Country of Origin : Italy
Formed : 1939
Active in Formula One : Since 1950

The most famous Grand Prix team of them all. The Ferrari prancing horse logo came from Italian WWI fighter pilot Francesco Baracca, of Ravenna. At a race there in 1923, Baracca's parents presented Enzo a shield like the one their son had carries on his plane and the rest is history.

After running semi-works Alfa Romeos before WWII, Enzo Ferrari later emerged as a force in his own right, challenging the Alfa 159s with his own Ferrari 375 in 1951, and only losing narrowly in the final race of the season. The governing body made a switch to 2 litre engine regulations and Ferrari was ready, Alberto Ascari dominating the championship in 1952-53. With the introduction of 2.5 litre engines, Maserati and Lancia began to pull ahead and for the first time in 1957, Ferrari failed to take a championship win.

The Tipo 146 arrived in 1958, christened Dino after Enzo's son who had worked with Vittorio on the new engine. With the new car, Ferrari were back in the fight but while many believe the championship should have belonged to Stirling Moss, the crown was taken by Ferrari and Mike Hawthorn in the last race at Morocco.

1959-60 was dominated by the mid-engines Coopers, but Ferrari was ready prepared for the change to 1.5 litre engines with the Tipo 156 "shark-nose" car in 1961. Ferrari were on top, but on the brink of World Championship success, the German ace "Taffy" von Trips was killed in the Italian Grand Pric at Monza in a collision with Jim Clark. Ferrari's Phil Hill went on to take the championship that year. Another Ferrari title followed in 1964 for John Surtees, the only man to win world championships on two and four wheels, but new 3 litre regulations introduced in 1966 saw Ferrari struggle and they simply could not match the Cosworth DFV engine, introduced at the Dutch Grand Prix of 1967. Although Jacky Ickx enjoyed some success in 1970, Ferrari did not look like genuine chamionship contenders for another four years. In 1974, Niki Lauda was quick, but his inexperience saw him losing out to Emerson Fittipaldi's Mclaren. He made amends the following year, taking the title in the flat-12 312T, and looked set to repeat the feat in '76, but for a near-fatal acccident at the Nurburgring which saw him lose out to James Hunt by a single point. Great consistency saw Lauda regain the crown for Ferrari in 1977. Jody Scheckter took the championship in 1979, beating Gilles Villeneuve with the unattractive Ferrari 312T4. The T5 which came the next season was a disaster as ground-effects aerodynamics came into play, and Ferrari's winning streak looked to be over.

Villeneuve took a couple of wins with the 126C dispite its poor engine, by now a turbocharged 1.5 litre. British designer Harvey Postlethwaite joined the team in 1982, producing the 126C2 which was the class of the field. However, Villeneuve was killed in practice at Zolder and Dider Pironi was injured at Hockenheim while leading the championship so its promise was never fulfilled. From then, Ferrari did not look like winning the title again, dispite glimmers of hope for Michele Alboreto in 1985 and Alain Prost in 1990, when he won five races, but lost in controversial circumstances to Ayrton Senna in Japan.

In 1996, Michael Schumacher arrived at the team heralding the start of a new age for Ferrari. The tifosi were not initially pleased with the move, but Schumachers presence and determination turned the team around, getting close to the pace by the end of the year and earning him their undying affection and respect. At the end of the year Ross Braun was appointed Technical Director and Rory Byne became chief designer with the team's British design operation sold to head of design John Barnard. The Ferrari 310, which had been troublesome in 1996 was reworked for the following season and with the 310B, Schumacher took four wins and was able to challenge for the title. In the final round however, Schumacher made a controversial move to drive Jaques Villeneuve off the track and was subsequently disqualified.

The first Byrne-designed Ferrari arrived in 1998, but McLaren were dominating Formula One and dispite Schumacher winning six races, the title went to Mika Hakkinen. A mechanical failure in 1999 caused a heavy crash at Silverstone, leaving Schumacher with a broken leg and Irvine as the chellenger for the title. Schumacher returned in Malaysia, but dispite gifting the win to Irvine, the Irishman was beaten to the championship crown by Hakkinen. Schumacher finished second at Suzuka behind Hakkinen, allowing Ferrari to take the Constructors' title - its first since 1983. Byrne produced the F1-2000 over the winter and Ferrari have dominated since, Schumacher giving them their first Drivers World Championship since 1979, repeating the feat in 2001 and 2002, and taking successive Constructors' titles.