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Scuderia Ferrari
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Scuderia Ferrari is the 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 completely devoted its attention and funding to its Formula One team, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Scuderia is Italian for "stable", and Ferrari refers to Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the company.
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Encyclopedia
Scuderia Ferrari is the 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 completely devoted its attention and funding to its Formula One team, Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. Scuderia is Italian for "stable", and Ferrari refers to Enzo Ferrari, the founder of the company. The prancing horse was the symbol on Italian World War I ace Francesco Baracca's fighter plane, and became the logo of Ferrari after the fallen ace's parents, good friends with Enzo Ferrari, asked him so, to continue his tradition of sportsmanship, gallantry and boldness.
Scuderia Ferrari was founded in 1929, and raced for Alfa Romeo until 1939. Ferrari first competed in F1 in 1948 (the team's first F1 car was the Tipo 125 F1), making it the oldest team left in the championship and statistically the most successful one (with a record of 15 drivers' championships and 16 constructors' championships won). The team's numerous and ardent Italian fans are known as tifosi, though the team also has a vibrant international following.
The team's current drivers are Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen, who has signed on to Ferrari for a three-year contract after the retirement of Michael Schumacher following the 2006 season, and its test drivers are Luca Badoer and Marc Gené. Ferrari are the reigning Constructors' title holders, after the conclusion of the 2008 season.
On 12 November 2007 Ferrari President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo announced team's new structure, with Jean Todt moving up to his senior role as CEO of the company, Stefano Domenicali will be taking over as team principal as Ross Brawn declined a return following his sabbatical (later on the same day being announced as the new Team Principal ofHonda F1), Aldo Costa as technical director and Mario Almondo as Operations Director.
Early history
Originally founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929 to enter amateur drivers in various races, in 1933 Scuderia Ferrari became the acting racing team of Alfa Romeo. In October 1939 Enzo Ferrari left Alfa when the racing activity stopped and immediately began work a racecar of his own, the Tipo 815 (eight cylinders, 1.5 L 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. Once racing restarted after the war Ferrari constructed the 12-cylinder, 1.5 L Tipo 125, which competed at several non-championship Grands Prix.
Formula One
1950s
Ferrari debuted in the Formula One World Championship in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix with the 125 F1, sporting a supercharged version of the 125 V12, and two experienced and successful drivers, Alberto Ascari and Gigi Villoresi. The company later switched to the large-displacement naturally-aspirated formula for the 275, 340, and 375 F1 cars. The Alfa Romeo team dominated the 1950 Formula One season, winning all eleven events it entered (six World Championship events and five non-Championship races), but Ferrari broke their streak in 1951 when rotund driver José Froilán González took first place at the 1951 British Grand Prix.
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 2.0 L 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 L 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, González 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 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.
In the 1958 Formula One season, a constructor championship was introduced, and won by Vanwall. 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.
1960s
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.
In the 1961 Formula One season, with new rules for 1500 cm³, the team kept Hill, von Trips and Ginther, and débuted 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, together with over a dozen spectators. Hill won the championship.
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.
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.
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 Rodríguez, 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.
The 1965 Formula One season was the last year of the 1.5 L 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.
For the 1966 Formula One season with new rules, the Ferrari 312 of Surtees consisted of a 3.0 L version of the 3.3 L 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 Tasman Series 2.4 L V6 car 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 Rodríguez replaced Ickx; at the end of the year Amon left the team.
1970s
In 1970 Jacky Ickx rejoined the team and won the Austrian, the Canadian and the Mexican Grand Prix to become second in the driver championship.
After three poor years, Ferrari signed Niki Lauda in 1974, and made the momentous decision to pull out of sportscar racing to concentrate upon F1. However, poor reliability with the 312B3 kept them from taking victory that year.
The new Ferrari 312T, developed fully with Niki Lauda, introduced in 1975 brought Ferrari back to winning ways. Niki taking the drivers' crown and Ferrari the constructors'.
In 1976 Lauda crashed at the German Grand Prix. Carlos Reutemann was hired as a replacement, so with Clay Regazzoni driving the other car, Ferrari had to run three cars in the 1976 Italian Grand Prix when Lauda returned unexpectedly soon (only 6 weeks after his accident). Lauda scored points, but retired from the last race in Japan in heavy rain, thus allowing James Hunt to take the title by just a single point.
