Fangio Artwork
Is it possible to see genius ? Yes, you can see it in the trail of genius that Fangio left behind while winning his fifth World Championship at the “Green Hell”, Nürburgring (170 curves spread along 22 kilometers), in 1957. He achieved what is considered by many to be his greatest victory. Fangio decided to start with a half tank of fuel in his Maserati 250F, thus being faster but needing a pit stop. He got to the pits at lap 13, with 30-secs advantage but the stop was a disaster: the mechanic lost the left rear wheel nut and let it roll under the car and it took half a minute to find it. Fangio left the pit lane in third place, 48 seconds behind Collins. With 9 lap records in a row, Fangio beat his own previous year’s record by 24 seconds!
Later, Fangio commented, “I think today I was possessed. I did things at the wheel that I had never done before, and I never want to drive like that again … ” admitting of not being able to sleep for two nights afterwards.
