Scuderia Ferrari is the division of the Ferrari automobile company concerned with racing; Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro is the full name of the Ferrari Formula One racing team. Ferrari's racing division has recently devoted all of its attention and funding to F1, so this article concerns the history of both Enzo Ferrari's Scuderia and the Ferrari F1 team.
Ferrari first competed in F1 in 1950 (the team's first F1 car was the Tipo 125 F1), making it the oldest team left in the championship, not to mention the most successful. The team's current drivers are Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello and its test driver is Luca Badoer. The team principal is Jean Todt and technical director is Ross Brawn. Ferrari is one of four F1 teams currently using Bridgestone tires (the remainder use Michelins).
The team's numerous and ardent Italian fans have come to be known as tifosi.
Scuderia Ferrari is Italian for "Ferrari Stable," though it is liberally translated as "Team Ferrari."
History
1929-1950
Scuderia Ferrari was officially founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929 as a sponsor for amateur drivers in various races, though Ferrari himself raced a bit in Fiat cars before that date. He independently managed numerous drivers (notably Tazio Nuvolari, Giuseppe Campari, Achille Varzi and Louis Chiron) in Alfa Romeo cars from his Modena headquarters until 1938, at which point Alfa made him the manager of their racing division, Alfa Corse. After two years he left Alfa upon learning of the company's intention to buy him out and absorb the Scuderia; he founded Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, which ostensibly manufactured machine tools because of his four-year promise of non-competition after leaving Alfa.
Despite his agreement with Alfa, Ferrari immediately designed and built a racecar, the Tipo 815 (eight cylinders, 1.5-liter displacement), for participation in the 1940 Mille Miglia. The 815 was thus the first true Ferrari car, but never saw competition as the outbreak of World War II put a temporary end to racing. Ferrari continued to manufacture machine tools (specifically oleodynamic grinding machines) and in 1943 he moved his headquarters to Maranello, where it was promptly bombed.
1950s
Rules for a Grand Prix World Championship had been laid out before the war but it took several years afterward for it to get going; meanwhile Ferrari rebuilt his works in Maranello and built the 1.5-liter Tipo 125, which competed at several non-championship grands prix. Ferrari debuted in F1 at the 1950 Italian Grand Prix with a supercharged version of the 125 and two excellent drivers, Alberto Ascari and Gigi Villoresi. The Alfa Romeo team dominated the 1950 F1 season, winning all eleven events, but Ferrari broke their streak in 1951 when rotund driver Froilan Gonzalez took first place at the British Grand Prix. Ferrari also won the 1951 Mille Miglia but was drawn into a lengthy litigation when Ascari crashed through a barrier and killed a local doctor.
After the 1951 season the Alfa team withdrew from F1, causing the confused authorities to adopt the Formula Two regulations. Ferrari happily went to work on the 500, which went on to win most every race it participated in in 1952 with drivers Ascari, Giuseppe Farina, and Piero Taruffi; Ascari took the World Championship after winning six consecutive races. In 1953 Ascari won only five races but another world title; at the end of that season, Juan Manuel Fangio beat the Ferraris in a Maserati for the first time.
The 1954 formula involved a new 2.5-liter engine; Ferrari's new car, designated the 625, could not compete against Fangio and the Maseratis. Ferrari had only two wins, Gonzalez at the British Grand Prix and Mike Hawthorn at the Spanish Grand Prix. In 1955 Fangio moved to the Mercedes-Benz team but Ferrari did no better, winning only the Monaco Grand Prix with driver Maurice Trintignant. Late in the 1955 season the Ferrari team purchased the bankrupt Lancia team's D50 chassis; Fangio, Peter Collins, and Eugenio Castellotti raced them successfully in 1956, with Fangio winning three races and Collins two.
For 1957 Fangio returned to Maserati and Ferrari, still in its aging Lancias, failed to win a race. Castellotti died while testing and Marquis Alfonso de Portago crashed into a crowd at the Mille Miglia, killing twelve and causing Ferrari to be charged with manslaughter.
In 1958 Carlo Chiti designed an entirely new car for Ferrari: the 246 Dino, named for Ferrari's recently deceased son. Ferrari retained drivers Collins, Hawthorn, and Musso, but Musso died at the French Grand Prix and Collins died at the German Grand Prix; Hawthorn, after winning the World Championship, announced his retirement and died in a road accident.
Ferrari hired five new drivers, Tony Brooks, Jean Behra, Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, and occasionally Cliff Allison, for 1959. The team did not do much better; Behra was fired after punching team manager Romolo Tavoni, and Brooks narrowly lost the championship to Jack Brabham.
1960s
1960 proved little better than 1959. Ferrari kept drivers Hill, Allison and Wolfgang von Trips and added Richie Ginther, who drove the aging 246, which was now rear-engined. Allison was severely injured in testing and the team won no races. In 1961 the team kept Hill, von Trips and Ginther, and debuted another Chiti-designed car, the 156, which was dominant throughout the season. Ferrari drivers Hill and Von Trips competed for the championship. Giancarlo Baghetti joined in midseason and became the first driver to win on his debut race (the French Grand Prix); however, toward the end of the season, von Trips crashed through a barrier at the Italian Grand Prix and was killed. Hill won the championship.
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
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Records
The Ferrari team has met with unparalleled success since its inception, in Formula One and otherwise: Ferrari cars and Ferrari drivers have won the Mille Miglia 8 times, the Targa Floria 7 times, 24 hours of Le Mans 9 times, the F1 World Drivers Championship 9 times, and the F1 World Constructors Championship 13 times; they have taken pole position at F1 Grands Prix 161 times; and they have won a total of 163 F1 Grands Prix (as of April 25, 2004).
External Links
- http://www.ferrari.it/ - The official Scuderia website