The Ferrari 550 Maranello (tipo F133), produced between 1996 and 2002, was a front-engine, rear-wheel drive grand tourer powered by a naturally aspirated 5,474 cc 65-degree V12 engine producing 485 PS at 7,000 rpm. Designed by Pininfarina with exterior work credited to Elvio D'Aprile under Lorenzo Ramaciotti's supervision, the 550 marked Ferrari's return to a front-engine layout for its 12-cylinder two-seater after 23 years of mid-engine configurations since the Berlinetta Boxer replaced the 365 GTB/4 Daytona. It shares its frame and main engine components with the 2+2 Ferrari 456. A total of 3,083 units were produced between 1996 and 2001.
The first racing 550, known as the 550 GT, was built for French team Red Racing by engineer Michel Enjolras, assembled in the Italtecnica workshop and first tested in April 1999. This car competed in the GT3 class of the French FFSA GT Championship before being sold to XL Racing, who built a second example — the 550 XL — for entry in the FFSA GT and the American Le Mans Series. The older 550 GT also appeared at the 2003 24 Hours of Le Mans in the ACO GT class but failed to finish.
In 2000, with financial support from Stéphane Ratel's organisation, Italtecnica developed the 550 Millennio to meet FIA GT Championship GT1 regulations. It debuted in the 2000 FIA GT Championship with First Racing, and saw two cars entered by Team Rafanelli in 2001. The 550 Millennio was later adapted to ACO LM-GTS regulations, allowing a single car to enter the 2002 American Le Mans Series.
Also in late 2000, German entrepreneur and engineer Franz Wieth launched the 550 GTS, developed by Baumgartner Sportwagen Technik. Two cars were built, with Wieth Racing entering one in the 2001 FIA GT Championship, returning in 2003, 2004, and 2005. In 2006 the Wieth Ferrari scored two wins in the Euro GT Series.
The most successful GT1 racing version of the 550 Maranello was built by Prodrive, commissioned by Frédéric Dor's company Care Racing Development, for various sports car series and particularly the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Initially called the 550 GTO and later renamed the 550 GTS — unrelated to Wieth's project — a total of ten cars were built over four years and campaigned by the Prodrive factory team and by privateer customers. The cars were built entirely by Prodrive without factory support from Ferrari.
The factory Prodrive team won two races on its 2001 FIA GT Championship debut. For 2002, the BMS Scuderia Italia team took over in FIA GT, recording four wins, while Prodrive took a single win in the American Le Mans Series. In 2003, the 550 GTS achieved its finest international result when Prodrive won the GTS class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and finished second in the GTS class championship in the ALMS with four wins. BMS Scuderia Italia won the FIA GT Championship that year with eight victories. BMS took the FIA GT Championship again in 2004, while Larbre Compétition won the GT1 class title in the Le Mans Series. BMS Scuderia Italia also won the Le Mans Series championship in 2005 before Prodrive moved on to the Aston Martin DBR9 program.
After Prodrive's departure, Care Racing Development continued maintaining the 550 GTS customer cars. Hitotsuyama Racing entered a car in the 2004 JGTC and 2005 Super GT seasons, then switched to the Japan Le Mans Challenge, winning the GT1-class title in both 2006 and 2007. The last competitive appearance of a 550 GTS was the 2009 FIA GT Paul Ricard 2 Hours, where a car entered by French team Solution F finished seventh.
The success of the Prodrive 550 GTS directly encouraged Ferrari to develop a factory-supported GT1 successor based on the 575M Maranello — the 575 GTC — made available to privateer customers. The 550 Maranello's racing record validated the inherent competitiveness of the front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout in top-level GT competition at a time when mid-engine rivals were considered the default architecture. The road car itself was named the greatest drivers' car of the 1990s decade by Evo magazine in 2004, with the editors citing the balance of its engine and chassis as singular among contemporary supercars. The V12 F133 engine won the "over 4 litre" class of the International Engine of the Year award in 2000 and 2001.