Video: Pit Stoppin’ With Fangio, 1957

Let’s go way back in our look at Formula One pit stops to check out an early example of fuel & tyre strategy with the great Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1957 German Grand Prix.

Having inspected his main competition before the race, Fangio decided to run a softer compound tyre and a half tank of fuel. This would make him considerably faster and lighter when tackling the endless turns, hills and bumps of the mighty Nürburgring (all fourteen miles of it, in ’57), but he’d have to make a pit stop to complete the race, whereas his competition from Ferrari would be going the full distance without.

He got away quickly and went into the pits with thirty seconds on his closest rivals. The pit stop, however, was slow, and he came out in third, nearly fifty seconds behind the leading Ferraris of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins.

Commentators talk a lot about putting in good laps leading up to and immediately following pit stops in modern Formula One. Fangio taught them all what to do in this race, setting lap record after lap record and hunting those Ferraris down on the way to one of his most legendary victories. Enjoy.

Image: TheCahierArchive©

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