He was widely known asil Commendatore oril Drake, a nickname given by British opponents in reference to the EnglishprivateerFrancis Drake, due to Ferrari's demonstrated ability anddetermination in achieving significant sports results with his small company. In his final years, he was often referred to as l'Ingegnere ("the Engineer"), il Grande Vecchio ("the Grand Old Man"), il Cavaliere ("the Knight"), il Mago ("the Wizard"), and il Patriarca ("the Patriarch").[1]
Enzo Anselmo Giuseppe Maria Ferrari was born on 18 February 1898 inModena, Italy, while his birth certificate states 20 February.[2][3] His parents were Alfredo Ferrari and Adalgisa Bisbini; he had an older brother Alfredo Junior (Dino). The family lived in via Paolo Ferrari n°85, next to the mechanical workshop founded by Alfredo, who worked for the nearby railways. This site is now theEnzo Ferrari Museum.[4]Alfredo Senior was the son of a grocer fromCarpi, and began a workshop fabricating metal parts at the family home.[5]
Enzo grew up with little formal education. Unlike his brother, he preferred working in his father's workshop and participated in the construction of the canopy at the Giulianova station in 1914. He had ambitions of becoming an operetta tenor, sports journalist, or racing driver. When he was 10, he witnessedFelice Nazzaro's win at the1908 Circuito di Bologna, an event which inspired him to become a racing driver.[6] DuringWorld War I, he served in the3rd Mountain Artillery Regiment of theItalian Army. His father, Alfredo, and his older brother, Alfredo Jr., died in 1916 as a result of a widespread Italianflu outbreak. Ferrari became seriously sick himself during the1918 flu pandemic and was consequently discharged from the Italian service.[citation needed]
"Second place is the first loser". (Original: "Il secondo è il primo dei perdenti".)[7]
After the collapse of his family's carpentry business, Ferrari searched for a job in the car industry. He unsuccessfully volunteered his services toFiat in Turin, eventually settling for a job as test-driver for CMN (Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali), a car manufacturer in Milan which rebuilt used truck bodies into small passenger cars. He was later promoted to race car driver and made his competitive debut in the 1919 Parma-Poggio di Berceto hillclimb race, where he finished fourth in the three-litre category at the wheel of a 2.3-litre 4-cylinder C.M.N. 15/20. On 23 November of the same year, he took part in theTarga Florio but had to retire after his car's fuel tank developed a leak.[8] Due to the large number of retirements, he finished 9th.[9]
In 1920, Ferrari joined the racing department ofAlfa Romeo as a driver. Ferrari won his first Grand Prix in 1923 inRavenna on the Savio Circuit. 1924 was his best season, with three wins, includingRavenna,Polesine and theCoppa Acerbo inPescara.[10] Deeply shocked by the death ofUgo Sivocci in 1923 andAntonio Ascari in 1925, Ferrari, by his admission, continued to race half-heartedly. At the same time, he developed a taste for the organisational aspects of Grand Prix racing. Following the birth of his son Alfredo (Dino) in 1932, Ferrari decided to retire and form a team of superstar drivers, includingGiuseppe Campari andTazio Nuvolari. This team was called Scuderia Ferrari (founded by Enzo in 1929) and acted as a racing division for Alfa Romeo. The team was very successful, thanks to excellent cars like theAlfa Romeo P3 and to the talented drivers, like Nuvolari. Ferrari retired from competitive driving, having participated in 41 Grands Prix with a record of 11 wins.[11]
During this period, the prancing horse emblem appeared on his team's cars. The emblem had been created and sported by an Italian fighter plane pilotFrancesco Baracca. During World War I, Baracca's mother gave her son a necklace with the prancing horse on it before takeoff. Baracca was shot down and killed by an Austrian aeroplane in 1918.[12] In memory of his death, Ferrari used the prancing horse to create the emblem that would become the world-famous Ferrari shield. Initially displayed on Ferrari'sAlfa Romeo racing car, the shield was first seen on a factory Ferrari in 1947.[13]
Alfa Romeo agreed to partner with Ferrari's racing team until 1933, when financial constraints forced them to withdraw their support – a decision subsequently retracted thanks to the intervention ofPirelli. Despite the quality of the Scuderia drivers, the team struggled to compete withAuto Union andMercedes. Although the German manufacturers dominated the era, Ferrari's team achieved a notable victory in 1935 when Tazio Nuvolari beatRudolf Caracciola andBernd Rosemeyer on their home turf at the German Grand Prix.[14]
