To see Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari, fans will have to wait until next year. Meanwhile, it is worth remembering that the Briton is just the latest King of Formula 1 to be signed by the Maranello team.

The combination of Ferrari and world champions repeats cyclically, although not too often. The Ferrari red fatally attracts legends like Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher and the thrill of racing for one of the teams that has entered Formula 1 history.

However, not everything that glitters is gold (or in this case, red). Watch out, Hamilton: being tied to Ferrari can be a double-edged sword. Of the super champions who landed in Maranello, only a few managed to bring home the title.

It all began with Juan Manuel Fangio: five world championships won with four different teams. The Argentine arrived in Maranello in 1956, already with three titles under his belt (Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes). His marriage with Ferrari lasted only that season, just long enough to win another championship, and then El Chueco returned to Maserati to win another.

Between Mario Andretti and Ferrari, there is only a brief encounter – if we can call it that. The Italo-American driver arrived in Maranello in 1971, winning his first race with the Prancing Horse in the South African GP. After winning the title in ’78, Andretti returned to Ferrari four years later and found a very competitive car. He took pole position at Monza and finished third in the race. He ended his F1 career with a retirement at the Las Vegas GP.

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The story of Alain Prost and Ferrari is instead a love story gone wrong. Hired in 1990 after winning three titles with McLaren, the Frenchman narrowly misses the championship. In return, he finishes second in the championship, behind his perennial rival Ayrton Senna: their rivalry is the leitmotif of that season. 1991 is disappointing for The Professor. Nigel Mansell leaves the team due to poor relations with him, and he is replaced by Jean Alesi.

Between an uncompetitive car and tensions with the then team manager Cesare Fiorio, Alain Prost’s bond with the Italian team begins to wear thin. The climax is reached when the Frenchman describes Ferrari as “a truck.” Following this statement, he is fired.

The Prancing Horse rises again with Michael Schumacher, who brings the Red Team back to victory in one of the most dominant periods in Formula 1 history. The German, at the time a two-time world champion with Benetton, firmly believes in Jean Todt’s project (who risked dismissal in 1996) and seals a bond that lasts five seasons: from 2000 to 2004, Schumi wins as many world titles.

The last driver’s world championship for Ferrari dates back to 2007 with Kimi Räikkönen. Since then, Maranello has been literally waiting for a miracle. The signing of two champions like Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel fails, sometimes not due to the drivers themselves.

The Spaniard, with two titles won with Renault, arrives in Maranello in 2010, welcomed as a hero. Nando sniffed the championship three times (2011, 2012, 2013), finishing second behind the rising star Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. 2014 is bad for Ferrari: the car is not competitive, and Alonso begins to feel it. Victory is nowhere to be seen. Even podiums are scarce. Something changes in the team, but also externally: the press and the fans turn against him, and the Spaniard realizes he cannot continue like this. Fernando leaves the team with bitterness and regret that he still carries today.

Sebastian Vettel, too, is welcomed to Ferrari as a hero: another German who could bring the Prancing Horse back to past glories. Good old Sebastian, coming from four championships with Red Bull, tries, but year after year, it becomes impossible to compete with the dominance of the Mercedes team (and a certain rivalry between him and Lewis Hamilton turns into a solid friendship). As happened with Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel also realizes that the bond with Ferrari is breaking.

In 2019, he shares the garage with the young prospect Charles Leclerc, and relations between the two are not always idyllic. Often the Monegasque overshadows the four-time world champion. The following year, the divorce comes like a bolt from the blue: Sebastian Vettel announces his farewell to Ferrari in May 2020, just at the beginning of the season. To this is added a car that is not competitive at all, perhaps the worst ever made by the Prancing Horse. Seb leaves the team with a bit of bitterness but aware that he made the right choice.

Source: f1ingenerale

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The Ferrari 166 FL had a longitudinally-mounted 60° V12 engine with a total displacement of 1995 cm³ and was supercharged with a Roots supercharger. The cylinder head and engine block were made of light alloy. Per cylinder bank, the engine had a single overhead camshaft, controlling two valves per cylinder. The mixture was prepared by three Weber carburetors of the type 40 DO3C, which were upstream of the compressor. The ignition was designed simply, the associated system had two magnets. The engine had dry-sump lubrication and a multi-plate clutch.

The Ferrari 166 with chassis no. 011F was initially built in 1949 for use in Formula 2. Entered that year by Scuderia Ferrari, with Argentine racing car driver Juan Manuel Fangio at the wheel in the Monza Grand Prix on 26 June, the 166 won at its maiden event. The car was then purchased (with the support of the Argentine government) by Juan Manuel Fangio and used. The vehicle was repainted in the Argentine racing and national colors of blue with a yellow engine cover. Later that season the car was fitted with a Roots supercharger and entered under the designation FL in several Formula Libre races in South America by Fangio and Benedicto Campos

Check out a great photo gallery from the Automovil Club Argentino Museum with the 1949 Ferrari 166 FL car driven by Juan Manuel Fangio:

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The win in Germany was key to taking the world title. In Monza, almost a month later, the engine on Fangio’s car broke and he was only able to maintain the lead in the championship thanks to the sacrifice of his team-mate Peter Collins, who handed over his car, in which Fangio finished second.

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Coming into the race, Juan Manuel Fangio had an eight-point lead over Ferrari teammate Peter Collins and Jean Behra, driving for Maserati.

Fangio retired with a broken steering arm, while Behra also had to pull out. Luigi Musso, also driving for Ferrari, was told to hand his car over to Fangio to ensure the Argentine’s third consecutive title but he refused. Brit Collins, with the opportunity for his first world championship, sportingly handed his car over to Fangio during a routine pit-stop. Fangio finished second, behind Stirling Moss, giving himself and Collins a share of the points for second place and ensuring his fourth title.

Peter Collins after the race:

“All I could think of out there was that if I won the race and the championship I would become an instant celebrity. I would have a position to live up to. People would make demands of me. I would be expected at all times to act like ‘The Champion.’

“Driving would not be fun anymore. I wanted things to go on just as they were, so I handed my car over to Fangio. I would not have been proud of beating him through his bad luck. I am only 25 years old and have plenty of time to win the championship on my own.”

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Born in Balcare, Argentina on 24th June 1911, Fangio was Formula 1 World Champion five times, in 1951, 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957. In ’56, he took the title driving for Scuderia Ferrari. At the wheel of a D50, designed and built by Lancia, who pulled out of the sport the year before, the Argentine took part in seven Grands Prix, winning three and starting six times from pole.

His record for world titles was broken 46 years later, by another Ferrari driver, Michael Schumacher.

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Shortly afterwards, the Argentinian went off the track, which cost him a lot of time, to the extent that the race leader almost managed to lap him. The cunning of the reigning champion tricked Menditeguy who, while trying to stay in his wake also went off the track and was unable to get going again. Fangio’s irresistible climb up the order continued until he was second: the Argentine then began to put pressure on the new leader, Moss, whose car broke down on lap 70 of 98, forcing the Englishman to retire. Fangio thus flew to his first win with the Reds in Formula 1, one he shared however with his team-mate Musso, whose sacrifice was the key factor.

Of the other Ferraris, only Gendebien’s hybrid made it to the finish, in fifth place, in those days the last one to count for points.

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