| Product: |
Benetton F1 Racing Team |
| Date: |
01/04/01 (36 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Successful marque, beautiful cars
Disadvantages: Political, media attention
The "Scuderia Ferrari" was founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929 in Modena, a small town in a rich and motor-crazy region of Italy. Initially, the Scuderia raced Alfa Romeo cars until 1938, when Enzo split from Alfa Romeo and founded Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari. After World War II, Enzo Ferrari moved his company to Maranello, where his current headquarters and factory are located.
Ferrari is the only manufacturer to have competed in all editions of the World Drivers' Championship since its creation in 1950. It is also one of the few teams to build every part of the racing car in house. The team has had some of the best formula 1 drivers: Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Jacky Ickx, Niki Lauda, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost, Clay Regazzoni, Jody Scheckter, Gilles Villeneuve and current world champion, Michael Schumacher.
What made Ferrari special over the years is its successfulness in spite of its relative small size. Ferrari was fully taken over by Fiat in the late 80's.
On top of the many victories in Formula 1, but also in other categories in Europe and the USA, Ferrari's myth was further fuelled by the many tragedies that hit the Italian team. The count Von Tripp's crash into the stands at Monza in 1961, Lauda's terrific accident in Japan in 1975, the fatal accident to Gilles Villeneuve, a talent discovered by Enzo himself, in 1982. The list could go on and on, but for the last few years, when Formula 1 regulations have finally seemed to have brought safety to the drivers (but not the sport in general as the recent deaths of two track officials in Australia and Italy attest).
Part of the reason of its fame is that in the years when Italy and its cars were famous throughout the world (1950s and 1960s) and made famous by movies like "La Dolce Vita" and "Roman Holidays", Ferrari achieved most of its victories on the tracks througout the globe. Notwithstanding the resurgence in the las
t few years, throughout much of the 80's and 90's, Ferrari was hardly ever competitive, yet the fame stayed and with it, the capacity to raise from the ashes and become again the world's favourite racing car.
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