page_title: Scuderia Ferrari
section_title: 1990s
hierarchical_section_title: Scuderia Ferrari / Grand Prix racing and Formula One / 1990s
caption_attribution_description: Michael Schumacher driving for Ferrari at the 1997 German Grand Prix
context_page_description: Scuderia Ferrari S.p.A. is the racing division of luxury Italian auto manufacturer Ferrari and the racing team that competes in Formula One racing. The team is also nicknamed "The Prancing Horse", with reference to their logo. It is the oldest surviving and most successful Formula One team, having competed in every world championship since the 1950 Formula One season.
  The team was founded by Enzo Ferrari, initially to race cars produced by Alfa Romeo, though by 1947 Ferrari had begun building its own cars. Among its important achievements outside Formula One are winning the World Sportscar Championship, 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Spa, 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, Bathurst 12 Hour, races for Grand tourer cars and racing on road courses of the Targa Florio, the Mille Miglia and the Carrera Panamericana.
  As a constructor, Ferrari has a record 16 Constructors' Championships, the last of which was won in 2008. Alberto Ascari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Mike Hawthorn, Phil Hill, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Michael Schumacher and Kimi Räikkönen have won a record 15 Drivers' Championships for the team.
context_section_description: Then triple world champion Alain Prost left McLaren to partner Mansell at Ferrari for the 1990 Formula One season. As reigning world champion, Prost assumed the role of lead driver, much to teammate Mansell's dismay. In his autobiography, Mansell claimed that Ferrari had switched his car with Prost's at the 1990 British Grand Prix without his foreknowledge. Mansell departed Ferrari at the end of the 1990 season. Prost won five races and entered the penultimate round of the season, the controversial 1990 Japanese Grand Prix, with a nine-point deficit to McLaren driver and former teammate Ayrton Senna. A controversial first-lap collision between Senna and Prost allowed Senna to secure the 1990 FIA Formula One World Drivers' Championship, with Prost ranking second.
  Mansell was replaced by Frenchman Jean Alesi, previously driving for Tyrrell, for the 1991 Formula One season. However, Ferrari had entered a downturn in 1991, partially as their famous V12 engine was no longer competitive against the smaller, lighter and more fuel-efficient V10s of their competitors. Prost won no races, only getting onto the podium five times. He criticised the team, described his car as harder to drive than "a truck", and was fired prior to the end of the season, right before the Australian Grand Prix. Prost was replaced by Italian Gianni Morbidelli.
  The team won no races between 1991 and 1993.
  Gerhard Berger returned to Ferrari to partner Alesi in 1993. Jean Todt was hired as team principal. With the Ferrari 412T, Berger and Alesi won two podium places and four pole positions. Bad luck limited the number of wins to one each for both Berger (1994 German Grand Prix) and Alesi (1995 Canadian Grand Prix), particularly Alesi who was in a position to win at Monza and the Nürburgring in 1995, but the car was a solid and competitive proposition. Berger's win, achieved after three seasons without any triumph in a race, set a record of at least one victory in a season during the following twenty consecutive seasons.
  Ferrari completely changed their driver line-up for the 1996 Formula One season, replacing Berger and Alesi with former Jordan driver Eddie Irvine, and two-time defending world champion (former Benetton driver) Michael Schumacher, for a salary of around $30 million a year. Many members of the Benetton team's technical staff followed, namely Ross Brawn (technical director) and Rory Byrne (chief designer). New engine rules reducing engine capacity from 3500cc to 3000cc required Ferrari to switch to the (3.0L) V10 engine for 1996.
  Despite poor reliability, Michael Schumacher managed to score three wins during the 1996 season with the Ferrari F310. In very wet conditions at the Spanish Grand Prix, despite starting from the second row and having a poor start, Schumacher climbed back up the order to win the race by 45 seconds over now Benetton driver Jean Alesi. This was the first Formula One victory for a Ferrari V10 engine. Both Ferrari drivers retired from the three subsequent rounds on the calendar, the Canadian Grand Prix, the French Grand Prix, where Schumacher had qualified in pole position but failed to start after an engine failure on the formation lap, and the British Grand Prix respectively. At the 1996 Belgian Grand Prix, superior pit strategy enabled Schumacher to emerge ahead of Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve to score his second win of the season. Schumacher followed up his Belgian win by winning the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Ferrari's first win on home soil since 1988. Ferrari finished second in the Constructors' Championship, with Schumacher finishing third in the drivers' standings and Irvine tenth.
  For the 1997 Formula One season, the increased reliability of the F310B enabled Ferrari to challenge for its first Drivers' Championship since Jody Scheckter had won Ferrari's last drivers' title 18 years earlier, in 1979. Michael Schumacher finished on the podium eight times during the course of the season, including five wins, and went into the final round leading Williams driver Jacques Villeneuve by one point. On Lap 48 of t
caption: Michael Schumacher at the 1997 German Grand Prix during his second year with Ferrari
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