Scuderia Ferrari

Template:F1 team Scuderia Ferrari is the common name for the Gestione Sportiva, the division of the Ferrari automobile company concerned with racing. Though the Scuderia and Ferrari Corse Clienti continue to manage the racing activities of numerous Ferrari customers and private teams, Ferrari's racing division has recently devoted its attention and funding to its Formula One team, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.

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 drivers are Luca Badoer and Marc Gené. The team principal is Jean Todt, and its technical director is Ross Brawn. Ferrari is one of three 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 the name is liberally translated as "Team Ferrari."

History

1929-1950

Scuderia Ferrari was founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929 as a sponsor for amateur drivers in various races, though Ferrari himself had raced a bit in Fiat cars before that date. The idea came about on the night of November 16 at a dinner in Bologna, where Ferrari solicited financial help from Augusto and Alfredo Caniato, textile heirs, and wealthy amateur racer Mario Tadini. He then gathered a team which at its peak included over forty drivers, most of whom raced in Alfa Romeo cars; Enzo himself continued racing, with moderate success, until the birth of his first son Dino in 1932.

Ferrari managed numerous established drivers (notably Tazio Nuvolari, Giuseppe Campari, Achille Varzi and Louis Chiron) and several talented rookies (such as Tandini, Guy Moll, Carlo Pintacuda, and Antonio Brivio) from his headquarters in Viale Trento e Trieste, Modena, Italy, until 1938, at which point Alfa Romeo made him the manager of the factory racing division, Alfa Corse. In 1939 he left Alfa upon learning of the company's intention to buy him out and absorb the Scuderia; his company became Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, which manufactured machine tools until the expiration of his four-year promise of non-competition after leaving Alfa.

Despite his agreement with Alfa, Ferrari immediately began work a racecar of his own, the Tipo 815 (eight cylinders, 1.5-liter displacement). The 815s, designed by Alberto Massimino, were thus the first true Ferrari cars, but after Alberto Ascari and the Marchese Lotario Rangoni Machiavelli di Modena drove them in the 1940 Mille Miglia, World War II put a temporary end to racing and the 815s saw no more competition. Ferrari continued to manufacture machine tools (specifically oleodynamic grinding machines); in 1943 he moved his headquarters to Maranello, where in 1944 it was promptly bombed.

Rules for a Grand Prix World Championship had been laid out before the war but it took several years afterward for the series to get going; meanwhile Ferrari rebuilt his works in Maranello and constructed the 12-cylinder, 1.5-liter Tipo 125, which competed at several non-championship grands prix.

1950s

Ferrari debuted in Formula One at the 1950 Italian Grand Prix with a supercharged version of the 125 and two experienced and highly successful 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 Jose-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 in which it competed 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 the D50s successfully in 1956: Fangio won three races and Collins two.

In 1957 Fangio returned to Maserati and Ferrari, still using its aging Lancias, failed to win a race. Drivers Luigi Musso and the Marquis Alfonso de Portago joined Castellotti; Castellotti died while testing and 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 Enzo Ferrari's recently deceased son. The team retained drivers Collins, Hawthorn, and Musso, but Musso died at the French Grand Prix and Collins died at the German Grand Prix; Hawthorn won the World Championship and announced his retirement, but died shortly afterward 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 get along well; Behra was fired after punching team manager Romolo Tavoni. Brooks was competitive until the end of the season, but in the end he 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 Dino, which was now rear-engined. Allison was severely injured in testing and the team won no races. A Ferrari did win 24 Hours of Le Mans, however, with Paul Frere and Olivier Gendebien driving.

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. Ferrari also won the 1961 Le Mans, with Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill driving.

At the end of the 1961 season, car designer Carlo Chiti and team manager Romolo Tavoni left to set up their own team, ATS. Ferrari promoted Mauro Forghieri to racing director and Eugenio Dragoni to team manager.

For the 1962 season, Hill and Baghetti stayed on with rookies Ricardo Rodriguez and Lorenzo Bandini. The team used the 1961 cars for a second year while Forghieri worked on a new design; the team won no races. It did, however, continue to dominate at Le Mans, winning with the same team of Hill and Gendebien.

Ferrari ran its 1961 cars yet again for the 1963 season, this time with drivers Bandini, John Surtees, Willy Mairesse, and Ludovico Scarfiotti; Surtees won the German Grand Prix, at which Mairesse crashed heavily, rendering him unable to drive again. Despite the team's lack of success in Formula One, it kept up its winning streak at Le Mans with Bandini and Scarfiotti at the wheel.

