Current Ferrari

Ferrari

FIA Entry: Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
Drivers Car 5: Fernando Alonso
Car 6: Felipe Massa
Engine: Ferrari V8
Chairman: Luca di Montezemolo
Team Principal: Stefano Domenicali
Technical Director: Aldo Costa
Race Engineer Car 5: Andrea Stella
Race Engineer Car 6: Rob Smedley

Stats as of end 2010 Season

First Entered: 1950
Races Entered: 813
Race Wins: 215
Pole Positions: 205
Fastest Laps: 224
Driver World Championships: 15
Constructor World Championships: 16

Team History

Ferrari are the only team to have taken part in the F1 World Championship since it's inception in 1950. They are synonymous with F1 and, for many, the reason why they follow the sport. Ferrrai fans, or Tifosi, have clubs across the World and can be see supporting their beloved red cars from China to Brazil.

Pre-War

Enzo Ferrari founded Scuderia (Italian for Stable) Ferrari in 1929 as the race entrants for Alfa Romeo. In 1938 Alfa decided to create their own race team and Scuderia Ferrari became part of the Alfa Course team. Disagreeing with the decision Enzo Ferrari was dismissed. As part of his contract he wasn't allowed to enter motor sport under his own name for 4 years. Ferrari started to build his own car in 1939 but the start of WWII meant the Ferrari factory was used for other purposes

Before the World Championships

The first racing Ferrari was the Tipo 125 with a 12 cylinder 1.5 litre engine developed in 1947. This was the first car to bear the now legendary Ferrari name. In 1948 the 125 F1 was built with a supercharged version of the 12 cylinder engine which won 5 Grands Prix in 1949.

The 1950's

Ferrari missed the first race of the first World Championship season with their first entry being at Monaco with the 125 F1. The first V12 powered Ferrari appeared at the Belgian Grand Prix that year and Ascari finished 5th.

Ferrari's first F1 win came at the British Grand Prix in 1951 with the Tipo 375 in the hands of Froilan Gonzales. With F1 run to F2 regulations in 1952 and '53, causing the withdrawal of Alfa Romeo, Ferrari dominated and Alberto Ascari in the Tipo 500, with a 4 cylinder 2 litre engine, won the Drivers World Championship both years.

1954 saw the introduction of the 2.5 litre formula and Ferrari had new competition from Maserati, Lancia and Mercedes. The new Mercedes team were too strong and Ferrari could only manage two races wins.

Ferrari only won one race in 1955 and for 1956 used chassis bought from the now defunct Lancia team. With Mercedes withdrawal Fangio moved to Ferrari and duly won his 3rd consecutive championship. Still using the ageing Lancia chassis in in 1957 Ferrari failed to win a race. 1958 saw Mike Hawthorn win the Drivers Championship in the new 246 Dino, named after Enzo Ferrari's recently deceased son. Ferrari missed out to Vanwall in the inaugural year of the Constructors Championship.

1959 saw Tony Brooks, in the Top 246 just miss out on the Drivers Championship to Jack Brabham in a rear engined Cooper.

The 1960's

Slow to react the the obvious advantages of the rear engined cars Ferrari continued with the 246 in 1960 and only managed a single victory.

For 1961 engines sizes were limited to 1.5 litres and Ferrari entered their first rear engined car, the Tipo 156. Based on the previous years F2 car Phil Hill took the Drivers Championship and Ferrari their first Constructors title. With little development to the 156 Ferrari failed to win a race in 1962.

In a season dominated by Jim Clark and Lotus, John Surtees put Ferrari back in the winners circle in 1963 with a win Germany following the introduction of the "Aero" 156 semi-monocoque car. With 3 wins in 1964 Surtees won the Drivers titles by a single point from Graham Hill in the last race of the season and Ferrari took their 2nd constructors title.

Clark and Lotus dominated again in 1965 and Ferrari couldn't compete against the British Garagerists. The new 3 litre engine regulations for 1966 proved more successful and John Surtees won in Belgium and Mexico to take 2nd place in the Drivers Championship. The Tipo 312 didn't do well for Ferrari in 1967 with a highest position of 3rd. Jacky Ickx managed a single win for the Scuderia in 1968 at the French Grand Prix. Continuing with the 312 into 1969 Ferrari again had a barren year.