In 1977 Lauda, having come back from his near fatal crash the previous year, took the title again for Ferrari (and the team won the costrucutors' championship), overcoming his more fancied, and favoured, team mate. His relations with the team, especially the team manager Mauro Forghieri continued to deteriorate, and he decided finally to leave for Brabham.
In 1978, Ferrari raced with Carlos Reutemann and Gilles Villeneuve, and while they managed to produce a solid car it, like everyone that year, was outclassed by the ground effect Lotus 79.
Jody Scheckter replacing the Lotus bound Argentinian in 1979, took the title, supported by Gilles Villeneuve (who dutifully followed the South African home at Monza, having been ordered to do so), won the last World Drivers' Championship in a Ferrari until Michael Schumacher twenty one years later. The car was a compromise ground effect design due to the configuration of the Ferrari wide angle V12, which was overtaken in due course by the extremely successful Williams FW07, but not before racking up the necessary points to take both title that year.
1980s
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. Ferrari first called up Patrick Tambay, in place of the late Villeneuve, and later Mario Andretti in an effort to protect Pironi's lead in the championship, but to no avail. In that same year 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.
Four wins by René Arnoux and Patrick Tambay won the team another constructors' title in 1983, but neither driver being consistent enough to challenge for the drivers' title. Patrick Tambay took an especially emotional victory at San Marino in front of the Tifosi.
Michele Alboreto was hired for 1984 following his impressive performances during previous year driving a Cosworth powered Tyrrell.
In 1985 Michele Alboreto ran Alain Prost very close for the championship.
On August 14, 1988, Enzo Ferrari died at the age of 90. Fiat's share of the company was raised to 90% with Enzo's only remaining son, Piero Ferrari, inheriting the remaining share from his father. A week after Enzo's death, Gerhard Berger and Michele Alboreto completed an historic 1-2 at the Italian Grand Prix, the only time a team other than McLaren won a Grand Prix in the 1988 season. Berger dedicated the win in memory of the late Enzo Ferrari.
1989 saw the end of turbo-charging in Formula 1. The formula was from this date for 3.5litre normally aspirated engines of no greater than 12 cylinders, which was a direct consequence of lobbying by Ferrari for the previous few years - they went so far as to construct an Indycar, the Ferrari 637, as a threat to the organizers that if they did not get what they wanted, namely banning turbos, they would take their toys to a different arena. Due to the expected extreme high revs, and consequent narrow power band, expected of the new motors technical director John Barnard insisted upon the development of a revolutionary new gear-shifting arrangement - the paddle operated semi-automatic gearbox. In pre season testing it proved extremely troublesome, with newly arrived driver Nigel Mansell being unable to compete more than a handful of laps, but nonetheless they managed a debut win at the opening round in Brazil. Horrendous unreliability lead to Berger being unable to score a point until a run of podiums at Monza, Estoril and Jerez including a win at Estoril. Mansell scored a memorable win at Budapest where he overtook world champion Ayrton Senna for the win after qualifying far down the field in fourteenth. He then dedicated the race to the memory of Enzo Ferrari as the win came a year after his death.
1990s
The 1990s started in a promising way. Alain Prost replaced Gerhard Berger at Ferrari to partner Mansell for the season. As reigning world champion, Prost took over as the team's lead driver and was said to have played on Mansell's inferiority complex. Mansell recalls one incident where at the 1990 British Grand Prix, the car he drove didn't handle the same as in the previous race where had taken pole position, and later found out from team mechanics that Prost saw Mansell as having a superior car and had them swapped without Mansell knowing. Prost won 5 races and pushed Ayrton Senna to the controversial final race, where a collision forced him to settle for second. A disgruntled Mansell left the team at the end of the season.
Mansell's replacement was Frenchman Jean Alesi, who had been impressive during the previous two years at Tyrrell. However, Ferrari had entered a downturn in 1991, partially as their famous V12 engine was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter and more fuel efficient V10s of their competitors. Prost won no races, only getting onto the podium five times. He afterwards publicly criticized the team, described his car as harder to drive than "a truck"), and was fired prior to the end of the season, right before the Australian Grand Prix. Prost was replaced by Italian Gianni Morbidelli. The team won no races in 1991-1993.
