FORMULA ONE is a sport that has many different complexities to it. From different components that make up the cars, most with names and abbreviations, that let’s be honest, no one truly understands, to hundreds of regulations that teams and drivers need to adhere to.
But before we throw you in at the deep end, we are going to walk you through the different teams.
We have already talked about Alpine, Aston Martin, Audi and Cadillac, so next up is…
Ferrari
Scuderia Ferrari HP Formula 1 Team, based in Maranello, Italy, is the oldest, the most successful and the most prestigious Formula One team.
Despite their success, the team has gone through stages of having little success in winning Championships.
The last constructors’ championship they won was back in 2008, when Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa raced for them.
The last driver to win a championship at Ferrari was Kimi Räikkönen in 2007.
Since then, they have come close to winning, but with the dominance of Mercedes and Red Bull, Ferrari has slipped down the pecking order.
Who makes up the Ferrari team?
The Team Principal is Frédéric Vasseur.
In 2004, he formed the GP2/Formula 2 team ART Grand Prix, in which he won the championship with Nico Rosberg in 2005 and Lewis Hamilton in 2006.
He made the step up to F1 as the team principal of Renault in 2016 before joining Sauber as managing director and CEO in 2017.
After former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto stepped down, Vasseur made the step up from the ‘junior’ team to take on the role.
His job is to oversee all the technical, operational and personnel aspects to ensure the team is moving in the right direction.
Ultimately, he has final say over key strategic decisions and represents the team publicly in the media.
Like every F1 team, there are two drivers.
Monégasque Charles Leclerc has been at Ferrari since 2019 after making his debut in the sport back in 2018 with Sauber.
He broke plenty of records in his rookie F2 season with Prema in 2017, earning the step up to F1 as part of the Ferrari Driver Academy.
Despite his talent, Leclerc has only managed eight wins in the sport with 50 podiums to his name.
British Sir Lewis Hamilton is the second driver and is widely considered to be one of, if not the greatest, F1 drivers ever.
With seven world titles to his name, he and Michael Schumacher share the top spot for the most driver titles.
However, out of the pair, Hamilton is the most decorated driver in history, having 105 wins, 104 pole positions and 202 podium finishes to his name.
In Hamilton’s rookie season, at McLaren, the Brit missed out on the title by one point to Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen.
This did not deter the youngster, as in his second season, he clinched the title on the last lap of the final race, stealing it from Felipe Massa.
From 2009-2012, the McLaren was not as competitive. So, in 2013, he joined Mercedes, where he partnered with then friend turned rival Nico Rosberg.
2014 and 2015 saw him win his 2nd and 3rd titles, but he lost out in 2016 to his teammate Rosberg by 5 points after an intense and fierce battle.
He won four in a row from 2017 to 2020, to bring himself level with Schumacher.
The most contentious decision came in 2021 when he went toe-to-toe with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
All season, the pair had been going back and forth in the championship, which led to the final day of the season.
Hamilton was ahead, with both drivers needing a win to clinch the title.
With a virtual safety car called, Verstappen pitted for fresh tyres. A crash from Nicholas Latifi is what changed everything.
5 laps were all that was left, safety car was out, surely Hamilton had his 8th in the bag.
However, instead of allowing all the lapped cars to unlap themselves, the FIA decided to let the five cars between Hamilton and Verstappen go, leading to a one-lap sprint to the finish.
Verstappen, with fresh tyres, got the move on the Brit to claim his first title.
From 2022 to 2024, the Mercedes was far off the pace, so Hamilton jumped ship to Ferrari for the start of the 2025 season.
Lewis Hamilton was and remains to this day the only black driver to compete in Formula 1.
Their current test/reserve driver is Italian Antonio Giovinazzi.
Ferrari’s constructor championship-winning seasons:
(1961, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008)
Nine drivers have won 15 drivers’ championships for Ferrari over the years.
With the new regulations now at play, these first few races could determine what direction the teams go in for the rest of the season.
Next up is the American team, Haas.
