Ferrari

Motorsport

Since its beginnings, Ferrari has been involved in motorsport through its works team, Scuderia Ferrari, competing in Formula One and sports car racing. Scuderia Ferrari has been continuously active since the start of Formula One, fielding fifteen champion drivers and winning sixteen Constructors' Championships, with more race victories, podiums, pole positions, and points than any other team. The earliest Ferrari entity, Scuderia Ferrari, was created in 1929 as a Grand Prix racing team affiliated with Alfa Romeo, winning 144 of 225 races between 1929 and 1937 with drivers such as Antonio Ascari, Giuseppe Campari, and Tazio Nuvolari.

Ferrari returned to Grand Prix racing in 1947, and its first homebuilt Grand Prix car, the 125 F1, raced at the 1948 Italian Grand Prix. Ferrari's first F1 victory came at the 1951 British Grand Prix, and between 1952 and 1964 the team won six World Drivers' Championships and one Constructors' Championship. After 1964, Ferrari's fortunes declined, but improved in the mid-1970s with Niki Lauda winning drivers' titles in 1975 and 1977, followed by success from Jody Scheckter and Gilles Villeneuve, and Constructors' Championships in 1982 and 1983.

Road cars

The Ferrari name first appeared on the 125 S, a small two-seat V12 sports and racing car, of which just two examples were built. In 1949, the 166 Inter signaled a shift toward grand touring road cars, featuring a four-seat berlinetta coupé body by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera. Early road cars often had bodies crafted by independent coachbuilders like Vignale, Touring, Ghia, Pininfarina, Scaglietti, and Bertone. During the late 1960s and 1970s, Ferrari moved into mid-engined layouts and smaller engines under the Dino name, later introducing mid-engined flat-12 and V8 models.

From the 2010s, in-house design from Centro Stile Ferrari became more common for road cars, though collaborations continued on limited projects. The SF90 Stradale was Ferrari’s first series-production plug-in hybrid road car. Ferrari announced it would reveal its first fully electric vehicle at its Capital Markets Day on 9 October 2025, with a fuller unveiling to follow. Personalization has long been part of the brand, with early clients often customizing cars straight from the factory.

This tradition was formalized in late 2011 with the Tailor Made programme, which lets customers work with Maranello designers to choose almost any trim, exterior color, or interior material, emphasizing each car’s uniqueness.

Identity

Ferrari's symbol is the Prancing Horse, a prancing black horse on a yellow background, presented either as a shield with the Italian tricolour above and initials SF below, or as a rectangle with the word Ferrari. Enzo Ferrari recounted that after a 1923 victory in Ravenna, the family of flying ace Francesco Baracca suggested he adopt the horse as a good luck charm; it was first used by his racing team in 1932 on an Alfa Romeo 8C with a canary yellow background, the colour of Modena.

The rectangular Prancing Horse has been used since 1947 on the Ferrari 125 S. Rosso corsa was the required colour for Italian racing cars for many years, and Scuderia Ferrari continued to paint its cars bright red even after regulations changed. On road cars, red has been among the most popular choices: in 2012, 40 per cent of Ferraris left the factory painted red, while in the early 1990s the figure was 85 per cent. Some models, such as the 288 GTO, were only made available in red.

However, Ferraris have raced in other colours, including a notable case in 1964 when Ferrari and John Surtees won the Formula One season in American blue with a white racing stripe. By the early 2010s, red had become less common on road cars, competing with yellow, silver, and white.

Corporate affairs

In 1963, Ford Motor Company approached Enzo Ferrari about a possible buyout, but Ferrari cut off negotiations when the deal would not let him stay at the helm of the racing program. Henry Ford II then directed his racing division to build a car capable of beating Ferrari, resulting in the Ford GT40 in 1964. FIAT then approached Ferrari with a more flexible proposal and purchased controlling interests in 1969, with Enzo retaining a 10% share now owned by his son Piero Lardi Ferrari.

Ferrari has an internally managed merchandising line licensing products such as eyewear, clothing, watches, and laptop computers. It also runs the Museo Ferrari in Maranello. In 1997, Ferrari launched Formula Uomo, a long-term master plan to improve efficiency, production, and employee happiness, taking over ten years and over €200 million in investment. Ferrari has had a long-standing relationship with Shell Oil from the late 1950s to early 1970s and again since 1996, with Shell developing fuel and oils for Scuderia Ferrari's Formula One and World Endurance Championship teams.

Ferrari has supplied Formula One engines to other teams and, for the 2026 regulations cycle, agreed to supply power units to the Cadillac entry via Andretti Formula Racing, alongside its continuing supply to Haas F1. As of end of 2019, total Ferraris built and sold was 219,062. In October 2023, Ferrari started accepting cryptocurrency payments for vehicles in the US, with plans to expand to Europe in 2024.