Formula One great Sir Jackie Stewart rates 1950s champion Juan Manuel Fangio the sport’s best-ever driver.
Stewart told APA in an interview Fangio deserved to be regarded as Formula One’s greatest driver because he won five world championships with four different teams.
“He was very fast but also very safe. And he retired in style, became president of Mercedes-Benz in Argentina and conducted the sport with great dignity,” said Stewart.
Germany’s Sebastian Vettel has now emulated Fangio and Michael Schumacher with four F1 titles in a row, but at 26 is younger than both were on reaching the same mark.
Schumacher has a record seven, with Fangio on five (1951,54,55,56,57) and Alain Prost and Vettel on four.
Stewart, now 74, is joined by Ayrton Senna, Jack Brabham, Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet on three titles.