F1 ICONS: Patrick Dempsey on his respect for five-time champion Juan Manuel Fangio American actor and TAG Heuer House Ambassador Patrick Dempsey pays tribute to 1950s F1 superstar Juan Manuel Fangio. When I think of my F1 icon, I think you have to go back to Juan Manuel Fangio and his World Championships in so many different cars and makes. I think in that era in particular, his ability to win consistently – I would say he would be the greatest of all time, in my opinion. In terms of other drivers, you have to admire Michael Schumacher, his dominance. Ayrton Senna changed the sport with the discipline be brought. Lewis Hamilton as well is another great champion, and his rise to prominence was really a turning point in Formula 1 history. And we're seeing now Kimi Antonelli, the emergence of this next generation – and each generation brings something new to it. When I played Piero Taruffi in Ferrari, I really got to immerse myself in the 1950s motorsport culture in preparation for that film. It was a fascinating time, as was the pre-war era with guys like Tazio Nuvolari. But coming out of the post-war era, the technology they had, the cars, the tracks, the danger…Then the rise in speeds we saw in the 1960s, and that's when you really began to see more and more deaths. In the late ‘60s, early ‘70s, the statistics were horrible. But that was when Jackie Stewart, Jacky Ickx, all those great characters came through. As a racing driver myself, would I have wanted to race in that era? I think I would have been attracted to it, certainly. We didn’t know what we know today about technology – but because so many lives have passed, they've learned so much from that.