Today marks 59 years since Juan Manuel Fangio won his final Formula One Grand Prix, the 1957 German Grand Prix, in what is widely regarded as one of the greatest races of all time.
Fangio completed the 'Grand Slam', taking pole position and the fastest lap as well as the win which was his fourth victory of the year.
The Argentine saw that Ferrari Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins planned to race without making a pitstop, so he took softer tyres and only half a tank of fuel, knowing that he would have to make a pit stop, but he would be faster, and faster he was, until a disastrous pit stop which saw him drop to third.
The pace of his Maserati 250F was sublime, however, and he broke the lap record nine times in 10 laps, passing both Ferraris on the penultimate lap.
The win saw Fangio retain his championship lead with more than double the points of Luigi Musso. He went on to win the last of his five world championship crowns that year.
#OTD in 1957, Fangio produced a stunning fightback at the #GermanGP to win from being a minute behind! #F1 #TBT pic.twitter.com/KrNV72qjsl
— UBS Formula 1 (@UBSf1) August 4, 2016
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Posts: 782
And he did it with no radio communications, halos, or grid penalties.