The only team to contest every Formula One championship since 1950, with 15 drivers' titles, 16 constructors' titles and a racing story that runs from Alfa Romeo days to the present.
Scuderia Ferrari is the most successful team in Formula One history, with 15 drivers' titles and 16 constructors' titles. It began in 1929 as Enzo Ferrari's racing stable, worked with Alfa Romeo on the track in the 1930s and has entered every championship season since 1950.
Scuderia Ferrari has taken part in every Formula One World Championship season since the series began in 1950, which makes it the only team to have done so. It has won 15 drivers' championships and 16 constructors' championships, and its history runs from a 1929 racing stable to the factory of today.
How did Scuderia Ferrari start in the 1920s and 1930s?
Enzo Ferrari decided to pursue racing at the age of ten, and he began a driving career in 1919. During the 1920s he worked for Alfa Romeo, racing in local events and holding a job at the company's Milan depot.
In 1929 he broke away to found and manage his own team, Scuderia Ferrari, designed as a stable for amateur and gentleman drivers. It was set up with a loan of one million lire from a local bank, plus backing from the wealthy racer Mario Tadini, the Caniato brothers and the tyre maker Pirelli, and it was based in Modena, his hometown.
The first event the team entered was the 1930 Mille Miglia, with Alfa cars, and the prancing horse emblem appeared for the first time at the 1932 24 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Enzo negotiated an arrangement in which Alfa's factory would receive the newest machines, while the Scuderia ran lower-spec cars and older hand-me-downs.
That arrangement did not last. Once Alfa Romeo had come under state control in 1933, its racing division shrank, and Scuderia Ferrari became an unofficial company team through the mid-1930s. Ferrari began its own research, producing machines such as the Bimotore, a two-engined car based on the Type B.
Vittorio Jano worked as chief designer in the 1930s, and the roster also featured Antonio Ascari, Giuseppe Campari and Tazio Nuvolari. From 1932 to 1935 it also ran a motorcycle division that scouted future drivers, and it won three national titles and 44 overall victories before the discipline was dropped.
The only team to start every Formula One season, and still measuring its history one race at a time.
What were the early World Championship years like?
In May 1947 Ferrari built a 1.5 L, 12-cylinder machine, the Tipo 125, which was the first car to carry the Ferrari name. The team entered the first World Championship in 1950, but it missed the British Grand Prix over a dispute about start money and made its debut at Monaco with the 125 F1.
Alfa Romeo won all eleven events it entered in 1950, but Ferrari broke that run in 1951, when Jose Froilan Gonzalez won the British Grand Prix. After Alfa withdrew, the authorities adopted Formula Two rules, and Ferrari's Tipo 500 won almost every race it entered in 1952.
Alberto Ascari won six consecutive races that year and took the title, then won the 1953 championship with only five wins. Late in 1953 Fangio's Maserati got the better of the Ferraris for the first time.
The 1954 rules allowed 2.5 L engines, and the new Tipo 625 could barely compete with Fangio's Maserati or the Mercedes-Benz W196 that arrived in July. Ferrari won only two races that year, from Gonzalez in Britain and from Mike Hawthorn in Spain.
In 1955 Maurice Trintignant won the Monaco Grand Prix, the team's only victory of the season. Late in that year Ferrari bought Lancia's D50 chassis after Lancia retired its team, and Fangio, Peter Collins and Eugenio Castellotti raced the cars successfully in 1956, when Fangio won three races and the title.
The 1957 season was a low point, when the team still ran ageing Lancias and failed to win a race. Castellotti died while testing, and the Marquis Alfonso de Portago drove into a crowd at the Mille Miglia, and twelve people died, leaving Ferrari to face manslaughter charges.
In 1958 a Constructors' Championship was introduced, and Vanwall won it. Carlo Chiti designed the Ferrari 246 F1, a V6 named after Enzo's late son. Musso died at the French Grand Prix and Collins at the German Grand Prix, and Hawthorn won the title before announcing his retirement.
How did the team fare in the 1960s?
Phil Hill gave the team its only win of 1960 at Monza, leading a hollow podium sweep after the leading British teams boycotted the race. The 1961 season brought the Chiti-designed 156, which dominated the year, and Giancarlo Baghetti won on his debut at the French Grand Prix.
That season ended in tragedy at Monza, when Wolfgang von Trips died with more than a dozen spectators. Hill took the title, but in the autumn Chiti and the team manager Romolo Tavoni walked out to set up their own team, ATS, and Mauro Forghieri was promoted to racing director.
