-----------------------------------------------------------
Ferrari Formula One Racing History
-----------------------------------------------------------

In the history of the Formula One World Championship, the
legend and achievements of Ferrari stand above all others.

Motor racing's most successful team, with thousands
sportscar wins as well as 105 Grand Prix victories to its
credit, is also its most historic and charismatic.

Ferrari has contested every World Championship since the
title was inaugurated in 1950, and employed the talents of
some of the sport's most colourful personalities. 

Journeyman racing driver Enzo Ferrari found his true
calling as manager of the most successful of the many
private teams running Alfa Romeos in the 1930s, adopting
the famous 'Prancing Horse' emblem for his Modena-based
team in tribute to Italian World War One flying ace
Francesco Baracca.

Ferrari eventually became the Alfa Romeo factory team
before setting up on its own in 1940 and creating the first
all-Ferrari car, which competed in that year's Mille Miglia
race. 

Ferrari was amongst those leading the revival of motor
racing in Europe after World War Two. Based in the Modena
suburb of Maranello, the new marque initially enjoyed
success in sportscar racing, scoring its debut race win in
1947.

The first Formula One design followed in 1948, penned by
designer Aurelio Lampredi. 

The advent of the World Championship saw Ferrari developing
its classic V12 engine, the marque claiming its first Grand
Prix win in 1951 on Shell fuel and lubricants.

This set the stage for Ferrari's domination of the 1952
season, when Ascari won the first of his back-to-back world
titles in Formula Two machinery. The great talent of Fangio
was blossoming at this time, and the crown did not return
to Maranello until the Argentinian joined Ferrari in 1956. 

Ferrari also won the final championship for a front-engined
car in 1958, Britain's Mike Hawthorn driving the Dino model
named after Ferrari's son, who had succumbed to leukemia
two years earlier. The rear-engine revolution left Ferrari
trailing the British teams until 1961, when designers Carlo
Chiti and Mauro Forghieri created the famous 'shark nose'
156 which carried American Phil Hill to the title after
teammate Wolfgang von Trips lost his life in the Italian
Grand Prix. 

Motorcycle superstar John Surtees piloted the first
monocoque-chassised Ferrari to the title in 1964, and
demonstrated championship form in 1966, the debut season of
the three-litre formula.

The Maranello factory also played a prominent role in the
hit motion picture Grand Prix that year. Ferrari introduced
wings to Formula One in 1968 to great effect, but otherwise
the late 1960s proved a dry spell. 

An all-new flat 12 engine allowed the team to challenge for
the championship in 1970. With the support of new partner
Fiat, Ferrari opened its own test facility at Fiorano in
1972, replicating sections of the world's most demanding
circuits and featuring speed sensors and television cameras
covering every metre of track. The arrival in 1974 of Luca
di Montezemolo as racing director and driver Niki Lauda
heralded the full-scale revival of the team's fortunes. 

Ferrari and Lauda dominated the 1975 championship, and
Montezemolo moved on to other responsibilities within Fiat.

Lauda looked set to repeat in 1976 before his near fatal
accident at the Nurburgring, but staged a heroic comeback
to claim the 1977 title. Ferrari remained a consistent
championship contender through the end of the decade,
Jody Scheckter winning the 1979 crown in his first season
with the team. 

The Prancing Horse was a latecomer to the turbo era, not
fielding its first turbocharged entry until 1981. British
designer Harvey Postlethwaite replaced Forghieri for 1982,
and Ferrari was again poised for championship success when
tragedy struck down drivers Gilles Villeneuve and Didier
Pironi.

The team recovered to win consecutive constructors crowns.
The pace of technical development was stepped up in 1986
with the opening of a wind tunnel and the appointment of
design innovator John Barnard as technical director. 

Just a few weeks after a Papal visit to Maranello, founder
Enzo Ferrari passed away on 14 August 1988 at the age of
90. The racing gods smiled on his legacy when the red cars
scored a one-two result in the Italian Grand Prix a month
later. 

Barnard's first design featured a revolutionary
semi-automatic gearbox and won on its debut in 1989. His
temporary departure at the end of that season affected the
team's 1990 campaign, when Alain Prost narrowly failed to
win the championship. Barnard's return in 1992, along with
the appointment of Montezemolo as company president and
Frenchman Jean Todt as racing director, restored the
team's momentum. 

The last two seasons have seen a steady development of
Ferraris performance which has brought the team back to the
brink of success. The addition of World Champion Michael
Schumacher in the driver's seat - and Shell fuel and
lubricants for the first time since 1973 - to the package
sees Ferrari entering 1996 with its highest hopes of
victory for many years. 

-----------------------------------------------------------
Source: http://www.shell-ferrari.com/
-----------------------------------------------------------