The 1970's

With Ickx back at Ferrari for 1970 and a with B spec version of the 312 Ferrari won four races, three for Ickx and one for young Swiss driver Clay Regazzoni, in his début year in F1. Ickx finished 2nd in the Drivers Championship to Jochen Rindt, F1's first posthumous World Champion, and Ferrari managed the same position in the constructors title race.

Ickx and Mario Andretti won races in 1971 but the season was dominated by Jackie Stewart and his Tyrrell car. Ickx won a single race in 1972 but, as the team continued with the 312B, they were outpaced but Lotus and Tyrrell in 1973.

A young Austrian driver by the name of Niki Lauda was partnered with Regazzoni for 1974 and the team regrouped under the leader ship of Luca di Montezemolo. Lauda won his first race, and Ferrari’s first win since 1972, in Spain. Lauda won again in Holland and Regazzoni in Germany to place Ferrari 2nd in the constructors championship.

Ferrari’s decision to sign Lauda was justified in 1975 as he won the Drivers with some ease, taking 5 race wins. Regazzoni also won the Italian Grand Prix and Ferrari won the Constructors title.

Lauda missed out on the drivers title by a single point to James Hunt in 1976. His season was "interrupted" by an horrific crash at the German Grand Prix at Nurburgring which nearly cost the Austrian his life. Astonishingly Lauda only missed two races but retired at the last race of the season believing the soaking conditions to dangerous to race in. Ferrari won the constructors title.

Lauda was Champion again in 1977 but left the team before the end of the season unhappy at the team's decision to run a 3rd car for Gilles Villeneuve at the Canadian Grand Prix.

For 1978 Ferrari paired Villeneuve alongside Argentine driver Carlos Reutemann. The 312T3, with it's flat 12 engine, wasn't ideal for the new "wing" car technology but Reutemann still managed 4 race wins and Villeneuve took a début win at his home race in Canada.

Reutemann was replaced by Jody Scheckter for 1979 and with the 312 now in T4 guise won the Driver Championship with 4 wins. Villeneuve contributed a further 3 races victories and Ferrari ran away with the Constructors title.

The 1980's

Struggling on with their flat 12 engine for 1980 Ferrari had a dreadful season with 5th place being the best the could manage. Scheckter retired from F1 at the end of 1980 and was replaced by French driver Didier Pironi.

Ferrari moved into a new era in 1981 and introduced a V6 turbo powered car. Although the engine produced plenty of power the 126CK chassis was not quite as good but, in Villeneuve’s hands, Ferrari took two races wins including Monaco, the first for a turbo car in the modern era.

1982 saw a new car designed by Harvey Posthelthwaite which gave their drivers a chassis which could match the engine. However it proved to be a tragic season with Villeneuve losing his life in qualifying at the Belgium Grand Prix and Pironi having an accident which would end his career during practice in Germany. Finishing the season with replacement drivers Patrick Tambay and Mario Andretti, Ferrari won the constructors title.

For 1983 Ferrari had an all French driver line up with Rene Arnoux joining Tambay. Tambay won one race and Arnoux 3 giving Ferrari a 2nd consecutive Constructors title. Michele Alboreto joined Arnoux at Ferrari for 1984 and managed a solitary win at the Belgian Grand Prix.

Arnoux was dismissed from the team after only 1 race in 1985 and was replaced by Swede Stefan Johansson. Alboreto was leading the Drivers championship at the half way point of the season but unreliability cost him the title as he failed to finish the last 5 races of the season.

Ferrari failed to win a race in 1986. For 1987 Gerhard Berger took Johansson's seat and and proved his worth by winning the last two races of the season. Berger won the Italian Grand Prix in 1988 and was the only driver, other than Prost and Senna in McLaren's, to win a race that year.

Nigel Mansell was singed to partner Berger in 1989 and won the opening race of the season. He won again in Hungary and Berger won in Portugal but the Ferrari cars were outclassed by the McLaren machines.

The 90's

1989 World Champion joined Mansell at Ferrari for 1990. Prost and Senna diced for the drivers title through to the Japanese Grand Prix where his hoped were ended when Senna drove into him as they braked for the first corner on the first lap.

Mansell Left Ferrari in 1991 to be replaced by Jean Alesi. Ferrari failed to win a race and Prost's criticism of the team resulted in him being replaced for the last race of the season by Gianni Morbidelli.

1992 to 1995 were lean times for Ferrari win only two wins, Berger in Germany 1994 and Alesi Canada 1995 before double World Champion Michael Schumacher joined the team from Benetton for 1996.

