In their pomp, this pair mopped up F1 titles. Paul Fearnley recounts a rivalry that captivated the world, but was cruelly cut short

Between them Alberto Ascari, left, and Juan Manuel Fangio took each world title between 1951-57.

The 1953 Albi GP, with Fangio, left, racing a V16 BRM P15 and Ascari in a V12 Ferrari 375

CORBIS/BERNARD CAHIER/GETTY IMAGES

THEIR NICKNAMES WERE EL Chueco and Ciccio: Juan Manuel Fangio was indeed bandy and Alberto Ascari was… well, both were chubby in truth. Looks deceive. Though interrupted badly by injury and contract, their rivalry was the motif of the first half of the first decade of the Formula 1 World Championship. Some of its numbers are unmatched. From 31 starts apiece, they combined for 27 wins – at the top two strike-rates still – 30 pole positions and 27 fastest laps (some shared with others).

One or the other, often both, held the lead for at least one lap, often for very many more, in all bar two of the 37 Grandes Épreuves from Silverstone in 1950 to Monaco in 1955. Crunching the numbers, between them they led 66.6% of 2508 laps.

Fangio, who edges those statistics bar laps led – it’s 717 to 927, if you are wondering – is a bona fide great by most estimations; Stirling Moss reckoned him the best. But Ascari ran him very closely; Denis Jenkinson of Motor Sport reckoned him the better.

Rocket starts that left the opposition gasping and barely a mark on the road fed an innate ability to control races from the front with little apparent effort: Ascari was the prototype Jim Clark. But while Enzo Ferrari also praised that “sure and precise style”, he queried the Milanese’s “combative spirit” when not leading; whereas Fangio “never gave in”.

“The European stars seized the occasion to give us a royal lesson”

Friends as well as rivals – no doubt helped by their acting as team-mates only twice – Fangio’s familial Abruzzo roots and grasp of Italian eased suspicions after their first meeting in July 1948 had not gone well: not only did Fangio’s unprepossessing appearance offset an effusive introduction by Jean-Pierre Wimille at Reims, but also Ascari was too busy making his only use of the dominant Alfa Romeo 158 – he didn’t enjoy playing second fiddle to Wimille – to pay attention to the Argentine’s midfield struggle in an underpowered Gordini. (Although one needn’t have looked too closely to be impressed by his effort.)

They next met on Fangio’s home ground and in more equal equipment. Ascari, his semi-works Maserati 4CLT likely in better tune than Fangio’s, led that opening race of the 1949 temporada from start to finish. “The European stars seized the occasion to give us a royal lesson,” wrote Fangio. “Ascari – cock of the walk – driving in a way that aroused my liveliest admiration.”