Difference between revisions of "Scuderia Ferrari"
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Revision as of 11:26, 1 March 2007
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 and most successful team left in the championship. The team's current drivers are Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa, 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 five F1 teams currently using Bridgestone tyres (the other 6 using Michelin).
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.
50s
Ferrari debuted in Formula One in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix with a supercharged version of the 125 V12, and two experienced and successful drivers, Alberto Ascari and Gigi Villoresi. The Alfa Romeo team dominated the 1950 Formula One season, winning all eleven events, but Ferrari broke their streak in 1951 when rotund driver José Froilán González took first place at the 1951 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 Formula One season the Alfa team withdrew from F1, causing the authorities to adopt the Formula Two regulations due to the lack of suitable F1 cars. Ferrari entered the 2000cm³ 4-cyl Ferrari Tipo 500, which went on to win almost every race in which it competed in the 1952 Formula One season with drivers Ascari, Giuseppe Farina, and Piero Taruffi; Ascari took the World Championship after winning six consecutive races. In the 1953 Formula One season, 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 One season brought new rules for 2.5-liter engines; Ferrari's new car, designated the Ferrari Tipo 625, could barely compete against Fangio with the Maserati and then the Mercedes-Benz W196 which appeared in July. Ferrari had only two wins, Gonzalez at the 1954 British Grand Prix and Mike Hawthorn at the 1954 Spanish Grand Prix. In 1955 Formula One season Ferrari did no better, winning only the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix with driver Maurice Trintignant. Late in the tragic 1955 season the Ferrari team purchased the Lancia team's D50 chassis after they had retired following Ascari's Death; Fangio, Peter Collins, and Eugenio Castellotti raced the D50s successfully in the 1956 Formula One season: Collins two races, Fangio won three races and the championship.
In the 1957 Formula One season, a constructor championship was introduced, and won by Vanwall. Fangio returned to Maserati. 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.
For the 1958 Formula One season, Carlo Chiti designed an entirely new car for Ferrari: the Ferrari 246 Dino, named for Enzo Ferrari's recently deceased son. The team retained drivers Collins, Hawthorn, and Musso, but Musso died at the 1958 French Grand Prix and Collins died at the 1958 German Grand Prix; Hawthorn won the World Championship and announced his retirement, and died months later in a road accident.
Ferrari hired five new drivers, Tony Brooks, Jean Behra, Phil Hill, Dan Gurney, and occasionally Cliff Allison, for the 1959 Formula One season. 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 with the rear-engined Cooper.
60s
1960 Formula One season proved little better than 1959. Ferrari kept drivers Hill, Allison and Wolfgang von Trips and added Willy Mairesse to drive the dated front-engined 246s and Richie Ginther, who drove Ferrari's first rear-engined car. Allison was severely injured in testing and the team won no race. A Ferrari did win 24 Hours of Le Mans, however, with Paul Frere and Olivier Gendebien driving.
In the 1961 Formula One season, with new rules for 1500cm³, the team kept Hill, von Trips and Ginther, and debuted another Chiti-designed car, the Ferrari 156 based on the Formula 2 car of 1960, 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 1961 French Grand Prix). However, at the end of the season, von Trips crashed at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix and was killed, toghter with over a dozen spectators. Hill won the championship. Ferrari also won Le Mans again, with Olivier Gendebien and Phil Hill driving.
At the end of the 1961 season, in what is called "the walk-out", 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 Formula One 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 race. It did, however, continue to dominate at Le Mans, winning with the same team of Hill and Gendebien.
Ferrari ran smaller lighter 156 cars for the 1963 Formula One season, this time with drivers Bandini, John Surtees, Willy Mairesse and Ludovico Scarfiotti. Surtees won the 1963 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 158 model was at last finished in late 1963 and developed into raceworthiness for the 1964 Formula One season, featuring an eight-cylinder engine designed by Angelo Bellei. Surtees and Bandini were joined by young Mexican Pedro Rodriguez, brother of Ricardo (who had been killed at the end of 1962), 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. In the last two races in North America, the Ferrari were entered by private team NART and painted in the US-color scheme of blue and white, as Enzo protest against the Italian sporting authority. Ferrari's sports car department won Le Mans for the fifth time in a row, this time with drivers Jean Guichet and Nino Vaccarella.