The Schumacher Era

Schumacher won 3 races for Ferrari in 1996 and in 1997 was joined by ex-Benetton engineers Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn. It proved to be an astonishingly successful partnership. Between 1997 and 2006, when Schumacher retired, they dominated the sport. From 149 races Schumacher won 63, took 51 poles, 43 fastest laps and 98 podiums. Schumacher won 5 five successive Drivers Titles between 2000 and 2004 and the team took the Constructors Title from 1999 to 2004.

During his time at Ferrari he was partnered by Eddie Irvine, '96 to '99, Rubens Barrichello, 2000 to 2005, and Felipe Massa for his final season. The period wasn't without controversy as Schumacher had a clause in his contract classifying him as Number 1 driver and on a number of occasions his team mates were required by the team to move aside and let Schumacher gain a higher place resulting in a change to the regulations by the FIA outlawing team orders.

Schumacher retired at the end of 2006 having placed 3rd and 2nd in the Driver title race to Fernando Alonso in 2005 and 2006.

From 2006

Kimi Raikkonen took on the task of filling Schumacher's place in the team for 2007 and duly won the Drivers Title and Ferrari the Constructors. 2008 saw Felipe Massa lose out on the title to Lewis Hamilton as Hamilton took the 5th place he needed two corners from the end of the last race of the season. Ferrrai had the consolation of the Constructors Championship.

Raikkonen and Massa raced together in 2009 and Raikkonen took a single win at the Belgian Grand Prix. Massa was injured in a freak accident at the Hungarian race and his place was taken by Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fischella. The replacement drivers showed the short comings of the Ferrari 056 chassis and were some distance behind Raikkonen in the races they competed in.

Double World Champion Fernando Alonso took Raikkonen's place for 2010 and, like Mansell in 1989, won a place in the hearts of Ferrari supporters by winning his first race. With 5 wins through the season, including Ferrari’s home race in Italy, he was challenging for the title through to the final round but could only manage 7th in Abu Dhabi losing out on the title to Sebastien Vettel by 4 points.

2011 sees Ferrari continue with Alonso and Massa as their drivers and have named their car the F150th Italia to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italy's foundation as a nation.
 
Here's a question for everyone, which is the worse car, the 2009 car or the 2011 car. On the surface both only have one victory, and both often spend their races not really challenging for victories but the 2009 car was more extreme in that it was either the best, (Spa) or completely awful (Singapore, Abu Dhabi)
 
No team has time to test a wing upgrade outside of a Grand Prix weekend. Ferrari are no different to anyone else. Testing's done in Practice, possibly even Q1 or, in the extreme. even in Q2.

Did you happen to see what the conditions were in Q1 and Q2? Exactly as expected, too wet to get a true reading as to whether or not the new wing was faster.

They're going racing with the wing in less than two hours. The wind tunnel and simulation work must have suggested the new development was better/faster overall

Ask a few McLaren fans as to whether or not wind tunnel data is totally reliable.

Otherwise why would Alonso - who is only interested in winning at least one of the remaining 4 races - go racing with it?

He came close to a win in Japan only 7 days ago...so why would he use something new if it wasn't going to be faster.

Alonso was not that close to the win on a circuit which should be the best for Ferrari on the run in to the end of the season. What he was actually doing was trying his best to hold on to second place.

Logic would dictate the new wing is faster. Shame that Massa doesn't have one either.

If there is only one available give it to the better driver.

Since Silverstone in 2010, Red Bull have gone out of their way to make sure a new development is on both cars (unless one gets broken as a result of an accident/driver error). It's pathetic to see Ferrari going to this extreme to subjugate Massa. It's not as if they don't have enough Marlboro money!

Just in case you hadn't realised, the amount of money the teams can spend is now limited. Ferrari make a good profit but in the current situation they can't use it.
 
The 2009 car - the F60 - never got developed after July and was not only behind the RBR, Brawn and McLaren by the middle of August, but it also got leap-frogged by BMW and Toyota.

At Spa, BMW and Toyotas out-qualified the Ferrari. The Force India also out-qualified it.

By the final races, these cars were faster than the F60:

Red Bulls
McLarens
Brawns
BMWs
Toyotas

and, possibly, Force India.

The 2011 car just got a new wing upgrade for Alonso and it only has RBR and McLaren ahead of it.
 
