Juan Manuel Fangio Trivia Quiz

Answer: Argentina

Born in Balcarce, Argentina in 1911 to parents of Italian heritage, Fangio began his racing career in 1934, mostly in 'touring car' races that involved long races along the dangerous roads of Argentina. It is regarded that it was in these races where Fangio learned his driving technique that would later serve him so well in Formula One.

Answer: Alfa Romeo

Fangio was at Alfa Romeo for the first Formula One season in 1950, alongside Giuseppe 'Nino' Farina, Luigi Fagioli and Reg Parnell. Not including the Indianapolis 500, which was included in the World Championship but it was rare for European drivers to compete, Alfa Romeo won all six races. Fangio won three races, the Monaco, Belgian and French Grand Prix, but retirements in the other three races allowed Farina to take the title.

Answer: 4

Fangio took four pole positions, at the season opening Swiss Grand Prix (which he won), then at the Belgian, French (won) and Italian Grand Prix. He also won the season ending Spanish Grand Prix, where he started second on the grid. Fangio finished the season on 31 points, beating the Ferrari's of Alberto Ascari and Jose Froilan Gonzalez into second and third. 1950 World Champion Nino Farina could only manage one victory and finished fourth overall.

Answer: True

Fangio was making his way from Belfast to Monza, but had missed a flight connection, and thus had to drive all the way from Paris to Monza. He arrived only an hour and a half before the race. Starting from the back of the grid in his Maserati, Fangio was making his way through the field when his car went into a giant slide.

His reactions slowed by tiredness, his car slewed off the track, hit a bank and somersaulted, Fangio being thrown out of the car. He suffered a broken neck and spent the next few months in hospital recovering.

Answer: Italian Grand Prix

After returning from the neck injury sustained in a nasty crash at Monza the year before, Fangio returned in a Maserati for the 1953 season. The season didn't start well for the former World Champion as he retired from the first three races, despite starting from pole in the Belgian Grand Prix.

However, three successive second places at the French, British and German Grand Prix. After a fourth place at the Swiss Grand Prix, Fangio exorcised the ghosts of his crash in 1952 by winning at Monza in Italy.

However, Ascari had dominated the 1953 season in his Ferrari, winning five races and taking six pole positions.

Answer: Maserati and Mercedes-Benz

Fangio started out the season driving a Maserati, and duly won the Argentine and Belgian Grand Prix. He then won his first race for Mercedes at the French Grand Prix, held at Reims, with the beautiful streamlined W196. But he could only finish fourth at the British Grand Prix as the streamlined cars were battered on the airport circuit.

After that, the 'monoposto' Mercedes cars were dominant, with Fangio winning the next three races in Germany, Switzerland and Italy before finishing third in the Spanish Grand Prix

Answer: Maurice Trintignant

The French driver Maurice Trintignant took advantage of a rare Mercedes mechanical failure for Fangio to take his first Grand Prix victory at the Monaco Grand Prix. Moss was the only other driver to beat Fangio that season, beating home his team-mate at the British Grand Prix held at Aintree. Fangio won the other four races during the season to take his third World Championship, but the entire season was overshadowed by the tragic events at the Le Mans 24 Hour where over 80 spectators were killed after a Mercedes driven by Pierre Levegh was catapulted into the crowd.

It was due to these events that led to Mercedes withdrawing from Formula One at the end of the 1955 season.

Answer: Luigi Musso

After the withdrawal of Mercedes, Fangio moved to Ferrari for the 1956 season, with Ferrari using the Lancia D50 chassis that had impressed so much during the 1955 season.

The first race in Argentina had not started well for Fangio, with his car suffering fuel pump failure. But Fangio took over team-mate Musso's Ferrari on lap 29 and proceeded to storm back through the field to take victory. Things were different in the 1950s!

The season did not all go Fangio's way, as he had a real fight from Moss in a Maserati and also his team-mate Peter Collins, with both British drivers winning two races during the season and pushing Fangio all the way.

However, Collins would forever earn the gratitude of team-mate Fangio and the admiration of 'The Old Man' Enzo Ferrari after selflessly handing over his car to Fangio at the Italian Grand Prix after Fangio's car had again broken down. Fangio duly won the race and won the World Championship.

Answer: German Grand Prix

1957 season: After wins in Argentina, Monaco and France and a retirement at the British Grand Prix, Fangio arrived at the Nurburgring in Germany with a chance of taking his fifth World Championship.

Regarded as his finest race by most motorsports journalists, Fangio won the German Grand Prix after coming back from an almost impossible position to win the race. Fangio had led the early laps, but a scheduled pitstop, where time seemed to slip by, caused him to over 30 seconds behind the two Ferrari's of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins. However, Fangio reeled off a succession of fastest laps and caught the two Ferrari's with two laps left, passing them effortlessly. He took the chequered flag by 3.6 seconds, a fine way to take a 25th and final victory and a fifth and final World Championship.

Answer: 4th

With the withdrawal of the factory Maserati team at the end of the 1957 season, Fangio entered his own car for two races in 1958, at the season opening Argentinian Grand Prix, where he finished fourth, and also at the French Grand Prix at Reims, where he also finished fourth. After the race, Fangio retired from Formula One.

Fangio retired with five World Championships - 1951, 1954-57 - winning with four different manufacturers. He won 24 of 51 races during his career and took 29 pole positions, including pole and fastest lap at his penultimate race in Argentina, 1958.

After his retirement, Fangio worked as a representative for Mercedes-Benz, and would often be seen at historic events, driving his old Mercedes W196. In 1990, Fangio was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame (founded in 1982 by Bill France, founder of NASCAR), along with great drivers such as Jim Clark, Stirling Moss and Jackie Stewart.

Fangio passed away at the age of 84 at the beginning of 1995 at his home in Buenos Aires, and was buried in his home town of Balcarce. As a tribute one decade on in 2005, the Pagani Zonda C12 F was named in his honour.