Popular driver Gerhard Berger returned to Ferrari in 1993 to help it out of the doldrums. That year, Berger was instrumental in hiring Jean Todt as team principal, laying the foundations for the team's future successes. With the Ferrari 412T, Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi proved the car's competitiveness throughout the two seasons, with a brace of podium places and four pole positions. Bad luck limited the number of wins to one each for both Berger (1994 German Grand Prix) and Alesi (1995 Canadian Grand Prix), particularly Alesi who was in a position to win at Monza and the Nürburgring in 1995, but the car was a solid and competitive proposition.
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, all of which were memorable. In torrential conditions at Spain, after almost stalling and dropping to ninth, Schumacher went on to win the race by a comfortable margin to Jean Alesi. Following this, Ferrari had 2 incredibly embarrassing retirements at France and Canada, both before the races had even started. However, at Spa-Francorchamps Schumacher used right timed pit-stops to fend off the Williams of Jacques Villeneuve. Following that, at Monza, Schumacher scored a momentous win in front of the tifosi. As reliability greatly improved the Ferrari became the second strongest looking package in the hands of Schumacher ending with a strong fight with the Williams of champion Damon Hill for the win at Suzuka.
For 1997, the increased reliability of the previous year's development, the F310B, lead to some very strong performances when faster cars, notably the McLaren Mercedes of David Coulthard and Mika Häkkinen, retired. Schumacher took memorable wet weather wins at Monaco and Belgium, combined with outstanding drives at France and Japan, to force the slightly superior Williams Renault of Jacques Villeneuve to a last round title fight. However, Schumacher was disqualified from the 1997 standings for swerving into the car of Villeneuve who had just made a lunge down the inside of the Dry Sac corner of the Jerez circuit.
Following the dramatic 1997 season, Ferrari came out with an all new car to fit the new regulations for 1998. Although it was a competitive package, the McLaren-Mercedes MP4/13 was most often stronger. Schumacher won six races that season including three in a row at Canada, France and Great Britain. The Hungarian Grand Prix was won after a tactical master-stroke by Brawn decided to make the car run a 3-stop strategy as opposed to McLaren's 2. Schumacher then went on to lead Irvine home to Ferrari's first 1-2 at Monza since the memorable 1988 race after Enzo Ferrari's death. Schumacher lost the title to McLaren's Mika Häkkinen at Suzuka after he stalled on the front row then suffered a mid-race puncture. Irvine was fourth in the championship with Ferrari second in the constructors title.
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, notably Suzuka 1997 which lead critics to remark "So Irvine can drive!". The leg injury of Michael Schumacher 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, and being replaced by Mika Salo. 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 where Schumacher had taken part.
2000s
From 2000 to 2004 Michael Schumacher dominated formula 1 like no other driver in the history of the sports.
In 2000 Schumacher had a close battle with rival Mika Häkkinen of McLaren but won the championship in the Ferrari F1-2000, winning 9 races out of 17 that year. He was Ferrari's first driver champion in 21 years, since Jody Scheckter in 1979. Teammate Rubens Barrichello finished 4th in the championship, taking his maiden win at the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring after Schumacher was taken out in the first corner and Barrichello qualified 18th.
In 2001 Schumacher won the World Championship 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 Schumacher 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). 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; Schumacher eventually won the championship by 2 points, surpassing Fangio's record. In 2003, F1 magazine reported that Ferrari's budget was $443,800,000.
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 Season
2005 saw a 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) was 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.
Another factor was the poor relative performance of the team's Bridgestone tyres, which failed to give performance for single lap qualifying and were not as durable as their Michelin rivals during races. However, the tyres provided for San Marino Grand Prix were more competitive, 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.
Near the end of the 2005 season, Rubens Barrichello announced that he was leaving the team at the end of the year and joining the Honda F1 team. Barrichello's departure was partly due to his dissatisfaction with his continued "Number 2" status at Ferrari. At the 2005 Monte Carlo Grand Prix Schumacher managed his way past Barrichello with a breathtaking manouvre (on a track where overtaking is highly difficult and dangerous) near the end of the race. Ferrari named former Sauber-Petronas driver Felipe Massa as Barrichello's replacement for the following season.
2006 Season
With the 'one set of tyres per race' rule no longer in use, Ferrari, after a poor 2005 and a troubled start to 2006, were again close contenders for both Drivers' and Constructors' titles by the latter part of the 2006 season. Unlike some recent seasons, they started 2006 with their new car, the 248 F1.
