El Chueco has long been an inspiration of mine, as he managed to do things in a car that nobody even thought possible. He was the best driver of his time, perhaps of all time. If you aren’t convinced, click the play button on the video below, because he absolutely owned Grand Prix racing with this flamboyant and precise driving style. Drift a 1957 Maserati around the tight and bumpy Modena Autodrome? Stand back son, watch how it’s done.

It doesn’t get much better than this. A glimpse of a simpler time in Formula One, when it was man fighting machine as much as it was man fighting each other. The glorious roar of the Maserati 250F 2.5-liter makes a perfect soundtrack once the voiceover guy jogs on. This glorious little front-engine cigar on wheels is spectacular.

Not only did the 250F compete in 46 races across six seasons of Grand Prix racing, but it assisted JMF to his second driver’s championship in 1954 (winning the Argentinian and Belgian Grands Prix before he left to race for Mercedes-Benz) and his fifth driver’s championship in 1957. Could you imagine any team running the same exact chassis in F1 for six seasons?

By the time the 250F was retired, the rear-engine Grand Prix cars had come and rendered it obsolete. A legendary career for the 250F and a legendary career for the man who dominated them.