Named after its founder Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari this day is a world famous brand that needs no introduction. Known for its sports automobile and engines, Ferrari is among the top most Formula 1 team in the world. Enzo Ferrari stared his career in a lesser known automobile company to fuel his passion for automobiles and racing. During his brief racing career with Alfa Romeo he acquired the logo of “prancing horse” from Francesco Baracca but had to move till 1932 to alter and present it on a car. While working with Alfa, Enzo started his dream team “Scuderia Ferrari” for Alfa.

It was only in 1947 that he could come out of adversities and started making automobiles bearing the study Ferrari S.p.A. In the year 1950, Ferrari participated in Formula 1 for the first time. But the success was nowhere in sight. During 1950’s and 1960’s Ferrari was more into events like Le Man’s and Mille Miglia. In 1960, due to financial pressures, Ferrari had to offer its stake to Fiat.

Initially Ferrari visaged many internal as well as external hardships but at the end of 1960, it put itself in a far superior situation than previous time. Later, Ford became a larger competitor and Ferrari had to even boycott sports automobile racing in 1968, to oppose FIA’s new rules. In 1969, Fiat increased its stake to 50%, this resulted not only in more finances but also in more influence on management. But the sports automobile racing department managed to stay untouched for some time.

The year 1972 and 1973 saw some great wins, defeats and finally exit of Ferrari from the sports automobile racing arena. And in 1988, death of Enzo Ferrari led to a situation not imagined by anyone. The brand Ferrari rose to a new height, value of old automobile and understanding of new automobile suddenly increased.

From 1996 onwards, Ferrari’s position changed after hiring Michael Schumacher. He dominated F1 and Ferrari was in top spot from 2000 till he retired in 2006.

Today Fiat owns 85% stake in Ferrari. But Ferrari is a part of FIAT S.p.A, not FIAT Auto. And fiat S.p.A has controlling interest in Ferrari.

Writer is a huge fan of automobile racing and collects Ferrari jackets and Ferrari caps. He has written many articles on Ferrari.