At the Bahrain Grand Prix Schumacher finished second. At the Malaysian Grand Prix problems with the engine's piston rings meant that both drivers had to change their engines, Massa needing two changes (a ten-position penalty at the start of the race is enforced for an engine change prior to a legal engine change). In Australia both drivers crashed out of the race. At the San Marino Schumacher took pole position in qualifying and won the race. At the European race, Schumacher won again. At the Spanish Grand Prix Fernando Alonso won, with Schumacher finishing second.
At Monaco Schumacher's qualifying times were deleted for stopping his car during the qualifying session. Schumacher started from the back of the grid but finished fifth (on a track where overtaking is highly difficult and dangerous). At both Silverstone and Canada Schumacher finished second. At the United States Grand Prix the Ferrari's of Schumacher and Massa were dominant all weekend, finishing the race first and second. At the French Grand Prix Schumacher was first, followed by Alonso and Massa.
At the Hockenheimring in Germany Räikkönen took pole position, however in the race both Ferraris overtook Räikkönen at the first round of pit stops and Schumacher went on to win. At the Hungarian GP Massa qualified 2nd and Schumacher 11th due to a 2 second penalty from Saturday practice. At the start of the wet race the Ferraris initially struggled. Later in the race Schumacher continued to drive on intermediate tyres while other drivers on dry tyres like Pedro de la Rosa and Nick Heidfeld passed him easily. When Heidfeld passed Schumacher he collided with the BMW Sauber of Robert Kubica, and retired in 9th, promoting Massa to 8th. The subsequent disqualification of Kubica gave Massa 7th and Schumacher 8th.
At Turkey, Massa achieved his first ever pole and victory. What looked like a Ferrari 1-2 was disrupted by a caution which came out after Vitantonio Liuzzi's spin at Turn 1. Ferrari chose to stack Schumacher in the pits behind Massa. Renault were able to pit Alonso and he rejoined in second place. The three finished in this order. Schumacher did an overtaking manouvre on Alonso on the straight with the finish line, but the finishline came mere meters too soon for Schumacher.
At Monza, Schumacher scored a win at Ferrari's home Grand Prix, while Massa's fourth-place was spoiled when he ran over debris left behind by the failure of Alonso's Renault V8, puncturing a tyre and forcing him to pit, which left him in ninth place at the finish. Despite Massa not being able to score any points, the combination of Schumacher's win, Alonso's DNF, and a mediocre fourth-place finish for Giancarlo Fisichella allowed Ferrari to pull ahead of Renault in the World Constructors Championship for the first time in the 2006 season. Following the race at Monza Ferrari announced Schumacher's retirement effective at the end of the 2006 season and that Räikkönen, whom they had signed months before, would replace him in 2007.
At the Chinese Grand Prix Ferrari and the other Bridgestone-running teams again suffered in wet conditions. However, Schumacher managed to qualify ahead of Michelin drivers and seven places ahead of the next Bridgestone car. Despite taking pole position and setting the fastest lap, a poor tyre choice by Renault and a pit stop error allowed Schumacher to beat Alonso, his main rival for the Championship. At the Japanese Grand Prix, Ferrari again showed superiority in the qualifying stages, lapping up to 1.4s faster than the nearest competitors. Massa qualified 1st and Schumacher 2nd. However, in the race Alonso capitalised on Massa's early puncture and took 2nd place. On lap 34 Schumacher suffered his first in-race engine failure since 2000, forcing him to retire. Alonso won the race and opened a 10-point lead in the driver's championship with only one race to go. Massa finished 2nd.
At the Brazilian Grand Prix Massa claimed pole position. Schumacher suffered a fuel pressure problem in the last qualifying session which left him unable to put in even a single lap in this session. Schumacher ended up 10th on the grid and the championship leader Alonso at a comfortable 4th. The race itself was a dramatic one, with Schumacher making up 4 places in the first few laps, and then a safety car period followed. Once the race restarted Schumacher suffered a puncture while trying to over take the Renault of Fisichella. This puncture virtually ended Schumacher's bid for the race lead and any hope of winning the 2006 Drivers' title. The final result saw the first victory for a Brazilian driver in home soil since Ayrton Senna in 1993, with Massa 1st, Alonso 2nd, clinching the Drivers' title, followed by Honda's Jenson Button, who finished 3rd after putting in an impressive performance from 14th on the grid. Schumacher, after a stunning drive from the back of the grid (following his puncture), ended up 4th and set a lap record in his final lap of his career, but with Fisichella finishing 6th Ferrari lost the Constructors' title too.