The 1962 season was weakened by a metalworkers' strike in Italy, which caused the team to miss two races. Enzo withdrew from the final two races of the year, and the team's cars were largely the previous year's machines.
In 1963 John Surtees won the German Grand Prix. The new 158, with an eight-cylinder engine designed by Angelo Bellei, arrived in 1964, and Surtees won two races and the championship, with Bandini fourth overall.
The 1965 season was the last of the 1.5 L formula, and Ferrari won no races as Jim Clark dominated in his Lotus. The 312 for 1966 used a V12 of 3.0 L, derived from the sports car unit, and Surtees won the Belgian Grand Prix before a row with the manager led to his departure.
In 1967 Lorenzo Bandini crashed at the Monaco Grand Prix, was trapped under his burning car and died several days later. Mike Parkes suffered career-ending injuries at the Belgian Grand Prix that year.
The team's road car business was sold to Fiat for 11 million dollars in early 1969, although Ferrari kept 50% of the company under his control. The money allowed Enzo to invest in reviving the racing team.
What did the 1970s bring for Ferrari?
The 312B, with an all-new flat-12, arrived in 1970 and powered the team for the next ten seasons. Jacky Ickx won three races and finished second in the championship that year, and Clay Regazzoni won the Italian Grand Prix.
Pedro Rodriguez died in July 1971 while driving a Ferrari 512M in an Interserie sports car race at Norisring. After a poor 1973, when the team skipped two races and failed to score a podium for the first time, Ferrari signed Niki Lauda and quit sports car racing to concentrate on Formula One.
Luca di Montezemolo became team principal in 1974, and the new 312T carried Lauda to five wins and the 1975 title. The team also won the constructors' crown that year, its first return to winning ways.
In 1976 Lauda was seriously injured in a crash at the German Grand Prix. He returned only six weeks later to race at Italy, and James Hunt took the drivers' crown by one point, while Ferrari's constructors' crown was its second in a row.
Lauda won the drivers' championship again in 1977, and the team took the constructors' title. Jody Scheckter won the 1979 championship, the last drivers' title for Ferrari until Michael Schumacher won in the early 2000s, 21 years later.
How difficult were the 1980s for Ferrari?
The team scored only eight points in 1980, and Scheckter retired at the end of the season. For 1981 Ferrari signed Didier Pironi and introduced its own turbocharged engine, which was more powerful and compact than the old flat-12, though the car's handling was poor.
Gilles Villeneuve won the Monaco and Spanish Grands Prix that season. In 1982 he lost his life in a qualifying accident at the Belgian race, and Pironi was left with career-ending injuries ahead of the German race, when he was leading the drivers' standings.
Ferrari still won the constructors' championship in 1982, and in 1983 Rene Arnoux and Patrick Tambay won four races between them, which secured another constructors' title. Tambay's emotional win came at San Marino, in front of the tifosi.
Michele Alboreto won the 1984 Belgian Grand Prix and became Alain Prost's closest challenger the following year, before the team's competitiveness slumped. Gerhard Berger took the final two races of 1987, and the team remained competitive in 1988, finishing second in the constructors' standings.
Enzo Ferrari died on 14 August 1988. Less than a month later Berger and Alboreto took a 1-2 at the Italian Grand Prix, and Berger dedicated the win to the late founder.
The 1989 rules brought the end of turbocharging, and Ferrari had lobbied hard for the 3.5-litre normally aspirated formula. Nigel Mansell won the Hungarian Grand Prix that year after starting twelfth, dedicating the win to the memory of Enzo Ferrari.
Why did the 1990s mark a turning point?
Alain Prost joined in 1990 as the reigning champion and lost the title to Ayrton Senna after a first-lap collision at Suzuka. He was fired before the 1991 Australian Grand Prix after criticising the car, and the team won no races between 1991 and 1993.
Jean Todt became team principal in 1993, and Gerhard Berger returned to partner Jean Alesi. Berger won the 1994 German Grand Prix and Alesi the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix, and the team began its run of at least one win in twenty consecutive seasons.
For 1996 Ferrari signed Michael Schumacher, who brought Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne and Nikolas Tombazis from Benetton. Schumacher's win at the Spanish Grand Prix was the first for a Ferrari V10 engine, and his Monza win that year was the team's first home victory since 1988.
In 1997 Schumacher led into the final round by a single point, but a collision with Jacques Villeneuve at Jerez cost him the race. The FIA disqualified him from the 1997 championship, although Ferrari kept its constructors' points.
