monaco, where he was just invincible. But Senna’s best drive came in the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington Park.

Conditions were atrocious – the track was very wet, and Senna, from fourth on the grid, made a slow getaway. Michael Schumacher, driving the Benetton, made a better start and pushed Senna down to fifth as they went down the straight. But over the course of the lap, Senna fought back spectacularly. Despite Schumacher’s best efforts to ease him out, Senna nailed the Benetton on the inside at the first corner itself. While the rest of the drivers were happy to stay on the racing line for the opening lap to gauge the conditions, Senna was driving as if the track was bone-dry.

He swept past Wendlinger’s Sauber effortlessly on the outside. Ahead of him were the two Williams-Renaults. Damon Hill barely put up a fight at the top of the hill and Senna cruised past him on the inside. Next he chased down Prost and took the lead from the Frenchman at the hairpin. In just half a lap, Senna had gone from fifth to first in treacherous track conditions. We knew he was a wet weather master, but even so, that opening lap was the lap of the Gods, no less. It was especially impressive considering that the Mclaren car was nowhere near the Williams machine the entire season.

As rain fell erratically, the other drivers dived for the pits to bolt on suitable tyres depending on whether the track was drying or the rain was getting heavier. Ayrton produced incredible skill to stay out on slick tyres during the wet periods. Not only that, he also pulled away from the rest as if they were in a different race. When he crossed the line, he had lapped everybody except Damon who was nearly lapped as well. In a mid-field car, in difficult track conditions, against the dominant Williams-Renaults, Ayrton lapped everyone. On that Sunday afternoon, Senna joined the motor racing immortals with that mesmerising drive.

1. Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1957 German GP

In the first decade of existence, Formula 1’s greatest driver was undoubtedly the Argentine genius Juan Manuel Fangio. He drove with a skill and aggression that stunned his colleagues who were young enough to be his sons. Back then F1 was about men in pole shirts powersliding ferocious racing cars with skinny tyres barely inches away from trees, walls and barriers. It was about incredibly brave but gentlemanly drivers, who raced hard but fair. In that era, the ‘Old Man’ as he was referred to, was the benchmark, the yardstick by which all other drivers were judged.

From 1954 to 1957, he was unbeatable, and set the record for most consecutive championship wins, which stood for almost five decades. He clinched his fifth and final world title in 1957 at the Nurburgring the right way – the drive of a champion. Fangio was always a force to be reckoned with at the ‘Ring. The 14 mile circuit with hidden crests, dips, banked turns, high speed corners, and the spectacular but unforgiving Ardennes mountains acting as barriers, always separated the men from the boys, and brought out the best in the Argentinian champion.

Fangio, driving the iconic Maserati 250F, had stiff competition from the Lancia-Ferraris of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins. Despite putting his car on pole, he knew that his Pirellis wore much faster than the Engelberts on the Ferrari cars. To have any chance of beating the two Englishmen, Fangio had to go for a low-fuel, two stop strategy and drive like a bat out of hell to win the race. Initially, the plan worked, and Fangio steadily built a huge lead over the Ferraris. But a disastrous pitstop saw the champion not only lose the lead, but rejoin with a 45 second deficit. It seemed as though Fangio had lost the race, with just 10 laps remaining.

After a lap to warm up the tyres, the gap was now 52 seconds with nine laps remaining, and Fangio was able to make up only six seconds over his first three laps after the pitstops. There were 7 laps to run, and he had to make up an impossible 6 seconds every lap. But on that beautiful day in August, on the glorious 22km stretch of asphalt nestling in the Ardennes mountains, Fangio unleashed his awesome skills at the wheel and made a stirring comeback. The old man was magnificent over the next few laps, as he blew away the lap record again and again and again.

On lap 20 out of 22, he was an incredible 8 seconds faster than his qualifying time, and was right on the tail of the Ferraris. Against all odds, he had pulled it off. He passed the Englishmen, who knew it was futile to even try to resist. They knew that the old man was unstoppable that day. And being the gentlemen that they were, Hawthorn and Collins were delighted for the Argentine racer and shared his joy of victory. A post-race inspection of the 250F by engineer Giulio Alfieri revealed that the front suspension was completely locked up, with the wheel pins seized up after an off track moment. And it showed the man’s supreme ability to race any machine and push it beyond the limits like no one else could.

Fangio is revered by many as the greatest racing driver ever to have lived – and it was fitting that the Campeon’s greatest ever win also took place on the greatest motor racing circuit in the world – the Nurburgring. There has never been a drive in Formula 1 to match this – and there probably never will be. It was motor racing at its absolute best.