2007 Season
The 2007 car was secretively unveiled on January 14, 2007. Kimi Räikkönen won the inaugural race of the 2007 season at Albert Park, becoming the first Ferrari driver to win on his début since Nigel Mansell. Ferrari attracted some criticism for running a moveable floor system in Melbourne, later confirmed to be illegal by the FIA after a rule clarification, though no punishment was applied. After a disappointing Malaysian Grand Prix, the team recovered to finish first and third in Bahrain, with Massa taking his first victory of the season.
Luca Colajanni, the Ferrari PR manager, claimed the team's wind tunnel was badly damaged in a testing accident, leaving the team unable to introduce new aerodynamic refinements to its cars until the wind tunnel was rebuilt, which took several weeks. With the tunnel rebuilt and a new aerodynamic package (notably adjustments to the front wing) the cars was seemingly on par with the McLarens. On 8 July, Kimi Räikkönen dominated the British Grand Prix at Silverstone with Massa coming 5th after stalling at the start of the race, consequently having to start in 22nd place.
At the European Grand Prix Räikkönen claimed pole position with Massa third. Early rain in the race caused the teams to change to intermediate tyres. Massa emerged in 1st, Alonso 2nd and Räikkönen third. On lap 34, Räikkönen retired with hydraulic problems. In the last few laps Massa was overtaken by Alonso and finished the race second, and 11 points adrift in the driver's championship to leader Lewis Hamilton.
At the controversial Hungarian Grand Prix McLaren was stripped of its 15 constructors' championship points. The Ferrari team forgot to fuel the car of Felipe Massa who was forced to start the race 14th, at a track where overtaking is very difficult. Räikkönen finished the race 2nd with Felipe Massa 13th. At the Turkish Grand Prix Massa took pole with Räikkonen third. Räikkonen passed Lewis Hamilton into the first corner. Massa and Räikkonen pulled away from the field and the two battled it out for the win. Massa prevailed, staying ahead of Räikkonen at both pitstops and winning.
The next race was Ferrari's home race in Italy, but the McLarens took a 1-2 in qualifying with Massa third and Räikkonen fifth, after a crash in practice. Räikkönen got ahead of Nick Heidfeld at the start, moving up into 4th. Massa was third until he retired with hydraulic failure. Räikkonen was sent on a one-stop strategy and so when the McLarens stopped for a second time, Räikkonen was second between Fernando Alonso and Hamilton. However, Hamilton passed Räikkonen after a few laps, and Räikkonen had to settle for third.
At the Belgian Grand Prix the qualifying went well, Ferrari taking their first 1-2 of the season, Räikkonen on pole with Massa second. Räikkonen maintained the lead during the pitsops and won, with Massa second. The 1-2 gave Ferrari the constructors championship as a result of McLaren's disqualification.
At the Japanese Grand Prix the McLarens took 1-2 in qualifying with Räikkonen third ahead of Massa. The start was under the safety car in treacherous conditions, and both drivers, unlike the rest of the field, were on intermediate tyres. Massa spun on these tyres and Nick Heidfeld went ahead of him. Massa then passed Heidfeld under the safety car to keep his place. Ultimately both drivers pitted under the safety car for wets, and were 21st and 22nd at the back, with the McLaren's 1st and 2nd. Finally the race started in a standing start, and Massa collided with Alexander Wurz while trying to pass him, taking Wurz out while Massa had to rejoin after a spin and was 10 seconds away from the field. Massa was then given a drive-through penalty for passing Heidfeld under the safety car. After that, the Ferraris charged up the order, as they were also refueled during the stops for wets and did not have to stop when the others did. Räikkonen did stop for fuel again at the right time, as Alonso brought out the safety car after crashing into a wall. This left Massa (who did not pit) in fifth and Räikkonen in seventh. This became third and fifth when Mark Webber and Sebastien Vettel collided behind the safety car, putting both out. Räikkonen then passed David Coulthard to take fourth. Massa was forced to pit for a splash and dash, dropping down to seventh. Räikkonen challenged Heikki Kovalainen for second but could not make it and was third. Massa took sixth by passing Robert Kubica on the last lap.
