Scuderia Ferrari is the official name of the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer, Ferrari, and competes in Formula One racing. It is the oldest surviving and most successful Formula One team, having competed in every world championship since the 1950 Formula One season.
The team was founded by Enzo Ferrari, initially to race cars produced by Alfa Romeo, though by 1947 Ferrari had begun building its own cars. Among its important achievements outside Formula One are winning the World Sportscar Championship, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, races for Grand tourer cars and racing on road courses of the Targa Florio, the Mille Miglia and the Carrera Panamericana.
As a constructor, Ferrari has a record 16 Constructors' Championships, the last of which was won in 2008. Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen have won a record 15 Drivers' Championships for the team. Since Räikkönen's title in 2007 the team narrowly lost out on the 2008 drivers' title with Felipe Massa and the 2010 and 2012 drivers' titles with Fernando Alonso.
Schumacher is the team's most successful driver. Joining the team in 1996 and departing in 2006 he won five drivers' titles and 72 Grands Prix for the team. His titles came consecutively between 2000 and 2004. Including the constructors title of 1999 consecutively being won until the end of 2004, this was the team's most successful period.
Currently, World Champions Kimi Räikkönen and Sebastian Vettel are the two main race drivers.
The team is also known for its passionate support base known as the tifosi. The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is regarded as the team's home race.
The prancing horse was the symbol on Italian World War I ace Francesco Baracca's fighter plane, and became the logo of Ferrari after the fallen ace's parents, close acquaintances of Enzo Ferrari, suggested that Ferrari use the symbol as the logo of the Scuderia, telling him it would 'bring him good luck'.
Ferrari has always produced engines for its own Formula One cars, and has also supplied engines to other teams.
It is undeniable that Ferrari, and all they represent, carry a certain mystique unmatched by any other institution in the history of Formula One.
The team's enduring success has, of course, played an instrumental role in creating that image.
Ferrari, the only outfit to have competed in every single season, are by a distance the most triumphant team to have ever graced F1, with 16 constructors' world championships and 15 drivers' titles to their name.
The Prancing Horse has recorded 221 race victories, 207 pole positions and 230 fastest laps.
The appeal of the team to drivers, with those statistics in mind, is clear: Ferrari, for much of their time in Formula One, have been synonymous with victory.
Yet, the appeal of Ferrari stretches far beyond an outstanding on-track success rate.
The organisation, founded by Enzo Ferrari, was built upon the old-fashioned—and in the modern era, increasingly fanciful—principle that no individual or driver is bigger than the team.
That platitude is echoed across a range of institutions across almost every team sport, but none has implemented it so robustly and relentlessly as the Prancing Horse.
Despite the Ferrari team whom the grid's current drivers grew up watching being taken to victory by Michael Schumacher, Jean Todt and Ross Brawn is not the same Ferrari team they now race against and could have the chance to join in the coming years, Ferrari remain comfortably the most iconic, coveted and divine team in Formula One. Their history, heritage and ideals remain relevant and appealing, to both fans and drivers, as long as they succeed on the track.
Scuderia Ferrari has clubs and fans all over the world. There’s nothing similar on the planet. A never-ending red hug. Supporting Ferrari is a great honor, a permanent joy. All of us are proud of it.
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