For 1952, the FIA announced that championship Grands Prix would be run to Formula 2 specifications rather than Formula 1, following the withdrawal of Alfa Romeo from the sport after the 1951 season. Ferrari was uniquely positioned: it was the only team to have a car specifically designed for the new formula. The straightforward inline-four engine, placing the power unit's mass closer to the centre of the car compared to the outgoing front-engined V12 designs, helped the 500 handle well while remaining mechanically reliable.
In 1952, Alberto Ascari won every championship race he entered with the Ferrari 500 — six victories in total. The sole race he missed was the Indianapolis 500, where he drove a larger 4.5-litre Ferrari under different regulations; Ferrari still won that race in his absence. The 1953 season was similarly dominant: Ascari won his second world title, and Ferrari won every round except the final race, which went to Juan Manuel Fangio after he returned from an accident that had kept him out of racing.
Ascari's run of seven consecutive World Championship victories in the Ferrari 500 was a record that stood for over six decades, until Sebastian Vettel broke it in 2013. If the 1953 Indianapolis 500 — run to a different formula and not entered by Ascari — is excluded from the count, the consecutive-win streak extends to nine races.
The 625 F1 variant that followed used a Lampredi inline-four engine displacing 2,498.32 cc, producing between 210 and 230 PS (154–169 kW) at 7,000 rpm through twin Weber 50DCO carburettors. The car used independent front suspension and a de Dion rear axle, with transverse leaf springs and Houdaille hydraulic shock absorbers at both ends.
For the 1954 season, the FIA returned to Formula 1 engine regulations. Ferrari adapted existing 500 chassis with the new 2.5-litre 625 engine, creating the 625 F1. The car won two more races — one in 1954 and one in 1955 — but was outpaced by the Mercedes-Benz W196 and Maserati 250F and was not capable of challenging consistently at the front. In May 1955, Maurice Trintignant took victory in the Monaco Grand Prix with the 625 F1. The car was not fully replaced until 1956, when Ferrari acquired the Lancia D50 chassis along with the remnants of Lancia's Formula One programme.
The Ferrari 500 remains one of the most successful Formula racing cars in history relative to its competitive span. Two consecutive championship whitewashes in 1952 and 1953 demonstrated Ferrari's ability to build and develop purpose-designed racing machinery at a time when most rival constructors were adapting existing cars to new regulations. The consecutive-wins record set by Ascari endured for more than sixty years as a measure of sustained dominance that few drivers or cars in any formula have matched.
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