Ferrari and Mugello, two great stories for an important, unexpected and fascinating appointment.
“An extraordinary anniversary”- Scuderia Ferrari to celebrate its 1000th race in F1 in style at Mugello. By Dipanshu Sharma. July 10, 2020.
The pandemic situation of COVID-19 has bought a series of changes in the calendar of the 2020 Formula One season. The calendar has already eliminated the Australian, Dutch, Monaco, Azerbaijan, French, Singapore and Japanese Grand Prix from it.
However, all’s not lost as far as the Prancing Horses are concerned, for they will get two chances to make the Tifosi proud at home.
Mugello circuit.
On July 10th, 2020, F1 officially announced plans to host the first-ever Grand Prix at the Mugello Circuit in Tuscany, Italy on September 13th, before heading to Russia for the Sochi Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s presence at the top of the food chain in the world of Formula One has been resolute for the last 70 years, ever since its inception.
In addition, they are the only constructors who have taken part in all the 70 seasons respectively. Furthermore, it will be a huge moment for the constructors to drive their 1000th race at home and in a circuit tailored specifically for their Formula One cars.
Mattia Binotto, the team principal and the Managing Director of Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow said, “to be able to celebrate an extraordinary anniversary like the thousandth Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari at our own home at Mugello is an incredible opportunity. Mugello is not just one of the most spectacular and challenging tracks for drivers and cars, it is also a structure that has made sustainability one of its priorities.”
Paolo Poli, CEO of the Mugello Circuit, said, “we are happy and proud to have finally achieved a goal that we have been chasing for a long time with the utmost determination: 106 years since the very first race took place on the street circuit, Mugello will host its first Formula 1 Grand Prix.”
To celebrate the event, Florence turns red: two days of celebration to tell the story of the racing team and the car manufacturer that has become a symbol of Italian style all over the world. A program that includes not only the exhibition of the most memorable cars of 70 years of GPs, but also a video mapping show with projections on the facade of Palazzo Vecchio, vertical ground performances. A show is scheduled for Saturday at 9 pm in Piazza della Signoria. On Sunday, from 8 to 20, the cars and single-seaters of historic victories will be exhibited. There will be not only the iconic cars of the Red, but also those of the Ferrari 2020 range, as well as a show-car with the special celebratory livery of the 1000 GPs made in a single copy.
Ferrari 1000: the impressive celebration that prepares the team for the anniversary race in Formula 1. Source: Ferrari.
This weekend the Grand Prix of Tuscany will take place. In this test the most special anniversary for the team will be given Ferrari. The Italian team completes 1000 races within the Formula 1 and prepare a big party. The design of the car for this weekend will be special and will have a very emotional charge for the fans.
This Wednesday afternoon the special design was revealed for this 1000th race within the highest level of world motorsport.
The team unveiled it after a series of images that showed a very special color, a little different from the usual red that fans are used to seeing.
In addition, both Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel will wear special divers with the theme.
After meeting the car for this weekend, Piero Ferrari, vice president of the Italian company gave statements to different Italian media. “The 1000th Scuderia Ferrari Grand Prix is a very important milestone, so it should be commemorated in a special way,” said the businessman. The color of the car has a special history for the team.
“Even the look of the Charles and Sebastian car numbers will evoke the past, giving the impression of being hand painted on the bodywork, while the drivers’ overalls will also match the color of the car,” added Ferrari, the only living son of the mythical Enzo Ferrari.
This time, the Italian team will have a purplish color, a little different from the usual red. This is because this tonality had the first Ferrari Formula 1, in the Monaco Grand Prix of 1950, the debut in the category. In that race Luigi Villoresi was sixth and Alberto Ascari seventh. They were the best cars in the Maranello squad in the race, which was won by Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio.
The Ferrari team will have a new design for this GP at Mugello.
Ferrari set to use classic livery for 1000th F1 race at Mugello. By Franco Nugnes, Luke Smith. Published on Monday September 7th 2020.
Ferrari is set to use a one-off Formula 1 classic livery to celebrate its 1000th race at this weekend's Tuscan Grand Prix.
Ferrari will become the first F1 team to have raced in 1000 rounds of the world championship on Sunday and is set to honour the landmark with a retro car livery.
Autosport understands that the Ferrari SF1000 cars raced by Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc will be painted in a darker shade of red for the Mugello weekend, matching the design used by Ferrari back in 1950.
Ferrari holds title sponsorship for the race at Mugello, a circuit it owns and will have some of its supporters club members in the grandstands as the first Grand Prix with spectators since the virus outbreak.
The team will arrive at Mugello eager to bounce back from a difficult Italian Grand Prix at Monza that saw both Leclerc and Vettel retire in the first half of the race.
Vettel was sidelined by a brake issue early on, while Leclerc crashed out at high speed at Parabolica when running sixth, causing a red flag.
Ferrari is set to analyse Leclerc's chassis in the coming days to decide whether it requires replacing or if it can be repaired.
Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto called the double DNF "the worst conclusion to a difficult weekend" after failing to qualify inside the top 10 at Monza for the first time in 36 years.
"Already qualifying was very difficult, [but] not finishing the race is even worse, especially with Seb I would say as the reliability problem," Binotto said.
"But I think we need to turn the page and look forward to make sure this is all a lesson learned for us and I think we need to look forward to progress. Next week we have Mugello which is an important appointment, the 1.000th grand prix, so we will try to be the most ready we can be for the weekend."
