Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
Ferrari are the most successful team in Formula 1 history, even if their recent results haven’t lived up to their reputation.
Enzo Ferrari entered the team bearing his name into the first ever F1 season back in 1950.
They are the only team still competing in the sport since that maiden campaign, although they had to wait until the following year to win their first ever Grand Prix through Argentinian driver Jose Froilan Gonzalez.
Who is the greatest Ferrari driver in Formula 1 history?
Let us know if we missed someone out!
Ferrari have had more world champions than any other constructor, with Alberto Ascari leading the way in 1952 and 1953, before Juan Manuel Fangio won his fourth title with the team in 1956.
Mike Hawthorn became the first British F1 champion with the Scuderia in 1958 before an American joined the ranks of the sport’s greatest drivers.
Phil Hill only started racing in Formula 1 in 1958, the same year he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Three years later, he was Ferrari’s next drivers’ champion, although he knew that he was never one of Enzo Ferrari’s favourite drivers.
READ MORE: Enzo Ferrari’s son issues ‘guarantee’ to Lewis Hamilton after dismal Qatar Grand Prix weekend
Who was Ferrari legend and America’s first Formula 1 world champion Phil Hill?
Hill was born in Miami, Florida, in 1927 and alongside working as a mechanic, he moved to England to start racing.
Enzo Ferrari signed Hill in 1956 before making his debut at the 1958 French Grand Prix, where he finished seventh.
The American driver scored several podiums in 1959, finishing fourth in the championship before securing his first Grand Prix victory in front of the Tifosi at the 1960 Italian Grand Prix.
The 1961 championship was fought between Hill and Wolfgang von Trips. With two races to go, Von Trips was leading the standings before a fatal accident at Monza saw the German killed, and his Ferrari teammate win the championship.
The moment Phil Hill decided he wouldn’t be a ‘sacrifice’ for Enzo Ferrari in Formula 1
Speaking on the Colossally That’s History Podcast, journalist and historian Richard Williams told Hill’s story after Von Trips’ death.
He explained: “And it’s very moving what he [Hill] wrote next in the same book about going to Von Trips’ mother in the family’s castle that night.
“‘She was composed. I sensed that she didn’t condemn racing. I knew that, of course, she was terribly hurt at the loss of her only son, but he’d freely chosen a dangerous career, and now that he was gone, she accepted the fact like a Spartan mother.
“‘I left the castle without pain, strangely relaxed for the first time in days.’
“A thoughtful man, but the rest of Phil Hill’s career in F1 was a disappointment.
“At the end of 1961, most of Ferrari’s top engineers and managers walked out after a disagreement with the old man, and 1962 was a disaster.
“The British teams had new engines at last, and they simply took Ferrari to the cleaners. The reigning world champion managed a total of 14 points, one second place and two thirds in the first three races of the season, and thereafter, nothing.
“Hill always felt that Enzo Ferrari put part of the blame on him. ‘He never understood me,’ Phil said.
“‘I wasn’t his type, not super gung-ho enough to suit him. I wasn’t willing to die for Enzo Ferrari. I wasn’t willing to become one of his sacrifices.’”
Hill didn’t take part in the final race of the 1961 season with his championship already confirmed.
His F1 career never reached the same heights, securing three podium finishes in the first three races of 1962 before only managing one more points finish before taking part in his final race in 1966.
What Phil Hill said about racing for Enzo Ferrari’s Ferrari team in Formula 1
As relayed by Motorsport Magazine in an interview from December 1997, Hill spoke about his relationship with Ferrari.
Hill said: “The Old Man used to produce these annuals at the end of every season, and the only way you came off any good in them was either to be on especially good terms with him, or to die.
“If you died – it had to be in a Ferrari, of course – you got your picture in colour, with big ruby lips painted on!
“Terrible, huh? Peter Collins had a beautiful one done, over a whole page, with the lips and everything…”
Hill was always considered one of Formula 1’s most intelligent drivers and understood the risks of his profession more than most.
Speaking on his friendship with his rival Von Trips, Hill recalled: “Face it, friendship between racing drivers is not a normal situation: you try to beat the other guys on the circuit all day, and then at night you’re supposed to forget all that.
“But Trips and I always got along well.”
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
