Scuderia Ferrari was founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929 to enter amateur drivers in various races, with the idea emerging at a dinner in Bologna on the night of 16 November where Ferrari solicited financial help from textile heirs Augusto and Alfredo Caniato and wealthy amateur racer Mario Tadini. Ferrari himself had raced in Costruzioni Meccaniche Nazionali and Alfa Romeo cars before that date. At its peak the team included over forty drivers, most racing in Alfa Romeo 8C cars; Ferrari himself continued racing until the birth of his son Dino in 1932. The prancing horse blazon first appeared at the 1932 Spa 24 Hours on a two-car team of Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spiders that finished first and second.
In 1933, Alfa Romeo experienced economic difficulties and withdrew its factory team; Scuderia Ferrari became the acting Alfa Romeo racing team, receiving up-to-date Monoposto Tipo B racers. In 1935, Enzo Ferrari and Luigi Bazzi built the Alfa Romeo Bimotore, the first car to wear a Ferrari badge. Ferrari managed established drivers including Tazio Nuvolari, Giuseppe Campari, Achille Varzi, and Louis Chiron from his Modena headquarters until 1938, when Alfa Romeo made him manager of the factory racing division Alfa Corse. Alfa Romeo had bought the Scuderia Ferrari shares in 1937 and transferred official racing activity to Alfa Corse from 1 January 1938.
Enzo Ferrari disagreed with this policy change and was dismissed by Alfa in 1939. He then founded Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari, subject to an agreement not to use the Ferrari name on cars for four years. In the winter of 1939–1940, Ferrari began work on his own racecar, the Tipo 815, designed by Alberto Massimino — the first true Ferrari cars. Alberto Ascari drove one in the 1940 Mille Miglia before World War II halted racing. Ferrari moved his headquarters to Maranello in 1943; the facility was bombed in November 1944 and February 1945.
After the war Ferrari rebuilt at Maranello and constructed the 12-cylinder, 1.5 L Tipo 125, which debuted at the 1948 Italian Grand Prix with Raymond Sommer. Once the four-year Alfa condition expired, the road car company became Ferrari S.p.A. while the racing department used the name SEFAC. Ferrari did not enter the first-ever World Championship race, the 1950 British Grand Prix, due to a dispute over start money.
Michael Schumacher is the team's most successful driver. Joining in 1996 and driving until his first retirement in 2006, he won five consecutive Drivers' Championships between 2000 and 2004 and 72 Grands Prix for the team. The team won consecutive Constructors' Championships between 1999 and 2004 — the most successful era in team history. Kimi Räikkönen's title in 2007 is the team's most recent Drivers' Championship. The most recent Constructors' Championship was won in 2008.
At the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix, Gilles Villeneuve and Didier Pironi were leading when the team showed the slow sign. Under a pre-race agreement, the leader was expected to take the win; Villeneuve slowed but Pironi did not follow and instead passed him. Villeneuve was angered by what he saw as a betrayal, and this feud is considered a contributory factor in his fatal accident in qualifying at the following race, the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.
At the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix, Rubens Barrichello was instructed to let teammate Michael Schumacher pass for the win after leading from pole for 70 laps. The move proved unpopular and contributed to team orders being officially banned ahead of the 2003 season. On lap 49 of the 2010 German Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso went past Felipe Massa after Ferrari communicated that Alonso was "faster than him." Ferrari were fined the maximum $100,000 available to the stewards for breaching regulations and "bringing the sport into disrepute." The FIA World Motor Sport Council upheld the stewards' view but took no further action; the ban on team orders was lifted for the 2011 season.
Ferrari has raced in rosso corsa — Italy's national racing colour — in keeping with their Italian roots, with the exception of the last two races of the 1964 season (the United States Grand Prix and Mexican Grand Prix), when Enzo Ferrari had the cars entered by the NART team in American national colours (white with blue Cunningham racing stripes) to protest against Italian racing authorities. John Surtees won the 1964 World Championship competing in those colours.
Ferrari produces engines for its own Formula One cars and has supplied them to other teams. Past supply agreements covered Minardi (1991), Scuderia Italia (1992–1993), Sauber (1997–2005, badged as Petronas, and 2010–2025), Prost (2001, badged Acer), Red Bull Racing (2006), Spyker (2007), Scuderia Toro Rosso (2007–2013, 2016), Force India (2008), and Marussia (2014–2015). For the 2026 season, Ferrari supplies the Haas F1 Team and Cadillac. In December 2024, Ferrari announced that Cadillac had signed a multi-year deal to use Ferrari engines and gearboxes from 2026 onwards until GM PPU develops an F1-ready power unit. Ferrari is the most successful Formula One engine manufacturer with 249 wins.
From the late 1940s to the early 1970s, Ferrari competed in sports car racing, winning the overall World Sportscar Championship (WSC) twelve times. Ferrari cars won the Mille Miglia eight times and the Targa Florio seven times. In the first half of the 1960s, Ferrari won six consecutive overall victories at the 24 Hours of Le Mans (1960–1965). After a period competing against Ford in the WSC, Ferrari withdrew from works sportscar racing after the 1973 season to concentrate on Formula One. From 2006, Ferrari returned to GT racing with Ferrari Competizioni GT in partnership with teams including AF Corse, Kessel Racing, and Risi Competizione.
In 2023, after a 50-year hiatus from the top prototype class, Ferrari returned with the Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar, managed by AF Corse. At the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, the No. 51 499P driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi took Ferrari's first Le Mans victory since 1965. At the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, the No. 50 499P driven by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen gave Ferrari its eleventh overall victory, recording consecutive Le Mans wins for the first time since 1965. The 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans was won by the No. 83 499P driven by Phil Hanson, Robert Kubica, and Yifei Ye — Ferrari's twelfth overall victory at the race. Ferrari went on to win the 2025 World Manufacturers' and Drivers' Championships.
As a Formula One constructor, Ferrari holds a record 16 Constructors' Championships. Fifteen Drivers' Championships have been won by nine different drivers: Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher, and Kimi Räikkönen. The 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix marked Ferrari's 1000th Grand Prix in Formula One. The team's drivers for the 2026 season are Charles Leclerc and seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
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