Going into the Chinese Grand Prix, Massa was already out of the title race, but Räikkonen still stayed in it, 5 points behind Alonso and 17 points behind Hamilton with 2 races to go. Hamilton took pole while Räikkonen was second and Massa was third. The race was in damp conditions but nothing changed at the start. During the first round of stops, Hamilton and Massa used the same wet tyres but Räikkonen and Alonso changed into a new set. Räikkonen then passed Hamilton while Alonso passed Massa at the same time, as Hamilton and Massa were felling the effects of grained tyres. Massa pitted early, but Hamilton stayed out late in the hope that it would rain. It did not, and Hamilton got beached in the pit lane gravel trap while trying to enter the pits. Räikkonen won ahead of Alonso and Massa to keep his championship hopes alive.
The last race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix, was in Massa's hometown in Brazil. Räikkönen was 7 points behind Hamilton and 3 points behind Alonso going into the race. In qualifying, Massa took pole with Hamilton second, Räikkönen third and Alonso fourth. At the start, Räikkönen took second while Hamilton dropped back to eighth after going into the gravel. He was up to seventh but then dropped to the back of the field in 18th after a gearbox glitch cost him around 20 seconds. The battle for the win was between Massa and Räikkönen with Alonso third. Massa kept the lead during the first round of stops but Räikkönen was able to get ahead of him in the second round. Behind, Hamilton had already charged his way up to seventh but was lapped. Räikkönen won the race and the championship, 10 points compared to Alonso's 6 and Hamilton's 2 in the race enabling him to get a point ahead of both with Massa finishing second to make it the team's fourth 1-2 finish.
Espionage allegations
On 3 July Nigel Stepney was dismissed by Scuderia Ferrari. Later the same day Ferrari announced it was taking legal action against Stepney and a McLaren engineer named by Autosport.com as Mike Coughlan; A Ferrari press release stated:
On his return from holiday in the Philippines on July 5, Stepney was interrogated by the Italian police as part of the industrial espionage case. On 6 July Honda F1 released a statement confirming that Stepney and Coughlan approached the team regarding "job opportunities" in June 2007. Since the revelation of Coughlan's involvement in the affair McLaren provided a full set of drawings and development documents (estimated to be around 800 pages) to the FIA, detailing all updates made to the team's chassis since the incident occurred at the end of April.
McLaren was eventually excluded from the 2007 Conctructors' Championship, in breach of Article 151(c) of the International Sporting Code, all but guaranteeing Ferrari the title. Ferrari won their 15th Constructors Title in Belgium the following weekend.
At the end of the season Ferrari would have finished 1 point ahead of McLaren and hence won the constructors' title on merit. This takes into consideration that McLaren was docked the 15 constructors' points they would have earned at Hungary, as a penalty for a qualifying pit incident; prior to that McLaren had a 27 point lead over Ferrari.
2008 Season
On 12 November 2007, the Ferrari team announced that Jean Todt would be departing the team principal role, instead taking up a senior executive role. He was replaced by Stefano Domenicali. It had been reported that this completed a shift in Ferrari personnel where the older foreign leadership was replaced with a new one comprised mostly of Italians.
On 6 January, Scuderia Ferrari launched the Ferrari F2008.
On the 2008 Season's first race the Australian Grand Prix Kimi Räikkönen suffered a fuel pressure problem which forced him to stop on the entrance of pit lane preventing engineers from repairing the car. He started in 16th place on the grid. Massa qualified in 4th place. During the twenty-fifth lap, Felipe Massa collided with Red Bull Racing's David Coulthard, putting the Scotsman out of the race and forcing Massa to pit. He retired several laps later with engine failure. Räikkönen also suffered the same fate retiring on the 54th lap. He finished 9th overall after completing 90% of the race and received 1 point. It was Ferrari's worst performance in a season-opening race since they drew a blank in the 1992 South African Grand Prix.
At the Malaysian Grand Prix, Kimi Räikkönen won the team's first race of the season. In qualifying, Massa had taken pole-position, with Räikkönen placed second. Massa took an early lead but was overtaken by his teammate at the first round of pit stops. It looked to be an easy 1-2 but Massa spun off into a gravel trap midway through the race and retired, with Räikkönen going on to win. Ferrari went to Bahrain confident, as they had tested there during the winter. Massa was quick in Q1 and Q2 but was pipped to pole by BMW's Robert Kubica, with Räikkönen 4th. The Brazilian took the lead at the start, with his team-mate following on to make a 1-2.
