Regarded by many as one of the greatest Formula One races of all time and Fangio's finest drive, this is the 1957 German Grand Prix at the mighty Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Juan Manuel Fangio was forty-six years old and a four-time World Driving Champion when he arrived at the Nürburgring in August for the 1957 Grosser Preis von Deutschland. He had already won the season opening race in Argentine, Monaco and the French Grand Prix.

Driving Maserati’s latest lightweight works 250F chassis (c/n 2529), Fangio would face the Ferrari and Vanwall teams along with his teammate, Frenchman Jean Behra. The British BRM team withdrew its entries due to a “driver shortage”

During practice on the 14.167 mile Nordschliefe circuit, the Maserati team determined that the Pirelli tries had too high a wear rate to last the 22 laps (311.674 miles) of the Grand Prix. Team manager, Nello Ugolini, and chief mechanic, Guerino Bertocchi, proposed a strategy where Fangio would start with a light fuel load and then pit at the half-way point to refuel and change rear tires. The mechanics thought they could add fuel and change the rear tires in thirty seconds. They also thought this would be easier on the rough Nürburgring track than running a heavier car.

The Ferrari team would run a traditional non-stop race. The Vanwalls had performed well on the smooth surface at Aintree, but on the bumps, humps and jumps of the Nürburgring they were off the pace. Stirling Moss has been quoted as saying, “The Vanwall’s taut suspension was totally unsuitable for the Nürburgring”.

The track had been partially resurfaced since the previous year and practice times dropped considerably. Fangio would start from the pole with a time of 9min 25.6sec. Race day, August 4th, was hot, dry and sunny. At the start the Ferraris of Mike Hawthorn and Peter Collins took the lead.