In 1937,Scuderia Ferrari was dissolved and Ferrari returned to Alfa's racing team, named "Alfa Corse". Alfa Romeo decided to regain full control of its racing division, retaining Ferrari as Sporting Director. After a disagreement with Alfa's managing directorUgo Gobbato, Ferrari left in 1939 and founded Auto-Avio Costruzioni, a company supplying parts to other racing teams. Although a contract clause restricted him from racing or designing cars for four years, Ferrari managed to manufacture two cars for the 1940Mille Miglia, which were driven byAlberto Ascari and Lotario Rangoni. With the outbreak ofWorld War II, Ferrari's factory was forced to undertake war production for Mussolini's fascist government. Following Allied bombing of the factory, Ferrari relocated from Modena toMaranello. At the end of the war, Ferrari decided to start making cars bearing his name and founded Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947.[15]
Enzo decided to battle the dominating Alfa Romeos and race with his own team. The team's open-wheel debut took place in Turin in 1948, and the first win came later in the year in Lago di Garda. The first major victory came at the1949 24 Hours of Le Mans, with a Ferrari 166 MM driven byLuigi Chinetti and (Baron Selsdon of Scotland) Peter Mitchell-Thomson. In 1950, Ferrari enrolled in the newly born Drivers World Championship and is the only team to remain continuously present since its introduction. Ferrari won his first world championship Grand Prix withJosé Froilán González atSilverstone in 1951. Apocryphally, Enzo cried like a baby when his team finally defeated the mightyAlfetta 159. The first championship came in 1952, withAlberto Ascari, a task that was repeated one year later. In 1953, Ferrari made his only attempt at theIndianapolis 500, but the car driven by Ascari crashed on lap 41 of the race.[16]
In order to finance his racing endeavours in Formula One as well as in other events such as theMille Miglia andLe Mans, the company started selling sports cars.[citation needed]
Ferrari's decision to continue racing in theMille Miglia brought the company new victories and greatly increased public recognition. However, increasing speeds, poor roads, and nonexistent crowd protection eventually spelled disaster for both the race and Ferrari. During the1957 Mille Miglia, near the town of Guidizzolo, a 4.0-litre Ferrari 335 S driven byAlfonso de Portago was traveling at 250 km/h (160 mph) when it blew a tyre and crashed into the roadside crowd, killing de Portago, his co-driver and nine spectators, five of whom were children. In response, Enzo Ferrari andEnglebert, the tyre manufacturer, were charged with manslaughter in a lengthy criminal prosecution that was finally dismissed in 1961.[17]
Deeply unsatisfied with the way motorsports were covered in the Italian press, in 1961, Ferrari supportedBologna-based publisher Luciano Conti's decision to start a new publication,Autosprint. Ferrari himself regularly contributed to the magazine for a few years.[18][circular reference]
Many of Ferrari's greatest victories came at Le Mans (nine victories, including six in a row in 1960–1965) and in Formula One during the 1950s and 1960s, with the successes ofJuan Manuel Fangio (1956),Mike Hawthorn (1958), andPhil Hill (1961).[citation needed]
The "great walkout" came at an especially difficult time for Ferrari. At the urging of Chiti, the company was developing a new250-based model. Even if the car were finished, it was unclear if it could be raced successfully. Ferrari's shakeup proved to be successful. Themid-enginedDino racers laid the foundation for Forghieri's dominant 250-powered250 P. DriverJohn Surtees won the world title in 1964 following a tense battle withJim Clark andGraham Hill. TheDino road cars sold well, and other models like the275 andDaytona were on the way. Conversely, ATS, following a troubled Formula One 1963 campaign, with both cars retiring four times in five races, folded at the end of the year.[20]
In 1998, Tavoni declared in an interview that he and the remainder of Ferrari's senior figures did not leave on their initiative, but were ousted following a disagreement with Ferrari over the role of his wife in the company. He said: "Our mistake was to go to a lawyer and write him a letter, instead of openly discussing the issue with him. We knew that his wife wasn't well. We should have been able to deal with it in a different way. When he called the meeting to fire us, he had already nominated our successors."[21]
By the end of the 1960s, increasing financial difficulties and the problem of racing in many categories and having to meet new safety and clean air emissions requirements for road car production and development, caused Ferrari to start looking for a business partner. In 1969, Ferrari sold 50% of his company toFiat S.p.A., with the caveat that he would remain 100% in control of the racing activities and that Fiat would pay a sizable subsidy until his death for use of his Maranello and Modena production plants. Ferrari had previously offeredFord the opportunity to buy the firm in 1963 for US$18 million ($184,871,739 in 2024 dollars[22]) but, late in negotiations, Ferrari withdrew once he realized that Ford would not agree to grant him independent control of the company racing department. Ferrari became a joint-stock company, and Fiat took a small share in 1965. In 1969, Fiat increased its holding to 50% of the company. In 1988 Fiat's holding rose to 90%.[23]