The 1965 Formula One season was the last year of the 1.5-liter formula, so Ferrari opted to use the same V8 engine another year together with a new flat-12 which had debuted at the end of 1964; they won no races as Clark dominated in his now more reliable Lotus. Surtees and Bandini stayed on as drivers, with odd races for Rodriguez, Vaccarella and Bob Bondurant. Entered by private Ferrari team NART, Jochen Rindt and Masten Gregory won the 1965 Le Mans 24 Hours, Ferrari's sixth in a row, though it would prove to be its last victory at that race.
For the 1966 Formula One season with new rules, the Ferrari 312 of Surtees consisted of a 3-liter version of the 3.3-liter V12 which they had previously used in Ferrari P sports car racers, mounted in the back of a rather heavy F1 chassis. Bandini drove a 2.4-liter V6 early in the season. Surtees won one race, the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix, but departed after a row with manager Eugenio Dragoni; he was replaced by Mike Parkes. Scarfiotti also won a race, the 1966 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, with an improved 36-valve engine.
In the 1967 Formula One season, 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 1967 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 kept Mike Parkes and Scarfiotti, but Parkes suffered career-ending injuries weeks later at the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix and Scarfiotti temporarily retired from racing after witnessing his crash.
The 1968 Formula One season was better; Jacky Ickx drove with one win in France and several good positions, which gave him a chance at the World Championship until a practise crash in Canada, and Amon led several races but won none. At the end of the season, manager Franco Lini quit and Ickx went to the Brabham team. 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 Formula One season 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.
70s
After four poor years, Ferrari signed Niki Lauda in 1974 with him winning the drivers championship easily the next year in the Ferrari 312T. In 1976 Lauda was also on course to win the title for Ferrari until his crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix. Carlos Reutemann was hired as a replacement, so with Clay Regazzoni driving the other car, Ferrari had to run 3 cars in the 1976 Italian Grand Prix when Lauda returned unexpectedly soon. He took the title again for Ferrari in 1977 before leaving due to mutual lack of confidence.
In 1978, Ferrari raced with Carlos Reutemann and Gilles Villeneuve. Jody Scheckter replaced the Argentinian in 1979, and the team won both titles again with Scheckter.
80s
After finally having a competitive car and two fast drivers that competed against each other, team leader and favorite driver of Enzo Ferrari, Gilles Villeneuve died in a crash during qualifying at the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix, while Didier Pironi suffered career-ending injuries before the 1982 German Grand Prix. Four wins by René Arnoux and Michele Alboreto scored another constructor title in 1983.
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.
On August 14, 1988, Enzo Ferrari died at the age of 90. FIAT's share of the company was raised to 90%.
90s
The 1990s started in a promising way with Alain Prost winning 5 races and pushing Ayrton Senna to the controversial final race, where a collision forced him to settle for second. After that it was a rapid downhill slide with no wins in 1991, 1992 or 1993, with Prost leaving calling the car a "truck". 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 with him the nucleus of his hugely successful Benetton team, mainly 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. After Berger and Alesi, who were sent to Benetton in exchange, the traditional V12 had to go also, in favour of a more modern V10 engine, as the rules reduced the capacity from 3500cc to 3000 anyway. At the same time, Eddie Irvine from Jordan was hired.
While these huge changes did result in a very unreliable car, Schumacher did manage to score 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, which would have cost Schumacher the championship he lost anyway. 1998 was another successful year for the Scuderia, as once again Schumacher was challenging for the championship until the final race before losing out to Mika Häkkinen. The Belgian Grand Prix saw dramatic crashes that year, including Schumacher hitting Coulthard while lapping him.