Mugello Circuit (Autodromo Internazionale del Mugello) is a race track in Scarperia and San Piero, Tuscany. The circuit length is 5.245 km (3.259 mi). It has 15 turns and a 1.141 km (0.709 mi) long straight. The circuit stadium stands have a capacity of 50,000.
The present-day closed Mugello circuit was constructed about 5 km east from the easternmost part of the original road circuit.
F1 testing at Mugello in 2012.
The circuit was used for the in-season test during the 2012 Formula One season, by all teams except HRT. An unofficial track record of 1:21.035 was set by Romain Grosjean during the test. The track was praised by Mark Webber, who stated that he "did 10 dry laps today around Mugello, which is the same as doing 1000 laps around Abu Dhabi track in terms of satisfaction". Four-time Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel said “unfortunately we don’t have this track on the calendar. It’s an incredible circuit with a lot of high-speed corners”.
Mugello is one of Italy's classic circuits, tucked away in the rolling hills of the Tuscany region and beloved of the motorcycle racing brigade.
Each year thousands pack into the grandstands to worship the MotoGP riders, in particular home hero Valentino Rossi, whose fans turn the hillsides yellow in deference to their hero.
Despite its classic course feel, Mugello is a relatively modern affair and actually the second circuit to bear this name. The original was a course along public roads, winding along 38 miles of Tuscan countryside. This saw action from 1914 through to 1970. Names such Giuseppe Campari, Enzo Ferrari and local idol Emilio Materassi were among the luminaries who raced the old Circuito del Mugello, which went from Scarperia uphill to Firenzuola, then through the Futa Pass and downhill to San Piero and Scarperia.
The new Mugello opened in June 1974 with a round of the F5000 series and was immediately popular with competitors. A long, sweeping main straight spilled into a rising right-hander, before rising and falling through the hillsides behind the pits through a series of fast corners.
In 1988, the circuit was purchased by Ferrari, who intended to use it as an additional testing facility for its Formula One cars.
Extensive renovations were carried out in time for the 1991 season, including the construction of new pit and paddock facilities, the removal of Armco barrier in favour of concrete walls and the enlargement of many run-off and gravel areas. The rarely used short course was removed at this point, becoming instead an alternative shortcut lane towards the pits.
Today the circuit hosts rounds of the Italian national GT and touring car championships, as well as the Ferrari Challenge Europe.
"Jealous" Rossi says Mugello circuit is "incredible" in F1 car. By Lewis Duncan. Published on Thursday September 10th 2020.
Seven-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi says he is "very jealous" Formula 1 will race at Mugello this weekend and believes all the drivers "will enjoy" the experience.
This weekend's Tuscan Grand Prix marks the first time F1 has raced at the iconic Mugello circuit, which has been the host of MotoGP's Italian Grand Prix full-time since 1994.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, MotoGP had to abandon plans to race at Mugello this year.
Yamaha rider Rossi tested a Ferrari F1 car across two days at Mugello in 2008 and called the experience "incredible", while highlighting the downhill Casanova/Savelli right-left at Turns 6 and 7 and the two Arrabbiata right-handers that follow as "unbelievable" in an F1 car.
"I'm very jealous especially because we don't go, we don't race in Mugello this year," Rossi said when asked by Autosport for his thoughts on F1's first visit to Mugello.
"For me and for a lot of riders it's one of the best tracks in the world with a motorcycle and also with the cars.”
"I drove the Ferrari Formula 1 [car] two times in Mugello and it was incredible. One time was also in the wet and was unbelievable, especially Casanova/Savelli, Arrabbiata 1, Arrabbiata 2.”
"In Arrabbiata 2, you go flat in a Formula 1 car at 275km/h and it's completely blind because in the Formula 1 car you are very low compared to MotoGP, so you don't see the exit.”
"I think they will enjoy it and I'm very curious to follow Formula 1 on Sunday.”
"I think that the track is a bit narrow for the cars that are very big.”
"But I think everyone will enjoy Mugello a lot."
About Mugello circuit Lewis Hamilton, after the first day of qualifying, said: "there is no time for play here, it's a very, very serious track. It is all medium and high [speed corners] and you don't go lower than third/fourth gear, so it is so quick. There's not a lot of run-off area and particularly through [turns] eight and nine. I was looking on the in-lap there: the speeds that we are going. I'm just praying that the tyres hold together for the race. It almost feels like Turkey with the triple left-hander you have there. It's incredibly fast through I think 6/7/8/9. It's intense I have to say. It's amazing to experience it. But it's going be difficult to look after the tyres at that section. I'm trying to push it to the limit, but it's just I think there are sections like the last sector obviously, I've got that sorted. And I'm pretty happy with that. The first and second sector are a little bit weak for me, particularly the first sector. So there's plenty to come from that section. Max [Verstappen] and Valtteri are very quick through there, so a lot of studying tonight and hopefully be better tomorrow."
Rossi tested Ferrari Formula 1 cars semi-regularly in the mid-late 2000s, completing a group test at Valencia in 2006 with the then-current field of F1 drivers.
Flirting several times with a switch to F1 full-time, Rossi ultimately committed to MotoGP, with his last Ferrari test coming at Catalunya in 2010 in a 2008 car on GP2 tyres.
Rossi returned to a Formula 1 cockpit last December when he drove Lewis Hamilton's 2017 championship-winning Mercedes at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit near Valencia, while the Briton got his first taste of MotoGP machinery on the M1.
Yamaha boss Massimo Meregalli told Autosport earlier this year that Hamilton had to be restrained from going out on track too early owing to the low temperatures in the morning, such was his eagerness to get out on track.
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