Ferrari

**Scuderia Ferrari** is the racing division of Ferrari, specializing in single seaters. Ferrari is the most historic racing team in Formula 1 history, having won various titles throughout the yar, with the best years being from 1999 to 2004. The most recent title in the then-Formula 1 came in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen. After years of failing to win the titles from 2008 to 2022, they finally won a title with Charles Leclerc in 2023. The team returned again to stagnancy in the following years but was able to keep up with the frontrunners and maintain their position as a top team, thanks to their history, having been racing since 1950, and budget. Most notably, they finished runners-up in 2029 and 2030 with emblematic driver Ness Muller. However, the team fell down to the backmarker group due to the new regulations and are struggling in the bottom of the grid. Still, Ferrari is one of the most iconic racing teams with a large fanbase in both Italy and worldwide and their contributions to the sport has never been forgotten by the fans.

## Origins and Formula 1 History

Ferrari started racing as a works team from the very first year in Formula 1, all the way back in 1950 and won its first two titles in 1952 and 1953 with Alberto Ascari, before winning one more in 1956 by the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio and in 1958 with Mike Hawthorn, a supertalent who passed away way too early. More titles followed in the 60s with Phil Hill in 1961 and John Surtees in 1964. The team failed to win any titles until 1975, with Niki Lauda. Lauda won one more title in 1977 and narrowly missed one further in 1976 due to the infamous crash in Nurburgring where he miraculously survived. Three years later, Jody Scheckter won the title in 1979, becoming the only African to do so. 1980 was by far its worst year due to the car's problems, with Scheckter even failing to qualify in a race.

1982 was the darkest year in the team's history, as despite winning the teams title, Gilles Villeneuve was killed in a horror crash and Didier Pironi had a non-fatal but career ending crash a few races later. The team was constantly in fromt and had great drivers in the following years, including Alain Prost, but failed to win drivers titles during the world-famous rivalry with McLaren and especially Ayrton Senna. After some tough years, espeically 1992, the team bounced back by the time the new millenium began, with star driver Michael Schumacher overhtrowing McLaren and winning 5 successive driver titles from 2000 to 2004, in what was Ferrari's golden age. The most recent title came in 2007 with Raikkonen and missed one by 1 point with Felipe Massa in 2008. The following years saw them being constantly close to the title but failing to win it, with Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel both failing to win the drivers title, either by Red Bull (and ironically Vettel during the period between 2010 and 2013) and Mercedes.

## 2020-2022: The stagnancy continues

In 2020, Charles Leclerc finished 3rd but was quite away from the still-dominant Mercedes in the first season of Formula Earth. Vettel, who had lost his final chance in 2019, the final year of Formula 1, was very underwhelming and finished behind the Red Bulls. In the end of the year, the 4-time champion announced his retirement from the sport. Antonio Giovinazzi, who had a breakout season with Sauber (then running as Alfa Romeo) was announced as a replacement for him.

The following year saw the team dropping further, as McLaren rose again from the midfield and Renault starting slowly rising up the grid. While Leclerc was frequently on the podium and being always a title contender, Giovinazzi was largely underwhelming and was proven to be not good enough for the historic team. Academy prospect Marco Aurelio, who replaced Leclerc for 3 races due to injury, proved to be much faster, and as a result, Giovinazzi was dropped from the team in the end of 2022, with Aurelio becoming the main driver by 2023 and Giovinazzi being relegated to Prema, which was technically Ferrari's feeder team.

## 2023-2025: Title win and later decline

In 2023, Ferrari finally broke their title drought by winning the drivers title, courtesy of Charles Leclerc, who won his first ever title. Winning 6 out of 16 races and beating the very strong McLaren squad, Ferrari returned to the top for the first time since 2007, meaning they won their first ever title in Formula Earth. However, the following seasons were not as easy as they guessed. Aurelio, tired of being second fiddle to the prodigiously talented Leclerc, left the team in favour of rivals Renault, and Ferrari made a very rash and poor move by bringing an ageing Daniel Ricciardo from Renault as part of the deal. While Leclerc kept it up with the frontrunners in 2024, Ricciardo was simply extremely underwhelming, with the fans calling him the worst transfer in Ferrari history, as he would often fail to score points and even fall behind Haas and BMW Williams at times.

In 2025, the team suffered another major blow, as Leclerc left Ferrari for rivals McLaren, and Ferrari made another underwhelming move by bringing Alpha Tauri reject Tanjiro Kamado. This was the worst season for Ferrari in the decade, as both drivers failed to score a single podium and found themselves to be battling with Aston Martin for the "best of the rest" instead of fighting for the title as they used too.

## 2026-2031: Resurgence and close calls

Following the two poor seasons, Ricciardo retired from the sport, allowing Ferrari to fill the void with Red Bull driver Ness Muller. Ferrari started to show glimpses of its past speed by winning 2 wins, one from Muller and one from Kamado, with the latter becoming the first Japanese driver to win a race in Formula Earth. In 2027, Muller started moving up the order and finished a strong 3rd place in the standings. Kamado however was unable to build up from his previous strong season and failed to score a single podium once again.

