Gianni Lancia, son of the brand's founder, created Scuderia Lancia in 1951 to oversee the company's motorsport activities. The team competed initially in sports car racing, achieving distinction at events including the Carrera Panamericana, the Targa Florio, and the Mille Miglia. The decision to enter Formula One came in 1954, with Vittorio Jano — one of the most respected racing car designers of the pre-war and post-war periods — responsible for creating the new Grand Prix machine.
The D50 was a technically adventurous design. Among its notable features were the use of the engine as a stressed chassis member — a concept that would later become standard practice in Formula One — as well as an off-centre engine position to allow a lower overall centre of gravity, and distinctive pannier fuel tanks mounted between the front and rear wheels. The panniers contributed to better weight distribution and improved aerodynamics compared to conventional fuel tank arrangements. Six examples of the D50 were ultimately built.
The D50 made its race debut at the final event of the 1954 Formula One season. Two-time and reigning World Champion Alberto Ascari drove the car on its debut and immediately demonstrated its potential by claiming pole position and setting the fastest race lap — though a clutch failure after ten laps ended his race. The performance was nonetheless striking enough to mark Lancia as a serious threat for the 1955 season.
The team prepared for a full 1955 campaign with Ascari as its lead driver. However, the season ended in tragedy. Ascari was killed in a testing accident at Monza in May 1955 while driving a Ferrari sports car, just days after surviving a crash into the Monaco harbour during the Monaco Grand Prix. The loss of its lead driver, combined with deepening financial difficulties within the Lancia family business, proved decisive.
The Lancia family sold their controlling share in the company, and the assets of Scuderia Lancia — including the D50 cars, spare parts, and technical drawings — were transferred to Scuderia Ferrari. Ferrari continued to develop and race the car, though Jano's most innovative features were progressively removed. The car was rebadged first as the Lancia-Ferrari D50 and later simply the Ferrari D50. In this modified form, Juan Manuel Fangio drove it to the 1956 World Championship of Drivers. The D50 also appeared in 1957, much modified as the Ferrari 801, though by then it was largely unable to match the latest Maserati 250Fs.
Across their World Championship involvement, Lancia D50s were entered in 14 Grands Prix and won five. The D50 is regarded as one of the most technically influential Formula One cars of the 1950s, and Jano's concept of the engine as a structural chassis component became universal practice within a decade. Two of the original D50 cars survive and are displayed in Italian museums. Scuderia Lancia's story in Formula One is ultimately one of exceptional promise cut short — a design ahead of its time that achieved its greatest results only after leaving its creator's hands.