Enzo Ferrari established the Scuderia in November 1929 after soliciting financial backing from wealthy amateur racers and industrialists at a dinner in Bologna. The team initially prepared and entered Alfa Romeo cars for a roster of drivers that at its peak numbered over forty, including Tazio Nuvolari, Giuseppe Campari, and Achille Varzi. Ferrari himself raced until his first son Dino was born in 1932. The prancing horse emblem appeared on a team car for the first time at the 1932 24 Hours of Spa.
Alfa Romeo absorbed the Scuderia in 1938 when it made Ferrari manager of its in-house Alfa Corse division. Ferrari disagreed with the arrangement and departed in 1939, founding Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari. Bound by agreement not to use his name on a racing car for four years, he produced the Tipo 815 under neutral branding for the 1940 Mille Miglia. After World War II, Ferrari rebuilt at Maranello and constructed the 12-cylinder Tipo 125, which achieved its first recorded win at the minor Circuito di Garda in 1948 with Giuseppe Farina driving.
Ferrari entered Formula One at its second championship round in 1950, the Monaco Grand Prix, and has competed without interruption ever since. The team holds a record 16 Constructors' Championships, the most recent won in 2008. Its 15 Drivers' Championships have been secured by nine different drivers: Alberto Ascari (1952, 1953), Juan Manuel Fangio (1956), Mike Hawthorn (1958), Phil Hill (1961), John Surtees (1964), Niki Lauda (1975, 1977), Jody Scheckter (1979), Michael Schumacher (2000–2004), and Kimi Raikkonen (2007).
The most dominant period in the team's history came under Michael Schumacher, who joined Ferrari in 1996. Schumacher won five consecutive Drivers' Championships from 2000 to 2004, and the team secured six consecutive Constructors' titles from 1999 to 2004. He scored 72 race victories in Ferrari red before his first retirement in 2006. The 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix was Ferrari's 1000th Formula One World Championship start. For the 2026 season, the team fields Charles Leclerc and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari has supplied engines to numerous other teams across Formula One's history, including Minardi, Sauber, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Force India, and Marussia. From 2026, the team supplies the Haas F1 Team and the new Cadillac entry.
From the late 1940s into the early 1970s, Ferrari was a dominant force in international sports car racing. Factory Ferrari cars and customer entries won the 24 Hours of Le Mans nine times, the Targa Florio seven times, and the Mille Miglia eight times. The company won twelve World Sportscar Championship titles, claiming six of the first seven editions from 1953 to 1958 with an extensive range of Colombo and Lampredi V12-powered sports racers. Ferrari also claimed six consecutive overall victories at Le Mans from 1960 to 1965.
The mid-1960s rivalry with Ford defined an era. After a proposed acquisition of Ferrari by Ford collapsed acrimoniously in 1963, Ford poured unprecedented resources into the GT40 programme with the explicit aim of defeating Ferrari at Le Mans. Ferrari prevailed through 1965 before the more powerful 7-litre GT40 took dominance in 1966. Enzo Ferrari ended factory sports car development after 1973 to concentrate resources on Formula One.
Ferrari re-entered GT racing with factory support from 2006, partnering with AF Corse and other teams in GTE and GT2 categories. AF Corse won GT manufacturers' titles in the FIA World Endurance Championship in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2021, and 2022.
In 2023, Ferrari returned to the top class of prototype racing for the first time in fifty years with the Ferrari 499P Le Mans Hypercar. 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 overall Le Mans victory since 1965. Ferrari repeated the achievement in 2024, with the No. 50 499P driven by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, and Nicklas Nielsen, and again in 2025 with the No. 83 499P driven by Phil Hanson, Robert Kubica, and Yifei Ye. Ferrari also won the 2025 World Manufacturers' and Drivers' Championships.
The prancing horse emblem originates from the fighter plane of Italian World War I ace Francesco Baracca. Baracca's parents, acquaintances of Enzo Ferrari, suggested he adopt the symbol, telling him it would bring good luck. Ferrari cars have raced in the Italian national racing colour, rosso corsa, throughout their history with the narrow exception of two races in 1964 when the NART team entered cars in American livery as a protest against Italian racing authorities. The team's passionate supporter base is known as the tifosi, and the Italian Grand Prix at Monza is considered Ferrari's home race.
The team is headquartered at Maranello, Italy, where it has been based since 1943. Its on-site Fiorano Circuit, built in 1972, is used for testing road and race cars. Team principals have included Jean Todt (1993–2007), Stefano Domenicali (2008–2014), Maurizio Arrivabene (2015–2018), Mattia Binotto (2019–2022), and Frederic Vasseur (since 2023).