The new car was at last finished in 1964, featuring an eight-cylinder engine designed by Angelo Bellei. Surtees and Bandini joined young Mexican Pedro Rodriguez to drive the new cars. Surtees won two races and Bandini one; the Ferrari was slower than Jim Clark's Lotus but its vastly superior reliability gave Surtees the championship and Bandini fourth place. Ferrari's sportscar department won Le Mans for the fifth time in a row, this time with drivers Jean Guichet and Nino Vaccarella.

1965 was the last year of the 1.5-liter formula, so Ferrari opted to use the same engine another year; they won no races as Clark dominated in his Lotus. Surtees, Bandini, and Rodriguez stayed on as drivers. Ferrari's Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory won the 1965 Le Mans 24 Hours, the team's sixth in a row, though it would prove to be its last victory at that race.

Ferrari's first 1966 car consisted of the 3.3-liter V12 which they had previously used in sportscar racing mounted in the back of an F1 chassis. Surtees drove this contraption unsuccessfully while Bandini drove a 2.5-liter V6. Surtees won one race (the Belgian Grand Prix) but departed after a row with manager Eugenio Dragoni; he was replaced by Mike Parkes. Scarfiotti also won a race, the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

In 1967 The team fired Dragoni and replaced him with Franco Lini; Chris Amon partnered Bandini to drive a somewhat improved version of the 1966 car. At the Monaco Grand Prix Bandini crashed and suffered heavy injuries when he was trapped under his burning car; several days later he succumbed to his injuries. Ferrari re-hired Mike Parkes, but Parkes suffered career-ending injuries weeks later at the Belgian Grand Prix.

The 1968 season was little better; Jackie Ickx drove with no success. At the end of the season, manager Franco Lini quit and Ickx followed him. During the summer of 1968, Ferrari worked out a deal to sell his road car business to Fiat for $11 million; the transaction took place in early 1969, leaving 50% of the business still under the control of Ferrari himself.

During 1969 Enzo Ferrari set about wisely spending his newfound wealth to revive his struggling team; though Ferrari did compete in Formula One in 1969, it was something of a throwaway season while the team was restructured. Amon continued to drive an older model and Pedro Rodriguez replaced Ickx; at the end of the year Amon left the team.

1970s

After four poor years Ferrari signed Niki Lauda in 1975 with him winning the drivers championship easily that year. The next year Lauda was also on course to win the title for Ferrari until his crash at the German Grand Prix but he returned to take the title again for Ferrari in 1977.

1980s

In 1982 the Formula One works moved partially out of the original Maranello factory into its own autonomous facility, still in Maranello but directly next to the Fiorano test circuit.

In 1988 Fiat's share of the company grew to 90%.

On August 14, 1988, Enzo Ferrari died at the age of 90.

1990s

The 1990s started in a promising way with Alain Prost winning 6 races and pushing Ayrton Senna to the final race before settling for second. After that it was a rapid downhill slide with no wins in 1991, 1992 or 1993. Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi did salvage some pride by winning a race each in 1994 and 1995. One of the reasons for this failure was the fact that Ferrari's famous V12 engine was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient V10s of their competitors.

In 1996, Ferrari made a landmark decision in its history by hiring two-time defending world champion Michael Schumacher for an astronomical salary of around $30 million a year. Schumacher also brought along with him the nucleus of his hugely successful Benetton team in the form of Ross Brawn (technical director) and Rory Byrne (chief designer). Teaming up with Jean Todt (team principal), they set about rebuilding the Scuderia. First to go was the V12 in favour of a much more modern V10 engine.

While these huge changes did result in a very unreliable car, Schumacher did manage to get 3 wins in the 1996 season before going on to challenge Jacques Villeneuve for the 1997 title. However Michael was disqualified from the 1997 standings for swerving into the path of Villeneuve who was trying to overtake him in the final race. 1998 was another unsuccessful year for the Scuderia, though once again Schumacher was challenging for the championship until the final race before losing out to Mika Häkkinen. 1999 appeared to be the year Ferrari would finally regain the championship with Ferrari winning 3 of the first 4 races of the season. While Ferrari did win the constructor crown that year, a crash at the Silverstone Circuit in the British Grand Prix resulted in championship-leader Schumacher breaking a leg and missing 7 races of the season. The new championship challenger was Eddie Irvine, who once again took the Ferrari challenge to the final round in Japan before missing out to Häkkinen.