Round 4 saw the Spanish Grand Prix, where qualifying was dominated by Ferrari and McLaren. When it came to the race, the Ferraris shot out in front, with the lead switching between the two drivers several times, though it finished with Räikkönen leading Massa to the finish. In the qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix, Massa beat Hamilton to the pole position and on the Sunday Massa got away from the line well, holding his lead down to turn 1 with Hamilton and Räikkönen pushing from behind. Massa managed to hold onto his lead throughout the race, taking the win in Turkey for the third year in a row, with Hamilton leading Räikkönen home. Out of a possible 30 points in 3 races Massa had scored 28.
Monaco saw a race, in the early laps, between Hamilton and Massa, until Hamilton clipped a wall on the exit of the chicane, allowing Massa to secure his lead. Due to pit stop strategy for Hamilton, combined with a slow third pit stop for Massa, resulted in Massa dropping to third on the podium. When the Formula One calendar took them to North America at the Canadian Grand Prix, the Ferraris had a poor qualifying show followed by a taudry race for Räikkönen when he was shunted from behind by Hamilton, who was in turn shunted by Rosberg, while waiting for the light at the end of the pit lane. Massa appeared to lack pace during the race though proceeded up the pack as other cars retired.
At the French Grand Prix Ferrari got a 1-2 in qualifying, and it stayed that way during the race until Kimi Räikkönen's exhaust broke, causing Massa to take the lead, and for him to hold up drivers he'd lapped. He eventually finished second.
The British Grand Prix was took place in the wet, with Massa qualifying 10th and Räikkönen 3rd. Massa spun 5 times during the race and Räikkönen 3. Räikkönen finished 4th and Massa 13th. After this Massa, Raikkonem, and Lewis Hamilton were tied on 48 points.
At Hockenheim, Räikkönen qualified 4th and Massa 2nd. Lewis Hamilton took a big lead in the first stint from Felipe Massa, but had the gap reduced in the first safety car period. Massa and Räikkönen pitted in when the safety car was out, but Hamilton pitted afterwards and lost his lead. Nelson Piquet, Jr. had jumped from 17th to 2nd and was in front of Massa. Hamilton chased both down and won the race with Massa 3rd and Räikkönen 5th. On the weekend of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Massa qualified 3rd and Räikkönen 6th. Massa took the lead at the first corner and stayed roughly 5 seconds ahead of Hamilton for most of the race. 3 laps before the end of the race Massa retired with engine failure from first place. Heikki Kovalainen won the race and Räikkönen finished 3rd.
Over the Valencia weekend, Massa got pole position with Räikkönen 4th. Massa took the lead at the start and held it for the entire race, but Räikkönen dropped to 5th at the start. At his second pit stop Räikkönen left the pit box with the fuel hose still attached and injured a mechanic, he then retired 2 laps later with engine failure. At Massa's second pit stop, he was released alongside the Force India of Adrian Sutil and had to back off and let him pass. After the race Massa was fined 10,000 euros for unsafe release.
At the inaugral Singapore Grand Prix, Massa qualified on pole with Räikkönen 3rd on the start grid. Massa led until the first pitstop proved a disaster when he drove off with the fueling rig still attached. The rigging snapped knocking a pit mechanic to the ground. While the pit crew struggled to maintain their Italian dignity, they casually strolled to the end of the pit lane to remove the attached rigging, causing Massa to lose precious time. Video replay revealed the Ferrari mechanic operating the automatic pit light signal system suffering because of the pressure of a race. He was later seen crying because of his mistake.
Räikkönen eventually crashed out 4 laps before the end of the grand prix with Massa finishing second-to-last.
At the Japanese Grand Prix Räikkönen finished 3rd, while Massa finished 7th. More importantly, Lewis Hamilton finished out of the points in 12th, meaning that Massa caught up more points leaving him only 5 points behind Hamilton in the World Championship.
At the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix, it was a very different story. In qualifing Räikkönen was 2nd and Massa was 3rd with Hamilton on pole. Ferrari came second and third in the race, over 10 seconds behind the victor who was Hamilton. Massa was second, owing to Räikkönen letting him through because of the championship situation.
On 27 October 2008 Ferrari issued a statement saying that they will review their participation in Formula 1 at the end of the 2009 season because the FIA said for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons they wanted to introduce standardised engines. Ferrari have been in Formula 1 since it began in 1950.