Following the agreement with Fiat, Ferrari stepped down as managing director of the road car division in 1971. In 1974, Ferrari appointedLuca Cordero di Montezemolo as Sporting Director/Formula One Team manager. Montezemolo eventually assumed the presidency of Ferrari in 1992, a post he held until September 2014.Clay Regazzoni was runner-up in 1974, whileNiki Lauda won the championship in 1975 and 1977. In 1977, Ferrari was criticized in the press for replacing World Champion Lauda with newcomerGilles Villeneuve.[24] Ferrari claimed that Villeneuve's aggressive driving style reminded him ofTazio Nuvolari.[25] These feelings were reinforced after the1979 French Grand Prix when Villeneuve finished second after an intense battle withRené Arnoux. According to technical directorMauro Forghieri, "When we returned toMaranello, Ferrari was ecstatic. I have never seen him so happy for a second place."[26]
In the early 1970s, Ferrari, aided by fellow Modena constructorsMaserati andAutomobili Stanguellini, demanded that the Modena Town Council andAutomobile Club d'Italia upgrade theAerautodromo di Modena, the reasoning being that the race track was obsolete and inadequate to test modern racing cars. The proposal was initially discussed with interest, but eventually stalled due to a lack of political will. Ferrari then proceeded to buy the land adjacent to his factory and build theFiorano Circuit, a 3 km track still in use to test Ferrari racing and road cars.[27]
AfterJody Scheckter won the title in 1979, the team experienced a disastrous 1980 campaign. In 1981, Ferrari attempted to revive his team's fortunes by switching to turbo engines. In 1982, the second turbo-powered Ferrari, the 126C2, showed great promise. However, driverGilles Villeneuve was killed in an accident during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix in Zolder, in May. In August, atHockenheim, teammateDidier Pironi had his career cut short in a violent end-over-end flip on the misty back straight after hitting theRenault F1 driven byAlain Prost. Pironi was leading the driver's championship at the time; he would lose the lead and the championship by five points as he sat out the remaining five races. The Scuderia went on to win the Constructors Championship at the end of the season and in 1983, with driverRené Arnoux in contention for the championship until the very last race.Michele Alboreto finished second in 1985, but the team would not see championship glory again before Ferrari's death in 1988. The final race win Ferrari saw before his death was whenGerhard Berger and Alboreto scored a 1–2 finish at the final round of the 1987 season inAustralia.[28]
Ferrari's management style was autocratic, and he was known to pit drivers against each other in the hope of improving their performance. Some critics believe that Ferrari deliberately increased psychological pressure on his drivers, encouraging intra-team rivalries and fostering an atmosphere of intense competition for the position of number one driver. "He thought that psychological pressure would produce better results for the drivers", said Ferrari team driverTony Brooks. "He would expect a driver to go beyond reasonable limits... You can drive to the maximum of your ability, but once you start psyching yourself up to do things that you don't feel are within your ability it gets stupid. There was enough danger at that time without going over the limit." According toMario Andretti, "[Ferrari] just demanded results. But he was a guy that also understood when the cars had shortcomings. He was one that could always appreciate the effort that a driver made, when you were just busting your butt, flat out, flinging the car, and all that. He knew and saw that. He was all-in. Had no other interest in life outside of motor racing and all of the intricacies of it. Somewhat misunderstood in many ways because he was so demanding, so tough on everyone, but at the end of the day he was correct. Always correct. And that's why you had the respect that you had for him."[29]
In public, Ferrari was careful to acknowledge the drivers who risked their lives for his team, insisting that praise should be shared equally between car and driver for any race won. However, his longtime friend and company accountant, Carlo Benzi, related that privately Ferrari would say that "the car was the reason for any success".[31]