2028 saw the team replacing Kamado with Aston Martin's Billy Mathman. The year started on a dark tone, with Mathman being involved in the crash that took the life of Ivan Marincic, but things improved as Muller fought for the title against Leclerc, but missing the title by 13 points. This started the iconic rivalry between Leclerc and Muller, reminding of the old Senna-Prost rivalry. In 2029, the rivalry between the two teams intensified, with two very strong lineups, Leclerc and Jason Leung versus Muller and Mathman. Despite Muller seeming like he would win his first title, he endured two awful races in the last two grand prix and missed the title. In 2030, Muller missed the title again, this time losing to Giovanni de Ziel of Mercedes. 2031 saw the team being swiftly beaten by McLaren and even struggling against Mercedes and Shadow, with this time Leung driving as second driver, replacing Mathman who moved to Red Bull.

## 2032-2035: New regulations and downfall

From the teams affected negatively by the new regulations of 2032, Ferrari suffered the worst and for the first time since 1980 slipped down to the bottom of the grid, much to the dismay of its loyal fanbase. Muller, who was on the brink of signing a lifetime contract with Ferrari, left the team and returned to the now-dominant Red Bull. Leung agreed to stay and was partnered by Renault academy starlet Harry van der Weijden. 2032 and 2033 were the worst years of the team, with both years ending up without points for Ferrari, something the Italian powerhouse had never faced before. In fact, they were the only team without points in 2033, even falling behind teams like the equally stricken Campos, Mercedes and Shadow. In 2034, Leclerc announced his return to the team on a 2-year contract, with reserve driver Pawel Matuszczyk taking the second spot from van der Weijden, who moved to McLaren. Despite having still the weakest car on the grid, they scored 6 points, beating Campos and Renault. Leclerc left for McLaren at the end of the year, with former champion Giovanni de Ziel replacing him for 2035, with the team enduring yet another bad year.

## 2036-present: Resurgence

De Ziel and Matuszczyk were retained for 2036, and this time Ferrari had finally made a competitive car for 2036. Both drivers scored wins and consistent point finishes and finished 7th and 8th in the standings, with Ferrari finishing in the top 3 in the standings for the first time since 2031, thus ending the dark days for the Maranello squad. The duo was retained for 2037 and results were similar, with wins and podiums coming and the team finishing again inside the top 5.

De Ziel moved to Aston Martin and team principal Rotheo Sbinotto moved to Williams. Matuszcyk was retained for a final year, as he expressed his desire to leave at the end of his contract, and 3-time FI champion Miguel Angel Larrazabal Rojas and former Mercedes and DS Techeetah team principal Rupesh Simpson came in the team. On the start of the season, the team found itself in a money laundering scandal caused by Sbinotto and was penalized with a large fine. This was a weaker year for Ferrari due to the fine, but Matuszczyk did finish in the top 10. Larazzabal failed to settle and finished down in 18th.

Another regime change happened in Ferrari, as Simpson was fired before the transfer market opened due to his controversial, at least inside the paddock, plans for signing drivers. In the end, Ferrari, which lost both of its drivers, signed Burhan Tekin from Red Bull and received Alex Harvey on loan from Red Bull in a swap deal that saw Jasmine Estrella, Ferrari's draftee, go the other way on loan to Alpha Tauri. This year was considerably worse than 2038, with Tekin being in the midfield and Harvey towards the lower-midfield, but Harvey did win the rookie of the year award. 2040 saw former Venturi team principal Adrian Haller-Kurmaev, who failed to move up to FE with the Monegasque team, being signed up, and alongside him, Zouzou Randrianambinina, who raced for Venturi in 2039, came to replace Harvey. 2040 was their best year in the post-2032 era, with them being the best team behind the all-dominating NIG Zandvoort, with Randrianambinina finishing 3rd on his triumphant return to FE, and Tekin finishing 6th and becoming the first Chinese driver to score a podium in FE's history.

## Notable Drivers

* Charles Leclerc (2020-2024, 2034)
* Sebastian Vettel (2020)
* Antonio Giovinazzi (2021-2022)
* Marco Aurelio (2022-2023)
* Daniel Ricciardo (2024-2025)
* Tanjiro Kamado (2025-2027)
* Ness Muller (2025-2031)
* Billy Mathman (2028-2030)
* Jason Leung (2031-2033)
* Harry van der Weijden (2032-2033)
* Pawel Matuszczyk (2034-2038)
* Giovanni de Ziel (2035-2037)
* Miguel Angel Larrazabal Rojas (2038)
* Burhan Tekin (2039-present)
* Alex Harvey (2039)
* Zouzou Randrianambinina (2040-present)