At the last race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix the situation for Ferrari was: Felipe Massa was seven points behind Lewis Hamilton, meaning that Massa had to either finish first or second to win, and Hamilton had to be outside the top 5. Qualifying went well, Massa qualifying on pole, while Räikkönen qualified 3rd. Massa did very well the whole race long, leading the whole way. Hamilton, meanwhile, raced conservatively in order to safely secure the necessary points. Going into the last lap Massa still led while Hamilton was 5th. If the race stayed as it was Hamilton would win the Championship. Then, Hamilton, having made a mistake, was passed by Sebastien Vettel, moving Hamilton down to 6th. Felipe Massa, meanwhile, crossed the finish line and won the Grand Prix, and believed he had won the World Championshp. Hamilton was still sixth as he came up to the second-to-last corner, but passed Timo Glock, who was struggling for pace with the rain that had been falling during the last few laps on the dry tyres, moving Hamilton into 5th. Hamilton crossed the line get 5th position and the World Championship. It took Massa, Räikkönen, and Ferrari's team and mechanics about 30 seconds to realise that Hamilton had won and not Massa.
2008 Pit system
For 2008 Ferrari brought in a "traffic light" system to signal to their drivers when to leave the pits after a pit-stop. This system was introduced and used only by Ferrari; all other teams continued with the older "lollipop" system (although Honda did use a similar device in Friday practicing in the latter races of the season). The traffic light system has red, orange and green lights and is programmed to automatically go green when the fuel hose is taken out of the car. The lights could also be operated manually by pressing a button. At the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix the system had to be operated manually due to the large number of cars entering the pit lane during a caution period. During Felipe Massa's stop the mechanic controlling the system pressed the button too early, causing Massa to drive away with the fuel pipe still attached. After this incident Ferrari reverted to the old lollipop system for the remaining three races of the season. Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali commented that "We need to stay calm so we've decided to go back to the old system."
Sponsorship
Marlboro has sponsored Ferrari since 1984 and has been title sponsor since 1997 (prior to which it was the title sponsor of 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.
The Taiwanese computer company Acer is one of their sponsors. As part of the deal, Acer had sold Ferrari-badged laptops.
In December 2005 Vodafone announced that it was withdrawing its sponsorship of Ferrari in favour of title sponsorship of McLaren beginning in 2007. The Times said Ferrari were "stunned" by the decision. Vodafone's position on the car is assumed by Telecom Italia's broadband Alice brand.
Other companies sponsoring Scuderia Ferrari include: Fiat (Fiat car brand part of the Fiat car group which is a largest stakeholder, 85% owner of Ferrari), Shell - Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Alice, Bridgestone, AMD,Acer, and several others among which Mubadala Development Company (an investment company owned by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi) also owner of 5% of Ferrari's stakes as of the 2007 season;Etihad Airways (until 2011). On the other hand, semiconductor chipmaker AMD has reportedly decided to drop the sponsorship of the team and is just waiting for its contract to expire after its former Vice President and Sales Executive (who was an avid fan of motorsports) had left the company.
Apart from sponsors, Ferrari have the following companies as official suppliers: Magneti Marelli, IIR, SKF, Europcar, Iveco, NGK, Puma, Tata Consultancy Services, Brembo, BBS, SELEX Communications, Technogym, Schuberth, Microsoft (note: the sponsors/suppliers information is accurate for the 2009 season).
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, the Italian team has the unique distinction of owning nearly all significant records (as of the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix), including:
- Most constructor championships: 16
- Most driver championships: 15
- Most wins (all-time): 209
- Most wins (season): 15 (tied with McLaren)
- Most podiums (all-time): 622
- Most podiums (season): 29
- Most pole positions (all-time): 203
- Most points (all-time): 4,925.27
- Most points (season): 262
- Most fastest laps (all-time): 218
- Highest winning percentage: ~26% (for teams with at least 10 wins)
- Most F1 fatalities: 7 (4 race, 1 qualifying, 2 testing)
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 between 1967 and 2004, compared to 1,979 starts for Ferrari and Petronas-badged engines during the same period.
Formula One results
External links
- Ferrari's facilities at Maranello with Fiorano test track are at coordinates
- - Ferrari F1 community
- - Ferrari Formula 1 enthusiasts community
- - A Ferrari news and fan resource website
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