F1R: Neubauer is also fascinating on the subject of the rivalry between his drivers, particularly on the master-and-apprentice relationship between Fangio and Moss:
When I settled down to pick my team for 1955, I had to admit that our position was not as strong as it should be.… I needed a new driver, a young man. I thought of the Frenchman Jean Behra, but he had already signed on with the opposition. So I started browsing through my black notebook till I came on the name Stirling Moss.
In a matter of minutes a telegram had been dispatched to Ken Gregory in London, offering Moss a contract for the coming year and asking for an immediate reply. It came by return: “Yes.”
Immediately there was a wave of protest from the other side of the Alps. The Italians said quite bluntly that Moss had broken his word, that he had already promised to drive for the Maserati works team in 1955. The question had been discussed, and Moss had agreed in principle, but nothing at all had been put down in black and white.
Moss tasted blood. His greatest ambition in life was to drive better and faster than the famous Juan Manuel Fangio. He had worked out his own plan of campaign, which was to get close to Fangio and stay there. Three times it went wrong. In the Monaco Grand Prix Moss was overcome by the fumes from Fangio’s exhaust. In the Dutch Grand Prix, where much of the course is through sand dunes, the fine sand thrown up by Fangio’s car worked its way into Moss’s engine.
On both occasions I had warned Moss that he was asking for trouble. Then in the Italian Grand Prix a stone shot up from one of Fangio’s back wheels and shattered Moss’s windscreen. This was too much for me.
“My dear Stirling,” I said, taking him on one side. “I’ve had enough of this. Why the devil do you have to drive so close behind Fangio?”
“Well,” he replied, “it seemed the best way of studying Fangio’s style and learning from it.”
“But I always thought you considered yourself a better driver than Fangio. In that case you’ve got nothing to learn from him.”
Moss flushed to the roots of his hair and turned away. But from that moment on he stopped shadowing Fangio.