Ferrari is one of the most evocative names in Formula 1, with a proud history in motor racing going back to the earliest days of the sport. Enzo Ferrari had a passion for motor racing in his blood, setting up Scuderia Ferrari in 1929. This was a group of gentleman drivers who enjoyed the cut and thrust of racing their cars with each other and was formed long before the Ferrari marque was born
The very first Ferrari production car appeared through the gates of Maranello in 1947 and, following its first race in May of that month, went on to record Ferrari’s very first win just a couple of weeks later at the Rome Grand Prix. This was not a Formula One Grand Prix though, since the official F1 World Championship did not begin until 1950. The season was only six races long, plus the Indianapolis 500, though no European teams competed in the United States’ flagship race. The season was dominated by Alfa Romeo but it wasn’t long before Ferrari began to make its name.
The 1951 Formula One Season began where it had finished, with the Alfa Romeos dominant. However, the mid-way point of the season saw the emergence of Ferrari, with the team recording their first F1 Grand Prix victory at the Silverstone circuit. This was then followed by two more victories in the next two Grands Prix – Germany and Italy. Ferrari driver Alberto Ascari narrowly missed out on winning the World Championship that year, with that honour going to another motor racing icon, Juan Manuel Fangio.
1952 was to be a different story though. The season saw the Ferrari team win every Grand Prix (excluding Indianapolis in which no non-United States teams competed) and Ascari win the Formula 1 Drivers Championship. The Ferrari Formula 1 team dominated proceedings in 1953 too, with Ascari again winning the F1 championship, making him the first driver to win consecutive championships and cementing the place of Ferrari in the pantheon of Formula 1.
Alberto Ascari may have been the first Ferrari Formula 1 driver to win the World Championship but he was far from the last. Juan Manuel Fangio, who had previously been a competitor of Ferrari, moved to the team and won in 1956. Then, in 1958, the British motor racing ace Mike Hawthorn took the drivers laurel, followed in 1961 by Phil Hill. This was also the year Ferrari won their first constructors championship, which was introduced in 1958. Another British F1 driver, John Surtees won in 1964, when the constructors title again went to the iconic Ferrari team.
It wasn’t until 1975 that the prancing horse of Scuderia Ferrari would top the standings again, with the great Niki Lauda heading the first of three consecutive years of Ferrari winning the constructors title, with Lauda winning two drivers championships.
There were intermittent titles for Ferrari following this, until the arrival in the team of one of the most revered drivers in F1 history, Michael Schumacher. From 1999 to 2004 the Ferrari Formula 1 team won the constructors title every year, with Schumacher taking five consecutive drivers titles from 2000. Ferrari won the constructors titles again in both 2007 and 2008, with Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen taking the drivers championship in the first of those years. Looking at the 2022 Formula 1 season, Scuderia Ferrari are looking to Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to bring those glory days back. To add their names to the Ferrari hall of fame and sit alongside some of the most important drivers in Formula 1 history.