2000s

File:Schumacher A1Ring.jpg

The Scuderia celebrate Schumacher's win at the A1-Ring, 2003 (C) Ferrari Press Office

Schumacher in practice at the 2005 United States Grand Prix

In 2000, Schumacher had a close battle with rival Mika Häkkinen of McLaren, and managed to edge out the Finn to the title, winning 8 races out of 17 that year. He was Ferrari's first driver champion in 21 years, since Jody Scheckter in 1979. Teammate Barrichello finished 4th in the championship, taking his maiden win at the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring.

In 2001, Schumacher had a breezy run to the title, wrapping up the championship with 4 races to go, claiming 9 victories. Teammate Barrichello finished 3rd in the championship. This was the first year in which the notorious A1-Ring incident occurred, where Barrichello was told to let Michael through for 2nd place by team boss Todt, to the consternation of the FIA, fans and media.

In 2002, Schumacher and Ferrari dominated F1, the Ferrari duo winning 15 out of 17 races, and Schumacher winning 11, a record at the time. However, their run was tainted by a second A1-Ring incident. In a replay of 2001, Barrichello was asked to give way to Schumacher, except it was for the win this time. An embarrassed Schumacher then pushed Barrichello to the top step of the podium, and was subsequently fined $1 million by the FIA for interfering with podium procedures. This debacle eventually led to the banning of team orders. Schumacher matched Juan Manuel Fangio's record of 5 world championships, set back in the 1950s.

Come 2003, Ferrari's domination of F1 was brought to a halt at the first race, the Australian Grand Prix, where for the first time in 3 years, there was no Ferrari driver on the podium. Rivals McLaren had an early lead in the championship, but Ferrari closed up the gap by the Canadian Grand Prix. However, their other rivals Williams won the next 2 races and the driver championship went down to the wire at the last race, the Japanese Grand Prix, between Kimi Räikkönen (McLaren) and Michael Schumacher (Ferrari); Schumacher eventually won the championship by 2 points from Räikkönen, surpassing Fangio's record.

2004 saw a return of Ferrari's dominance. Ferrari teammates Schumacher and Barrichello finished first and second respectively in the driver championship, and Ferrari easily wrapped up the constructors championship. Schumacher won 13 of the 18 races, and 12 of the first 13 of the season -- both F1 records. Barrichello won two of the other races.

2005 has seen a massive change of fortune for the previously dominant Ferrari. The team's practice of starting a new season with a modified version of the previous year's car (F2004B) pending full development of their new car (F2005) has been one of the main causes for a poor start to the season. While this worked well in previous years, it seems Ferrari underestimated both the full effect of the new 2005 regulations and the pace of development of other teams (particularly McLaren and Renault who started the year with brand new cars). Alarmed by poor performances in Australia and Malaysia the new F2005 was rushed into service in Bahrain (the introduction was previously scheduled to be race 5 in Barcelona). This move saw Schumacher retire for the first time due to mechanical failure since Hockenheim 2001 ending a run of 59 Grands Prix without technical failure.

The other factor has been the poor relative performance of the team's Bridgestone tyres, which have failed to give performance for single lap qualifying and failed during races. However the tyre's provided for San Marino Grand Prix were more competitive than Michelin's offering and the Bridgestone tyres supplied for the United States Grand Prix allowed the three Bridestone teams to race, while the seven Michelin teams were forced to retire due to Michelin's advice that the tyres would not last the race distance.

Records

The Ferrari team has achieved unparalleled success in Formula One. Ferrari cars and Ferrari drivers have won the Mille Miglia 8 times, the Targa Florio 7 times, and the 24 hours of Le Mans 9 times. In F1, Ferrari have the unique distinction of owning nearly all significant records (as of the 2004 Formula One season), including:

• Most constructor championships: 14
• Most driver championships: 14
• Most wins (all-time): 182
• Most wins (season): 15 (tied with McLaren)
• Most podiums (all-time): 553
• Most podiums (season): 29
• Most pole positions (all-time): 178
• Most points (all-time): 4,236
• Most points (season): 262
• Highest winning percentage: 23% (for teams with at least 10 wins)
• Greatest length of time between wins: 53 years, 2 months, 27 days

In 2004, Ferrari also surpassed Ford as the most successful F1 engine manufacturer, with 182 wins (to Ford's 176 wins), despite the fact that Ford-powered cars have started 6,639 grands prix (compared to just 1,979 starts for Ferrari and Petronas-badged engines).

External link

• The official Ferrari website