Scuderia Ferrari was founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, initially to race cars produced by Alfa Romeo. By 1947, Ferrari had begun building its own cars. The team was based in Modena from its pre-war founding until 1943, when Enzo Ferrari moved the team to a new factory in Maranello. The prancing horse blazon first appeared at the 1932 Spa 24 Hours in Belgium on a two-car team of Alfa Romeo 8C 2300 Spiders. In 1933, Alfa Romeo experienced economic difficulties and withdrew its team from racing. From then, Scuderia Ferrari became the acting racing team of Alfa Romeo.
In 1935, Enzo Ferrari and Luigi Bazzi built the Alfa Romeo Bimotore, the first car to wear a Ferrari badge on the radiator cowl. Enzo Ferrari disagreed with Alfa Romeo's policy change and was dismissed by Alfa Romeo in 1939. In October 1939, Enzo Ferrari left Alfa Romeo and founded Auto Avio Costruzioni Ferrari. The agreement with Alfa Romeo included the condition that he would not use the Ferrari name on cars for four years. In the winter of 1939–1940, Ferrari started work on a racecar of his own, the Tipo 815. The 815s, designed by Alberto Massimino, were thus the first true Ferrari cars. After Alberto Ascari and the Marchese Lotario Rangoni Machiavelli di Modena drove them in the 1940 Mille Miglia, World War II put a temporary end to racing. In 1943, Enzo Ferrari moved his headquarters to Maranello.
Rules for a Grand Prix World Championship had been discussed before the war. Ferrari rebuilt his works in Maranello and constructed the 12-cylinder, 1.5 L Tipo 125, which competed at several non-championship Grands Prix. The car made its debut at the 1948 Italian Grand Prix with Raymond Sommer and achieved its first win at the minor Circuito di Garda with Giuseppe Farina. After the four-year condition expired, the road car company was called Ferrari S.p.A., while the name SEFAC was used for the racing department.
Since its debut in 1950, Ferrari has become a byword for Formula One. Ferrari is the only team to have competed in every season since the World Championship began. As a constructor in Formula One, Ferrari has a record 16 Constructors' Championships. Their most recent Constructors' Championship was won in 2008. The team also holds the record for the most Drivers' Championships with 15, won by nine different drivers including Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher, and Kimi Räikkönen. Räikkönen's title in 2007 is the most recent for the team. The 2020 Tuscan Grand Prix marked Ferrari's 1000th Grand Prix in Formula One.
Michael Schumacher is the team's most successful driver. Joining the team in 1996 and driving for them until his first retirement in 2006, he won five consecutive drivers' titles and 72 Grands Prix for the team. His titles came consecutively between 2000 and 2004, and the team won consecutive constructors' titles between 1999 and 2004, marking the era as the most successful period in the team's history. The team's drivers for the 2026 season are Charles Leclerc and seven-time Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari produces engines for its own Formula One cars and has supplied engines to other teams. Ferrari has previously supplied engines to Minardi (1991), Scuderia Italia (1992–1993), Sauber (1997–2005 with engines 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 the forthcoming Cadillac Formula One team had signed a multi-year deal to use their engines and gearboxes from 2026 onwards.
In keeping with their Italian roots, the Ferrari works team has always kept a red colour in the tradition of rosso corsa, the national racing colour of Italy, except for last two races in the 1964 season (the 1964 United States Grand Prix and 1964 Mexican Grand Prix) when Enzo Ferrari let his cars be entered by the NART team in American national racing colours (white with blue lengthwise "Cunningham racing stripes") to protest against Italian racing authorities. Ferrari won the 1964 World Championship with John Surtees by competing the last two races in Ferrari 158 cars painted white with blue lengthwise "Cunningham racing stripes". The 1964 Mexican Grand Prix was the last time Ferrari cars wore other than the traditional red colour in Formula One.
From the late 1940s to the early 1970s, Ferrari competed in sports car racing with great success, winning the overall World Sportscar Championship twelve times. Ferrari cars won the Mille Miglia eight times, the Targa Florio seven times, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans nine times. Ferrari scored international successes in sports car racing while still at the startup phase, taking wins in 1948 at the Mille Miglia and at the Targa Florio with the Ferrari 166 S and in 1949 at the Mille Miglia, at the 12 Hours of Paris, at the 24 Hours of Spa, at the Targa Florio, and at the 24 Hours of Le Mans all in the same season. This streak of victories was achieved with the 2-litre Ferrari 166 MM against larger engined sports cars.
In 2023, after a 50-year hiatus, Ferrari returned to the top class of endurance racing with its new Ferrari 499P, a Le Mans Hypercar prototype. At the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ferrari achieved its first Le Mans victory since 1965 with the No. 51 499P driven by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, and Antonio Giovinazzi. In the same year, a Ferrari 296 GT3 run by Frikadelli Racing won the 24 Hours of Nürburgring. At the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans, Ferrari achieved its eleventh victory, recording consecutive victories at Le Mans for the first time since 1965 with the No. 50 499P driven by Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen. The success was repeated in 2025, with the No. 83 499P driven by Phil Hanson, Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye winning Ferrari's twelfth 24h of Le Mans. Ferrari went on to win the 2025 World Manufacturers' and Drivers' Championships.
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