Team information

The full name of the team is Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro. How long the Marlboro will stay in the name is anyone's guess as tobacco continues to be weeded (excuse the pun) out of the sport.

Ferrari is based in Maranello, Itlay and is run by Stefano Domencali, a flamboyent Italian, who took over from the Jean Todt in 2007. Todt, along with Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, was the architect of the Schumacher era. Now that the Frenchman has moved upstairs fans hope that Ferrari can bring a little more emotion back into motor racing — though not at the expense of winning.

History

The Ferrari marque is practically synonymous with F1 so as you can imagine the history of Ferrari is deeply ingrained with that of the sport. Bearing in mind that books have been written on this topic, below is a (very) brief summary.

Although Scuderia Ferrari had been racing since the inception of Ferrari it entered F1 in 1950, F1's inaugural year. A first victory came the following year at the British Grand Prix.

That kick started the team's rise to the top as it won the Drivers' Championship in 1952 and 1953, followed up by wins in 1956 and 1958. The team triumphed again in the early 1960s, winning in 1961 and 1964 but then went through a fallow patch for a decade or so until Nikki Lauda inspired the team to both Drivers' and Constructors' Championships in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

For the rest of the century the Prancing Horse would struggle mightily and apart from a Michele Albereto challeneg in 1985 never challenged for either Championship until the late 1990s.

By then the team had been remoulded under the guise of Jean Todt, an austere Frenchman. That and the acquisition of Michael Schumacher were the harbinger of renewed success at Maranello.

Under Schumacher, the Scuderia reeled off five consecutive drivers' and constructors' crowns and it was only the emergence of Fernando Alonso and Renault that stopped the run in 2005 and 2006.

By 2007 Schumi had retired and the team poached Kimi Raikkonen from rivals McLaren. Raikkonen claimed the championship in dramatic style winning the final two races of the season to claw back an astonishing 18 point defecit from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

2008 Prospects

Ferrari are paddock favourites to repeat their 2007 title winning season. In testing they have been consistently fastest and reliability appears under control, at least more so than in did last season.

Plus Raikkonen has had a year to get used to the car and with a championship under his belt has the respect of the team to ensure Felipe Massa remains a dutiful number two.

The honours list

Constructors' Championships 15
(1961, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007)

Drivers' Championships 15
(1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007)