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F1 legends: The 1950s

We inaugurate the F1 section with a series of articles about F1 legendary drivers. Today, we are going to talk about the first decade and its legendary drivers…

Juan Manuel Fangio

Fangio driving his Mercedes.

-World Champion in: 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957.

Juan Manuel Fangio is considered as one of the best drivers of all times. His curriculum is quite interesting: Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Maserati and even Ferrari. His techniques were also very curious: before each race, he recognized every circuit, and every turn in them… but he never could memorized the turns of one circuit: Nordschleife, today called Nurbürgring, a circuit which he always hate. In 1958 he decided to get retired after a horrible year.

Alberto Ascari

Ascari driving his Ferrari.

-World Champion in: 1952 and 1953

In a decade dominated by Fangio, Ascari was the only driver who could stop (however, just for 2 years) the domination of the argentine driver. The fans of Ferrari remember Ascari because he was the first champion of the “Scuderia”. After winning those two championships, he went to Maserati in 1954, but that year was horrible for him and the thing was even worse in 1955 with Lancia. Finally, he died at Monza testing a Ferrari´s sports car.

Giuseppe “Nino” Farina

Nino Farina driving his Ferrari.

-World Champion in 1950

“Nino ci fa sognare”, if you recognized that sentence, you are a real fan of Ferrari. Nino Farina was not as successful as Fangio or Ascari were, but for most of the people who watched the F1 at the 1950s, Farina was the best driver. Farina won the F1 Championship in 1950 with Alfa Romeo and stayed there in 1951. After that, he went to Ferrari and stayed in the “Scuderia” for some years, until 1955. He seemed like a gentleman driving… but he was almost a suicidal driver. However he always said he was protected by the providence. He got injured a lot of times, but he continued driving… after all, he was protected…