man. In 1947 he started to produce and sell road cars to enable him to finance his racing career. He was perceptive enough to realize that if he created exclusivity there would be more demand than supply and so he built up a company that today, as we stand on the threshold of the next millennium, is still the marque that most people dream of owning and driving. He also created a Formula One racing team that has become a legend within the rarefied world of motor racing. Ferrari is a name that is synonymous with glamour, style and power.
However, being a genius who built up an empire from nothing didn’t necessarily make Enzo a wonderful person. People seem to link the two, but most really successful businessmen are single minded, despotic and completely egocentric. Enzo Ferrari was no different. He often treated staff like servants, enjoying his absolute power as leader. He kept racing drivers in their place (bearing in mind the overinflated egos of some of today’s drivers, many would list that as a positive characteristic) and he was hardly a New Man. His wife cannot have had an easy time being married to a legend. He built a house on his test circuit so he could be near to his first love, racing, and know exactly what was going on both with the car and with the team. He fathered an illegitimate child, Piero Lardi, whom he welcomed into the business after his own son died. His wife, naturally, as was the tradition of the times, would have been expected to put up with it all, plus have his dinner ready when he wanted it. He was demanding, selfish and authoritarian, but nevertheless a brilliant man, and in spite of – or maybe because of – his faults, he is always remembered with great affection by people who knew him.
Niki Lauda, who won two World Championships with Ferrari, recalls Enzo Ferrari as a man of extraordinary influence and recounts the strength and mystique surrounding the Ferrari legend. ‘Ferrari has something extra,’ he says. ‘It’s something indefinable and unique, and every time I walked through the doors of the factory at Maranello or stepped into the car, I felt the added importance of being that unique thing – a Ferrari driver. There was, is and always will be a special place in my heart that is reserved for Ferrari.’
Jody Scheckter was also ‘that unique thing’ and won the World Championship for Ferrari in 1979 – the last driver to do so. ‘I think for any driver of any ability to drive for Ferrari is a dream come true,’ he says. ‘It is still the most historic marque in motor racing. The magic of driving for Ferrari is that you’re driving for the whole of Italy, not just the team.’ Nigel Mansell, the last Englishman to drive for Ferrari, says, ‘Driving for Ferrari offers a very special experience. They are true thoroughbred racers, they only want to win and for me the reality was very similar to the dream.’
SHEER POWER
FERRARI HAS ALWAYS BEEN A MAJOR FORCE IN FIA
Behind the romantic mystique and glamour of Ferrari lies sheer, raw power. Formula One is a breeding ground for power but Ferrari is the master. Max Mosley, President of FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the sport’s governing body based in Paris) explains how Ferrari entered the inner sanctum of Formula One and became the main power broker. ‘Politically, Ferrari has always been a major force in FIA. Until the emergence of British racing in the 1960s, all decisions were made somewhere between Paris and Turin. It was just a question of which year and where the centre of gravity was. The Concorde Agreement (the Maastricht treaty of Formula One) was drawn up in 1980 and 1981, and it has a provision that when Formula One matters are discussed the vote of the President of the Manufacturer’s Commission would be exercised by a representative from the legalist’s side. The legalists were one of two factions which formed in the late 70s and early 80s. It was basically Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo, and the other faction was us, together with the FOCA [Formula One Constructors’ Association] teams.
‘FOCA had a seat on the World Council, and we found a compromise whereby in addition to Formula One having a seat on the World Council, another person who is President of the Manufacturers’ Commission has a seat. He represents the World’s Motor Industry, the big manufacturers. When Formula One matters were discussed, the legalists had their representative and historically this has always been Ferrari.’
Ferrari, in typical Latin fashion, has always been alert to the most imperceptible political currents, and it was this talent that kept it in the thick of things. As Mosley says, ‘In the 70s, when FOCA became powerful, we ended up with FOCA on one side and FIA/FISA on the other, with Ferrari as the fulcrum. It would move a little bit one way and then a little bit the other way, influencing the decisions. Enzo Ferrari was an absolute master of that sort of politics. He wanted to make sure Formula One succeeded, so he nearly always backed Bernie [Ecclestone], as he realized that Bernie was going to make Formula One into something big. However, by moving a bit towards the governing body he could obtain a more favourable position in negotiations, which was a very wise move. Now all the relationships between me, Bernie and Ferrari are very solid.’
So what if, for argument’s sake, someone stood up and said: ‘Well, Williams should be our representative as it has been the most successful team in the last five years,’ or ‘McLaren because it dominated the 80s’? What would happen?
Mosley smiles before replying with certainty. ‘Nothing would happen. It would stay as it is. Ferrari has got one overwhelming advantage and that is it was there on 13 May 1950 (the first Formula One World Championship race) and has continued to be there, and even when it wasn’t winning it has been a tremendous part of Formula One. Now it is right up at the top again. As Chairman Mao said, “Power comes from the barrel of a gun” – although in the case of Formula One power comes from success. If you’re successful and have got tradition, your political position is very strong.’
Mosley also has first-hand experience of Enzo Ferrari’s schoolboy humour. ‘Twice a year all the teams and everyone would go down to visit Ferrari, and we’d all have lunch together. Enzo would always sit Bernie next to him, and when Bernie wasn’t looking he’d slip a large piece of Parmesan cheese on his plate. According to the old man, Parmesan has aphrodisiac qualities, and he’d always say without fail “that will get the little man going”. It always made him crack up right to the end of his life.’
A clever man with a keen nose for politics, Mosley freely admits to being completely seduced by Ferrari. ‘If someone said to me you can have any job in motorsport, I’d choose to run Ferrari. I quite envy Luca [di Montezemolo, the present chairman] his job. I know it would be challenging and difficult, but then all the top jobs are. I have no doubt that it would certainly be the most interesting.’
Bernie Ecclestone, the President of the Formula One Constructors’ Association (FOCA), is the man who has made Formula One an exciting, visually entertaining sport and a business that is a commercial success. Having known Enzo Ferrari so well, he fondly remembers the old man, and Bernie’s trepidation at what might happen after his death in 1988.
‘I have many happy, personal memories of Ferrari as I had a long friendship with the great Enzo, who was always supportive of all I did. When he died I missed him on a personal level, and I also wondered what would happen to Ferrari and if it would continue in the same way. I am delighted to see that the team has followed in the footsteps of tradition and is being run in the same way by the right people, who will ensure that it grows and develops as we enter the next millennium and the 21st century.’
INTO THE FUTURE
GRADUALLY THINGS STARTED TO IMPROVE
The death of the great Enzo Ferrari in 1988 was the end of an era at Ferrari. He had been the creator and motivating force of the car company for over 40 years and now, finally, it was time to take stock and move on towards the 21st century.
When Chief Designer
