Jane Nottage - Ferrari - The Passion and the Pain

But what is it like to carry the hopes of a nation? To be responsible for the intangible feelings that ebb and flow around the stable of the prancing horse?

Fast forward to 1998. Dateline: 13 September. Place: Monza, home ground of the famous and fanatical tifosi. The scarlet cars screech past the chequered flag, first and second. Schumacher stands on the top step of the podium, Irvine on the next step down. The crowd and the team are delirious. The magical result, not seen at Ferrari in recent history on their home ground, has revitalized everyone involved. It is the sum total of the determination, effort and skill of so many people, and now everyone can rejoice that the hard work has paid off: Schumacher is back in the contest for the 1998 World Drivers’ Championship; and Ferrari are challenging once again for the Constructors’ title. Of course, as history was to decree at the climax of the season in Japan, it would be the runners-up spot yet again for Ferrari and their German wünderkind. But for now, the glory of Monza was something to behold.

At the end of three progressive seasons, the Ferrari renaissance is well underway. Plots and counter-plots are long forgotten. The pace and reliability of a small red car is what matters. Ferrari might make Machiavelli seem like an innocent but it is the only company to have perpetrated the myth of desire for 50 years, the only Formula One team that attracts a passionate, committed army of supporters throughout the world.

We stand on the threshold of a new millennium and we are still transfixed by the power and emotion generated by the need to feel we can be a part of Ferrari, maybe even one day drive one of their cars. We need to be a part of the dream even if, for some of us, that dream is as elusive as scaling Mount Everest. If the emotion is strong on the outside, what is it like on the inside? Let’s take a journey into the heart of the stable of the prancing horse and find out.

Jane Nottage, London, 1998

‘Ferrari is motor racing. It is the representation of everything motor racing stands for – speed, glamour, style and excitement.’

Bernie Ecclestone

FOCA President

Once upon a time there lived a man called Enzo Ferrari. He produced beautiful cars, won many World Championships, built a company that became famous throughout the world, resided in a lovely place called Maranello, where the sun always shone and he lived happily ever after. Fairy stories. Wonderful aren’t they? They allow people to dream of a better world and believe that everything is always beautiful. The heroes are always good looking and the future is always full of hope and happiness. Not unlike life at Ferrari, or so most people would have us believe. Over the years the legend has been carefully constructed and perpetuated by the people at the stable of the black prancing horse, to make us believe that Ferrari is the ultimate dream, the legend that delivers your fantasies.

Even the famous emblem is shrouded in mystery. Folklore has it that Enzo Ferrari was enjoying success as an Alfa Romeo driver, when after yet another victorious race a man pushed his way through the crowd that had gathered round the winner, shook Enzo’s hand warmly and invited him back to his house so he could make a presentation. This man was the father of famous World War I flying ace, Francesco Baracca, who had shot down 35 adversaries before his life ended in 1918. As his personal badge, Baracca had used a black prancing horse. After his demise, his family was sent the prancing horse symbol on a piece of aeroplane fabric and it was their wish that this famous emblem should be passed on to Enzo Ferrari in recognition of his courage and talent on the race track.

There is no doubt that Enzo Ferrari was a remarkable man. In 1947 he started to produce and sell road cars to enable him to finance his racing career. He was perceptive enough to realize that if he created exclusivity there would be more demand than supply and so he built up a company that today, as we stand on the threshold of the next millennium, is still the marque that most people dream of owning and driving. He also created a Formula One racing team that has become a legend within the rarefied world of motor racing. Ferrari is a name that is synonymous with glamour, style and power.

However, being a genius who built up an empire from nothing didn’t necessarily make Enzo a wonderful person. People seem to link the two, but most really successful businessmen are single minded, despotic and completely egocentric. Enzo Ferrari was no different. He often treated staff like servants, enjoying his absolute power as leader. He kept racing drivers in their place (bearing in mind the overinflated egos of some of today’s drivers, many would list that as a positive characteristic) and he was hardly a New Man. His wife cannot have had an easy time being married to a legend. He built a house on his test circuit so he could be near to his first love, racing, and know exactly what was going on both with the car and with the team. He fathered an illegitimate child, Piero Lardi, whom he welcomed into the business after his own son died. His wife, naturally, as was the tradition of the times, would have been expected to put up with it all, plus have his dinner ready when he wanted it. He was demanding, selfish and authoritarian, but nevertheless a brilliant man, and in spite of – or maybe because of – his faults, he is always remembered with great affection by people who knew him.

Niki Lauda, who won two World Championships with Ferrari, recalls Enzo Ferrari as a man of extraordinary influence and recounts the strength and mystique surrounding the Ferrari legend. ‘Ferrari has something extra,’ he says. ‘It’s something indefinable and unique, and every time I walked through the doors of the factory at Maranello or stepped into the car, I felt the added importance of being that unique thing – a Ferrari driver. There was, is and always will be a special place in my heart that is reserved for Ferrari.’

Jody Scheckter was also ‘that unique thing’ and won the World Championship for Ferrari in 1979 – the last driver to do so. ‘I think for any driver of any ability to drive for Ferrari is a dream come true,’ he says. ‘It is still the most historic marque in motor racing. The magic of driving for Ferrari is that you’re driving for the whole of Italy, not just the team.’ Nigel Mansell, the last Englishman to drive for Ferrari, says, ‘Driving for Ferrari offers a very special experience. They are true thoroughbred racers, they only want to win and for me the reality was very similar to the dream.’

FERRARI HAS ALWAYS BEEN A MAJOR FORCE IN FIA

Behind the romantic mystique and glamour of Ferrari lies sheer, raw power. Formula One is a breeding ground for power but Ferrari is the master. Max Mosley, President of FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the sport’s governing body based in Paris) explains how Ferrari entered the inner sanctum of Formula One and became the main power broker. ‘Politically, Ferrari has always been a major force in FIA. Until the emergence of British racing in the 1960s, all decisions were made somewhere between Paris and Turin. It was just a question of which year and where the centre of gravity was. The Concorde Agreement (the Maastricht treaty of Formula One) was drawn up in 1980 and 1981, and it has a provision that when Formula One matters are discussed the vote of the President of the Manufacturer’s Commission would be exercised by a representative from the legalist’s side. The legalists were one of two factions which formed in the late 70s and early 80s. It was basically Ferrari, Renault and Alfa Romeo, and the other faction was us, together with the FOCA [Formula One Constructors’ Association] teams.