Well Felipe didn't play the sucker today...Well done Felipe and also Ferrari for letting the guys race.

Quite! :thumbsup: The championship is over so it's best to not subjugate Felipe' any further given that he didn't have use of the new wing upgrade for this race to begin with.

It would be interesting to see what would happen to Alonso if Ferrari used a stronger and more competitive driver, though.

I simply can't see Alonso's points haul being better if Hamilton, Button, Vettel, Webber were in the other car.

Hopefully Alonso won't spit out his dummy for Ferrari not vehemently insisting that Felipe' give way whilst they were behind Webber and then Rosberg. The Brazilian needs to show other team managers that he's still worthy of being in Formula One once he's out of contract at Maranello.
 
I like to see teammates allowed to race each other, but if Massa hadn't held up Alonso that much Alonso might have been fighting for a podium and Massa would likely have finished in the same position.
 
Alonso’s just said on the forum he wasn’t actually been held up by Massa as he was only that quick on his final set of tyres. He could be telling the truth as Massa did start to pull a gap on him after they got past Rosberg.
 
I like to see teammates allowed to race each other, but if Massa hadn't held up Alonso that much Alonso might have ...

The fact is Alonso was no quicker than Massa when they were directly behind other cars in the first two stints and on those tyres.

In the first instance, they were right behind Webber and Alonso admitted he was struggling with his tyres.

In the second instance, they were stuck right behind Rosberg and Alonso was, admittedly, still struggling with tyres.

Why shouldn't Massa be allowed to "race"? It's supposed to be a Grand Prix "race", isn't it? ;)

Hamilton's lost wins due to "racing" Button...so why should Alonso have it so easy with his teammate all the time?

I'm just amazed how the Alonso supporters expect him to have a free pass when he's behind Massa. Doesn't seem right that Alonso should have no in-team competition whilst Hamilton's got Button to beat and whilst Vettel has Webber doing him no favours whatsoever.

Nando should have out-qualified Felipe' or passed him off the line. He didn't, so why should Felipe' sacrifice his F1 career for it?
 
Yup, on the forum when asked about the subject Alonso said that Massa wasn’t holding him up on the first two tyre stints, this looks the case once they cleared Rosberg as Massa then pulled away from Alonso. Once they were on the third sets Alonso was then the quicker of the two, he said he didn’t know why but they would look into it.
 
The fact is Alonso was no quicker than Massa when they were directly behind other cars in the first two stints and on those tyres.

In the first instance, they were right behind Webber and Alonso admitted he was struggling with his tyres.

In the second instance, they were stuck right behind Rosberg and Alonso was, admittedly, still struggling with tyres.

Why shouldn't Massa be allowed to "race"? It's supposed to be a Grand Prix "race", isn't it? ;)

Hamilton's lost wins due to "racing" Button...so why should Alonso have it so easy with his teammate all the time?

I'm just amazed how the Alonso supporters expect him to have a free pass when he's behind Massa. Doesn't seem right that Alonso should have no in-team competition whilst Hamilton's got Button to beat and whilst Vettel has Webber doing him no favours whatsoever.

Nando should have out-qualified Felipe' or passed him off the line. He didn't, so why should Felipe' sacrifice his F1 career for it?

Well I stand corrected that Massa held up Alonso, but as I said I want to see team-mate's racing each other. My point is that at Ferrari Massa seems to be contractually the number 2 driver so the fact is unfortunately he's going to have to give Alonso a free pass when the team ask him to as in general Alonso is the quicker driver.

Massa may have out qualified Alonso and it seems that they were allowed to race today but Alonso still managed to finish in front.

You ask why should Felipe sacrifice his F1 career for it? Well apart from 2008 he has arguably spent his entire career at Ferrari as a number 2 driver and yet he seems content to remain in that situation. Ferrari have always seemed to favour one driver over another back to the days when Fangio used to take-over his team-mate's car if his broke down. Massa has clearly accpeted this otherwise he'd be driving for another team.
 
Well I stand corrected that Massa held up Alonso, but as I said I want to see team-mate's racing each other...

... Massa has clearly accpeted this otherwise he'd be driving for another team.

You make some very good points, Viscount.

One wonders if this is the right way to go motor racing at this time in history for a team as big as Ferrari.