The 1998 F300 was a competitive car, but McLaren was often stronger. Schumacher broke his leg at Silverstone in 1999 and missed six races, and Eddie Irvine lost the drivers' title by two points to Mika Hakkinen. The Constructors' Championship that year was Ferrari's first since 1983.
How did Ferrari dominate the early 2000s?
Rubens Barrichello partnered Schumacher from 2000, and the pair scored a 1-2 in Australia. Schumacher won the title at Suzuka that year, Ferrari's first champion since Scheckter in 1979.
At the 2000 Italian Grand Prix Schumacher took his 41st career win, which equalled Senna's record. In 2001 he scored his 52nd win at Spa, passing Prost's record for the most Grand Prix victories.
In 2002 Ferrari won 15 of 17 races, which matched McLaren's record from 1988. The Austrian Grand Prix team-orders row led to a fine of one million dollars, and team orders were banned from 2003.
Schumacher matched Fangio's five titles at the 2002 French Grand Prix and won his sixth in 2003 by two points. In 2004 he won 13 of 18 races, the most in a season, and took his seventh and final championship.
| Period | Milestone | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1952 to 1953 | Ascari's two titles | Two drivers' championships |
| 1956 | Fangio's title in the Lancia D50 | Three wins and the title |
| 1961 | The 156 dominates | Hill champion, Baghetti's debut win |
| 1975 to 1979 | Lauda and Scheckter titles | Drivers' titles in 1975, 1977 and 1979 |
| 2000 to 2004 | Schumacher's run | Titles in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 |
| 2007 | Raikkonen's title | Won by one point |
| 2022 | Winless streak ends | Leclerc wins in Bahrain after 45 races |
| 2024 | HP partnership | Second in the Constructors' Championship |
What were the 2010s like at Ferrari?
Fernando Alonso replaced Raikkonen in 2010 and was narrowly beaten by Sebastian Vettel. After seven races Ferrari sat third in the constructors' table, and the German Grand Prix team-orders row cost the team a fine of 100,000 dollars.
The 2013 car, the F138, struggled, and the team finished fourth in 2014 with only two podiums. It was the first winless season since 1993, and the squad's management changed as Marco Mattiacci replaced Stefano Domenicali.
Sergio Marchionne and Maurizio Arrivabene took over in 2015. Vettel won three races that year, and Malaysia ended a 34-race winless streak that had lasted since 2014.
Ferrari's 2017 Australian win was its first since 2016, and Vettel led the title race for the first time since 2012. The Baku collision with Lewis Hamilton earned him a ten-second penalty, and he later won in Hungary.
In 2019 Charles Leclerc won his maiden race at Belgium and then took the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the first Ferrari win there since Alonso's 2010 victory. Vettel won Singapore that year, which was the team's last victory until Leclerc won in Bahrain in 2022.
Where does Ferrari stand in the 2020s?
The 2020 team finished sixth in the Constructors' Championship, its worst finish since 1980. The Tuscan Grand Prix that year was Ferrari's thousandth start as a constructor, and the 2020 car had lost 65 bhp against the previous year's high-speed car.
The F1-75 gave the team a win in Bahrain in 2022 and then another for Leclerc in Austria. Ferrari finished second in the Constructors' Championship that year and was competitive for much of the season before strategy errors and mechanical failures set it back.
In 2023 Carlos Sainz won the Singapore Grand Prix, the team's only win of the season, and Ferrari finished third in the constructors' standings. Leclerc tied with Fernando Alonso on 206 points in the drivers' table, which left Sainz seventh.
The 2024 season began with a title partnership with HP, and the team became Scuderia Ferrari HP from the Miami Grand Prix. Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix, and Leclerc finished third in the drivers' standings after a season of strong results.
Ferrari finished second behind McLaren in the 2024 Constructors' Championship. Lewis Hamilton joined the team for 2025, and the SF-25 started badly in Australia after a poor strategy. In China both Ferrari drivers were disqualified, over a skid-wear infringement for Hamilton and an underweight car for Leclerc.
What is the legacy of Scuderia Ferrari?
The team's record is unmatched for longevity, and its 15 drivers' and 16 constructors' titles reflect the way it has combined a racing culture with a commercial road car brand. Few teams have had their history shaped so closely by one founder.
Enzo Ferrari's own death in 1988 was followed by a long run of changes in management, and each period was marked by different drivers and engines. The team's continuity through all of those changes is the central thread of its story.
