50 Fun Facts About Ferrari

In which year was the Ferrari company founded?

The founder had been a racing driver and salesman for Alfa Romeo before setting up on his own; the first car followed in 1940.

In which Italian town is Ferrari based?

The factory moved there in 1943 to escape Allied bombing raids, and was bombed twice anyway.

What animal appears on the Ferrari badge?

The Cavallino Rampante was borrowed from the aircraft of the First World War flying ace Francesco Baracca.

Whose family suggested that the founder adopt their late son's aircraft emblem as a good-luck charm?

Enzo said the flying ace's mother made the suggestion after his 1923 victory in Ravenna.

Why is the background of the Ferrari badge yellow?

The horse first appeared on the team's Alfa Romeo 8C in 1932, on a canary yellow ground.

What is the Italian name for the racing red associated with Ferrari?

It was once the required colour of all Italian racing cars, and Ferrari kept it after the rules changed.

In which year was Scuderia Ferrari founded, originally to race Alfa Romeos?

That is a decade before the car company itself; the team won 144 of its 225 races before it was absorbed by Alfa in 1937.

What does the Italian word 'scuderia' mean?

The term is applied to Italian motor racing teams generally, but Ferrari's is the most famous.

What company did Enzo Ferrari set up when a non-compete clause barred him from using his own name?

It built a single car, the 815, and made aircraft engines and machine tools during the war.

What was the first car to carry the Ferrari name, in 1947?

Only two were made; its V12 engine went on to power many later Ferraris.

What engine layout powered the first Ferrari and every road-going Ferrari until the late 1960s?

The 1967 Dino broke the pattern as the first mass-produced mid-engined Ferrari road car.

Which American company tried to buy Ferrari in 1963, only for the founder to walk away from the deal?

He withdrew when he realised the buyer would not leave him in independent control of racing; the offer was $18 million.

Which Italian company bought 50 percent of Ferrari in 1969?

Its stake rose to 90 percent when the founder died in 1988.

What was the last car the founder personally approved before his death in 1988?

It built on the flagship-supercar idea first tried four years earlier.

Which chairman ran Ferrari for 23 years from 1991 and hired Michael Schumacher and Jean Todt?

He raised road-car profitability nearly tenfold and oversaw the F50, Enzo and LaFerrari.

How many F1 Constructors' Championships, a record, had Ferrari won by the end of 2025?

The most recent came in 2008; by then the team also held the record of 15 drivers' titles.

Which driver won the 2007 Formula One drivers' title with Ferrari?

Ferrari added constructors' titles in 2007 and 2008, then went without either title through the 2025 season.

How many consecutive drivers' titles did Michael Schumacher win for Ferrari?

They ran from 2000 to 2004, alongside six straight constructors' titles from 1999.

How many Grands Prix did Schumacher win for Ferrari?

He drove for the team from 1996 until his first retirement in 2006.

Which 2020 race marked Ferrari's 1,000th Formula One world championship start?

Ferrari is the only team to have competed in every world championship season since 1950.

Where did Ferrari win its first Formula One world championship race, in 1951?

Between 1952 and 1964 the team took six drivers' titles with Ascari, Fangio, Hawthorn, Hill and Surtees.

In what colours did John Surtees win the 1964 title for Ferrari, during a dispute with the FIA?

Enzo had moved his racing assets to the North American Racing Team in protest at homologation rules.

Which driver won Ferrari's drivers' titles of 1975 and 1977?

Jody Scheckter added another in 1979 before a long drought.

What are Ferrari's famously passionate fans known as?

Their home race is the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

Which manufacturer broke Ferrari's run of six straight Le Mans wins in 1966?

Ferrari withdrew from sports car racing as a works team in 1973.

With which prototype did Ferrari return to win Le Mans in 2023, its first victory there in 58 years?

One car was numbered 50 to mark the fifty years since a works Ferrari last raced in endurance events; it won again in 2024.

Which 1967 model was Ferrari's first mass-produced mid-engined road car?

It presaged the company's full embrace of mid engines and V6 and V8 power in the 1970s and 1980s.

Which 1984 car is generally considered the first of Ferrari's flagship supercars?

The line runs on through four more cars to the F80.

What was Ferrari's sixth flagship supercar, unveiled after the LaFerrari?

Before it appeared, the earlier cars were commonly known by a collective nickname.

What was Ferrari's first series-production plug-in hybrid road car?

The company showed the chassis of its first fully electric car, the Elettrica, in October 2025.

What was Ferrari's first series-produced road car, beginning in 1958?

Earlier road cars were bodied one by one by coachbuilders such as Vignale, Touring and Pininfarina.

What percentage of Ferraris left the factory painted red in the early 1990s?

By 2012 the share had fallen sharply as yellow, silver and white gained ground.

Which financial consultancy named Ferrari the world's strongest marque in 2019?

The company keeps production deliberately below demand and ranks buyers by loyalty to protect that image.

What is the name of Ferrari's bespoke personalisation programme?

Owners who modify cars outside official channels have found themselves on the receiving end of Ferrari lawsuits.

What was the total number of cars Ferrari had built and sold in its entire history as of the end of 2019?

Since October 2023 US buyers have been able to pay in cryptocurrency, converted immediately into ordinary money.

Where is Ferrari World, the first Ferrari-branded theme park, which opened in 2010?

On Yas Island, it is home to the world's fastest roller coaster.

What is the name of the world's fastest roller coaster, at Ferrari World?

Ferrari Land in Catalonia, opened in 2017, has Europe's fastest vertical accelerator coaster, Red Force.

What is the name of Ferrari's private test track next to its factory, built in 1972?

It is used for testing both road and race cars.

Which Ferrari Driver Academy graduate went on to race for Scuderia Ferrari itself?

The academy began in 2009 after the team's successful grooming of Felipe Massa.

Which seven-time world champion joined Ferrari's Monegasque driver in the team's 2026 line-up?

Ferrari's most recent drivers' title before that was Raikkonen's in 2007.

What nickname, referring to an English privateer, did British rivals give the founder?

He was also known as il Commendatore, and late in life as il Grande Vecchio, the Grand Old Man.

In which city was the founder born in 1898?

His father's workshop next to the family home is now the Enzo Ferrari Museum.

Which Enzo Ferrari saying about not winning is famous?

He also reportedly said: 'Ask a child to draw a car, and he will certainly paint it red.'

Who played the founder in Michael Mann's 2023 film Ferrari?

Bale and Jackman had both been considered; Remo Girone played the founder in a 2019 film about the Le Mans rivalry.

Piero Ferrari, born to the founder's mistress in 1945, could only be legally recognised as his son after what?

Divorce was illegal in Italy until 1970, and Piero's existence was known only to a few confidants.

Which endurance race did Ferrari win in 1949, an early boost to its reputation?

A Carrera Panamericana win followed in 1951, and by 1957 the marque had three World Sportscar Championships.

In which year was Ferrari spun off from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles?

Sergio Marchionne oversaw the initial public offering and spin-off; from 1963 to 2014 the company had been a Fiat subsidiary.

Which 1949 model marked Ferrari's move into the grand touring road car market?

The first one was a four-seat berlinetta coupé bodied by Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera; road cars soon became the bulk of sales.

Who became Ferrari's chief executive in 2021, announcing plans for its first fully electric model?

He replaced Camilleri, with Elkann staying on as chairman.

The 125 F1, Ferrari's first home-built single-seater, debuted at which country's 1948 race?

Its encouraging showing convinced Enzo to keep funding the costly Grand Prix programme.