The Top cars are getting more and more equal in this 'control era' in relation to the late 90s and early-to-mid 2000s so it might not be a bad idea for Ferrari to have two fully competitive drivers and cars going to each Grand Prix meeting.

They've gotten beaten by the likes of Red Bull and McLaren in the Constructors Championship for three years running now. 2009, 2010 and 2011. That's not good enough for a team as big as Ferrari, IMO.
 
Here's a question for everyone, which is the worse car, the 2009 car or the 2011 car. On the surface both only have one victory, and both often spend their races not really challenging for victories but the 2009 car was more extreme in that it was either the best, (Spa) or completely awful (Singapore, Abu Dhabi)

2009 one I would say is worse, it had more cars faster than it, I wouldn't say it was the best at Spa, there were several cars which were faster that day, Toyota, Force India and the Red Bull, the driver on that day made the difference. It only contended for one win.

The 2011 car, has always been the 3rd best car that changed at Silverstone and Nurburgring, wouldn't say it was the fastest at Nurburgring think all 3 cars where pretty equal, plus it's contended for more races them being - Monaco, Canada, Silverstone, Nurburgring and Japan.

You ask why should Felipe sacrifice his F1 career for it? Well apart from 2008 he has arguably spent his entire career at Ferrari as a number 2 driver and yet he seems content to remain in that situation. Ferrari have always seemed to favour one driver over another back to the days when Fangio used to take-over his team-mate's car if his broke down. Massa has clearly accpeted this otherwise he'd be driving for another team.

He wasn't number 2 in 2007 or 2009 either and drove really well in those seasons.
 
You make some very good points, Viscount.

One wonders if this is the right way to go motor racing at this time in history for a team as big as Ferrari.

The Top cars are getting more and more equal in this 'control era' in relation to the late 90s and early-to-mid 2000s so it might not be a bad idea for Ferrari to have two fully competitive drivers and cars going to each Grand Prix meeting.

They've gotten beaten by the likes of Red Bull and McLaren in the Constructors Championship for three years running now. 2009, 2010 and 2011. That's not good enough for a team as big as Ferrari, IMO.

With the history and the money that Ferrari have they could easily get two of the fastest drivers on the grid and let them battle on the track to be team leader, but specifically hiring a number 1 and driver seems to be Ferrari's way and they don't want to change. Though the main issue at Ferrari is in the past few years they haven't been able to design a car fast enough to allow both drivers to consistently be competitive.

I hope the teams get even closer next year, but as this year has been relatively easy for Red Bull winning both championships I fear they've had enough time to build another dominant car for next year.
 
Ferrari were unfortunate with events going against them.

Raikkonen won the WDC in his first year, then in his second year things went against him, seemingly causing him to lose interest. As early as Monza 2008 the number one summariser was saying after the race that the fans wanted Alonso in his place, with which he (the summariser) seemed to be in agreement. Massa was benefiting from Raikkonen's woes, becoming the leading driver, culminating in him being runner-up in the WDC.

Alonso was signed up to join Ferrari in 2010, meaning that one of the other drivers had to go. Raikkonen seemed to be favourite for the drop and then Massa had his accident at Hungary. It was not too long before it seemed possible that Massa could be driving again in 2010. It would have been difficult to sideline him in the circumstances, this was the final nail in Raikkonen's coffin. The settlement was expensive but ensured that Raikkonen would not be driving against Ferrari.

Whether Massa had not fully recovered from the accident we will never know. What we do know is that Alonso has proved to be a quicker driver than Massa and has become the tifosi's favourite and the leader of the team.

What Ferrari need now is a competitive car, I feel that this would also be to Massa's benefit.
 
Whether Massa had not fully recovered from the accident we will never know. What we do know is that Alonso has proved to be a quicker driver than Massa and has become the tifosi's favourite and the leader of the team.

Hm...I had a few friends that went to Monza last year, and I even noticed it on tv, that for some reason Massa got more of a cheer than Alonso.

Not sure if he is the Tifosi's favourite, he could be now
 
Hm...I had a few friends that went to Monza last year, and I even noticed it on tv, that for some reason Massa got more of a cheer than Alonso.

Not sure if he is the Tifosi's favourite, he could be now

They weren't in the stand at the first chicane then (although the Kubica fan club was).
 
Just came across this photo of Ferrari/Alonso's 'new' front wing in Korea next to the Red Bull.

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Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Maybe Adrian Newey really does spend his weekends in Maranello moonlighting.
 
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