Join Juan Manuel Fangio, El Maestro himself, for some practice laps in the Maserati 250F in this rare on-board footage. 

Juan Manuel Fangio of Argentina entered a mere 52 Grand Prix events between 1950 and 1958, yet to this day he is regarded by many as the greatest Formula 1 driver in history. In that too-brief span of years he collected 24 wins, 35 podiums, and a stunning five world championships, including four in a row in 1954-1957. Current drivers enjoy much longer careers, and much safer ones to be sure, but it seems unlikely that they can ever match his winning percentage, or his clear and easy domination of the field.

For 1957, his final full season in Formula 1, Fangio was back with Maserati, for whom he had last driven in mid-1954. There he drove what he considered the greatest Grand Prix of his life, and what many will call the greatest Grand Prix performance in history. At the Nürburgring for the German Grand Prix, Fangio charged from nearly one minute behind to win by three seconds, turning laps as much as 11 seconds quicker than his Ferrari competition.

Naturally, in those days onboard footage was pretty rare, owing to the limitations of the technology, but here we have some great footage of El Maestro testing a Maserati 250F at the Autodromo di Modena on the outskirts of Modena, Italy. Like all great artists, Fangio makes it look so easy. Enjoy the video.