Irvine had been forced to play second fiddle to Schumacher, losing out on points and positions in order to place Schumacher higher in the Drivers' Championship, in the rare occasions when he was in front. The leg injury of Michael in 1999 reversed the roles however. It appeared to be the year Ferrari would 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 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 who also scored more points in the races were Schumacher had taken part.
2000s
In 2000, Schumacher had a close battle with rival Mika Häkkinen of McLaren, and managed to edge out the Finn to the title, winning 9 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 won the World Championship easily with 4 races to go, having claimed 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 (Schumacher 11, Barrichello 4), 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 this time for the win. 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.
In 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 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 (F2004M) 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 Bridgestone 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.
2006 Current Season
2006 Using the all new Ferrari 248F1, the new Ferrari driver Brazilian Felipe Massa replaced fellow Brazilian Rubens Barrichello. The team has seen promising results in the first few races of the season and they are now officially "back in business" with two record setting poles and two consecutive wins by Michael Schumacher. Now the team sets out to prove that the disappointing 2005 season was but a fluke and that the prancing horse is still dominant.
Sponsorship
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Marlboro have sponsored Ferrari for decades and have been a title sponsor since 1997 (prior to which they sponsored McLaren).
In September 2005 Ferrari announced they had signed an extension of their sponsorship arrangement with Marlboro (Philip Morris) until 2011. This comes at a time when tobacco sponsorship has become illegal in the European Union and other major teams have withdrawn from relationships with tobacco companies (for example McLaren ended their eight year relationship with West). In reporting the deal, F1 Racing magazine judged it to be a "black day" for the sport, putting non-tobacco funded teams at a disadvantage and discouraging other brands from entering a sport still associated with tobacco. The magazine estimates that in the period between 2005 and 2011 Ferrari will receive $1 billion from the agreement.
Depending on the venue of races (and the particular national laws) the Marlboro branding will be largely subliminal in most countries (see image). In return for increased investment in the team Marlboro will see their profile rise, with other sponsors (particularly Vodafone) taken out of the livery of the cars.
Records
The Ferrari team has achieved unparalleled success in Formula One. Ferrari cars and Ferrari drivers have also won the Mille Miglia 8 times, the Targa Florio 7 times, and the 24 hours of Le Mans 9 times. In F1, Ferrari has 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): 183
- Most wins (season): 15 (tied with McLaren)
- Most podiums (all-time): 553
- Most podiums (season): 29
- Most pole positions (all-time): 180
- 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). Due to the availability of the Cosworth-V8 to private teams, a total of 6,639 Ford-powered cars were entered since 1967, compared to 1,979 starts for Ferrari and Petronas-badged engines.
External link
- Chatting in IRC
| Preceded by Cooper |
Formula One Constructors' Champion 1961 |
Succeeded by BRM |
| Preceded by Lotus |
Formula One Constructors' Champion 1964 |
Succeeded by Lotus |
| Preceded by McLaren |
Formula One Constructors' Champion 1975-1977 |
Succeeded by Lotus |
| Preceded by Lotus |
Formula One Constructors' Champion 1979 |
Succeeded by Williams |
| Preceded by Williams |
Formula One Constructors' Champion 1982-1983 |
Succeeded by McLaren |
| Preceded by McLaren |
Formula One Constructors' Champion 1999-2004 |
Succeeded by Renault F1 |
| Ferrari Formula One cars | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 40s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ||||||||||
| 125 | 275 340 375 |
500 | 553 625 |
555 D50 |
801 | 412 246 |
256 | 156 | 158 1512 |
312 | 312 B | 312 T | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ||||||||||||
| 312 T | 126 C | 156/85 | F1/86 | F1/87 | 640 | 641 | 642/643 | F92A | F93A | 412T | F310/B | F300 | F399 | F1-2000 | F2001 | F2001 F2002 |
F2002B F2003-GA |
F2004 | F2004M F2005 |
248 | F2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||