F1 People - Juan Manuel Fangio
- Length: 4:56
- Size: 4.6 MB
- File: people14.mp3
- Transcript: people14.pdf
- Torrent: people14.torrent
This is the last in the second series of F1 People, seven short shows brought to you by Sidepodcast. We’ve looked at a few important names from the world of Formula 1 this series, and now it’s time for our final VIP. Today we’ll look at Juan Manuel Fangio.
Juan Manuel Fangio was born on the 24th June 1911 in Argentina, although his parents were Italian. He completed his military service and opened a garage to begin racing in Argentina during his 20s, and he became National Champion in 1940 and 41. The government then funded his career move to Europe, where he joined Formula 1. Fangio entered the sport aged 37, and although this was a time pre-world championships, where the emphasis was less on youth and fitness, Fangio was still sometimes the oldest driver taking part. His first race was in 1948, at the French Grand Prix, in which he retired, and that was his only race that year. The next year he won five out of seven races, and thus went into 1950 as a clear favourite to win the brand new Formula One World Driver’s Championship.