Following the deaths of Giuseppe Campari in 1933 and Alberto Ascari in 1955, both of whom he had a strong personal relationship with, he chose not to get too close to his drivers out of fear of emotionally hurting himself. Later in life, he retracted his position and grew very close toClay Regazzoni and especiallyGilles Villeneuve.[32]
Enzo Ferrari lived a reserved life and rarely granted interviews. He seldom leftModena andMaranello and never went to any Grands Prix outside of Italy after the 1950s (because his passport was confiscated while he was on trial following the Guidizzolo tragedy[33]). He was usually seen at the Grands Prix atMonza, near Milan, andImola, not far from the Ferrari factory, where the circuit was named after the late Dino.[34] His last known trip abroad was in 1982, when he went to Paris to broker a compromise between thewarring FISA and FOCA parties. He never flew in an aeroplane (always using acar ortrain for their travels) and never set foot in alift (always preferred usingstairs, although he himself said it was more tiring).[35]
Ferrari met his future wife, Laura Dominica Garello (c. 1900–1978) in Turin. They lived together for two years and married on 28 April 1923.[36][37] According to Brock Yates' 1991 bookEnzo Ferrari: The Man and the Machine, Ferrari married to keep up appearances for the sake of his career, as divorce was frowned upon in the predominantly Catholic Italy, and sought sexual conquests not so much for pleasure but for the gratification of his ego. According to Yates, Ferrari once remarked to racing manager Romolo Tavoni that "a man should always have two wives", and at one point in 1961, when he was dating three women simultaneously, he wrote, "I am convinced that when a man tells a woman he loves her, he only means that he desires her and that the only perfect love in this world is that of a father for his son", a comment that came several years after the death of his first son.[36]
Dino Ferrari, aged 15, and his father, Enzo Ferrari, photographed in 1947
Ferrari and Laura's one son,Alfredo "Dino", who was born in 1932 and groomed as Enzo's successor, suffered from ill-health and died frommuscular dystrophy in 1956.[38] According toTime magazine, Ferrari and Laura's love for their son is what kept them together. Although Dino never raced competitively, his father provided him with a fleet of cars that he raced for pleasure. He also designed engine parts while bedridden. Ferrari and Laura remained married until her death in 1978. John Nikas, writer and expert on the history of cars who founded the British Sports Car Hall of Fame, said of Ferrari, "His real loves in life were racing and Dino."[36]
Enzo had a second son,Piero, with his mistress Lina Lardi in 1945. As divorce was illegal in Italy until 1970, Piero could only be recognized as Enzo's son after Laura's death in 1978. Piero Lardi's existence was kept a secret, known only to a few of his father's confidantes. According to Yates, "There is no question that at some point in the late 1950s, Laura Ferrari discovered her husband's second life", and openly derided him as a "bastard" when she saw him in a factory. After Laura's death, Ferrari adopted Piero, who took the name Piero Lardi Ferrari. As of 2023, he is vice chairman of the company,[36][39] and owns a 10% share of it.[39] Piero told theLos Angeles Times thatMichael Mann's 2023 biographical filmFerrari was accurate, in particular in its depiction of his father's drive, saying, "My father was a person who was always looking ahead, moving forward, never going back."[36]
Ferrari died on 14 August 1988 inMaranello at the age of 90, ofleukaemia. Because he was a private person, and because he feared possible popular protests due to the fact that Ferrari's team had been beaten byMcLaren in every race of the1988 season so far, Enzo expressed the wish for his death to be reported in the media only on 16 August, the day after his burial (witnessed only by his family) on 15 August.
The Ferrari F40 was dedicated to him when he died, as a symbol of what he obtained in the world. It represented the ultimate expression of supercar performance in the analogue era, before the advent of electronic driving aids and computer-controlled systems[42]
He witnessed the launch of theFerrari F40 shortly before his death, which was dedicated as a symbol of his achievements in 40 years. In 2002, Ferrari began production of theFerrari Enzo, named after its founder.[43]
TheItalian Grand Prix was held just weeks after Ferrari's death, and the result was a 1–2 finish for Ferrari, with the AustrianGerhard Berger leading home Italian and Milan nativeMichele Alboreto; it was the only race thatMcLaren did not win that season. Since Ferrari's death, theScuderia Ferrari team has remained successful.
A popular joke among fans ofassociation football holds that German footballerMesut Özil is thereincarnation of Enzo Ferrari. Özil bears a striking resemblance to Ferrari and was born two months after Ferrari's death.[49]
