Top 5 comebacks in F1 history

Juan Manuel Fangio

'The Maestro' in action

Long before there was the burst of mercurial energy in the sport in the form of Ayrton Senna, way before a German Kaiser reigned supreme on the grid making others kneel before him all thanks to some unmatched statistical superiority, and decades before a boy from Stevenage conquered five-world titles, there was Juan Manuel Fangio.

The Argentine competed in the top echelons of motor racing in the formative years of the sport and ruled with an iron fist. A five-time world champion, Fangio reduced many contemporaries’ skill and talent to the quality of paper shred and for good measure.

But something that challenged even Fangio, a man responsible for 24 race wins and 35 podiums was the drive from the city of Lyon in France to that of Milan, in Italy but in a non-championship 1952 Grand Prix event.

Just that what happened during this stretch, dangerous for the lack of a better word for the Argentine, demonstrated the man’s capability even more.

Just hours after having competed in a road race in Northern Ireland, Fangio, on his legendary European landscape arrived at Monza, having gone sleepless for 48 hours.

Arriving just 30 minutes before at the track before the start of the contest, Fangio was quick to execute as many as 15 overtakes before his Maserati collided with the inside of a kerb at the second Lesmo corner only to summersault out of the track.

But despite having broken both his back and neck, Fangio returned to F1 the very next season to compete in 1953 and came second, behind Alberto Ascari.