0

Parting Shot: September 7, 1997 Monza, Italy

September 7, 1997 Monza, Italy

A red and yellow striped flag is shown to indicate a slippery surface as Michael Schumacher slides his Ferrari on his way to sixth place in the 1997 Italian Grand Prix. With four races to go Schuey led the world championship but was later stripped of his season’s points for ramming rival Jacques Villeneuve in the last race of the year.

Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

Driver briefing notes

  • Three Brits were among the winning crew at the Dubai 24 Hours as BMW’s updated M4 GT3 Evo took victory in its first appearance. Darren Leung, Dan Harper and Ben Tuck were joined by Max Hesse and Al Faisal Al Zubair as WRT took its third win in four years at the race.
  • Leung doubled up – and impressively added a class win to go with his overall honours. He joined British IndyCar hopeful Toby Sowery, Ahmad Al Harthy and Simon Traves in a Century Motorsport-run BMW M4 GT3 Evo. The car finished fifth overall and first in GT3 AM.
  • Russian ex-F1 aces Vitaly Petrov and Sergey Sirotkin finished fourth in a Haupt Racing Mercedes; two-time WRC champion Kalle Rovanperä continued his circuit-racing education in a Proton Huber Porsche; and BTCC champion Jake Hill starred in Era Motorsport’s Ferrari 296 GT3.
Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

‘Ultimate’ x-rated McLaren sells for £350k lass than original price

2022 McLaren 720S GT3X 

Sold by Bonhams, £402,500
This was one of just 15 examples of the £750,000, track-only 720S GT3X. Still regarded by many as the ultimate McLaren driver’s car, the X was an upgrade of the GT3 competition model launched in 2018 and aimed at wealthy trackday fans. It remains the only car from McLaren Automotive to have been developed and built by the marque’s motor sport division and benefited from enhancements to the GT3’s 4-litre V8 that released more than 700bhp. But if that wasn’t enough, a ‘push-to-pass’ system added 29.5bhp. This GT3X had clocked up a mere 280 miles from new.

1965 Morris Mini

1965 Morris Mini

Sold by H&H, £1150
This Mini was campaigned in multiple Scottish rallies in the early 1970s before being put out of action at the 1973 Tour of Mull. Three weeks after this sale it sold on Ebay for twice the price.

2012 Smart Brabus

2012 Smart Brabus 

Sold by Bonhams Cars Online, £24,661.
Special editions of the original Smart car are increasingly collectible and they don’t come much more special than this. The 120bhp pocket rocket was first owned by music impresario Simon Cowell.

1996 Mazda MX5 merlot special edition

1996 Mazda MX5 merlot special edition

Sold by Hampson auctions, £6750
Mark I versions of Mazda’s smash-hit MX5 are now accepted as classics, especially in limited edition guise. This 33,000-mile Merlot Special is one of just 600 and had been in single ownership for 27 years.

1979 Lancia Beta 1300

1979 Lancia Beta 1300

Sold by WB & Sons, £8448
There was a time when Betas were a common sight on UK roads but rust problems killed most of them off within a decade. This 4000-miler was one of nine to have survived here – saved by storage.

1997 Richard Burns WRC helmet

1997 Richard Burns WRC helmet

Sold by Bonhams, £4480
This Bell helmet was used by Richard Burns during the 1997 WRC when driving for Mitsubishi. It was sold complete with visor peak, microphone, radio cable and built-in headphones.

1972 De Tomaso Pantera

1972 De Tomaso Pantera

Sold by Hampson auctions, £70,875
This striking French Blue Pantera was imported into the UK in 2015, prior to which it featured in series four episode 10 of Breaking Bad. Power came from a Ford Cleveland V8.

1967 Lotus 49 race simulator

1967 Lotus 49 race simulator

Sold by Collecting Cars, £4600
This was made by Surrey-based Classic Race Simulators as a demonstrator for use in shows and at race meetings. Having used it, we can vouch for its dynamic realism – and the high quality of the life-sized reproduction of the front three-quarters of a Lotus 49.

Forthcoming sale highlights

  • Mecum, Las Vegas, January 29-February 1
    Motorcycles might be smaller than cars, but that won’t stop Mecum going large on its first dedicated two-wheeler sale of the year. With more than 1400 lots being sold the auction really does offer something for everyone from basket-case restoration projects to mint originals. Star lots include a pristine Cyclone V-Twin from 1915 in screaming yellow.
  • SWVA, Poole, January 30
    Still looking for a winter bargain? This sale could be the place to find it. Replete with what could be described as ‘modern classics’ the catalogue includes a Simon Templar-style Jaguar XJS 5.3 in white (offered at no reserve), a rare Citroën CX 25 GTi Turbo 2 from 1988 and an honest-looking Austin-Healey ‘Frogeye’ Sprite that’s on the button and ready for spring.
  • Broad Arrow, San Francisco, February 15
    This sale will feature more than 100 cars across the block from the collection of San Francisco’s Academy of Art University. Its collection was established in 1929 by former president Dr Richard Stephens who began buying to help his students learn about motoring history. The Academy is one of the most wide-ranging art and design colleges in the country.
  • Bonhams, Miami, May 3
    Bonhams heads back to Florida to stage a second auction ahead of the Miami Grand Prix. The on-track sale will take place in the evening after qualifying and will feature around 40 cars. At the same time, Bonhams will stage a corresponding Luxury Miami Online sale of watches, jewellery and handbags. All lots will be on view at the circuit through race weekend.
Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

Vauxhall that turned to the Dark Side: Chevette ‘Vader’ is 290bhp menace and looks it

This sinister-looking restomod began life as a cooking model Vauxhall Chevette finished in custard yellow. But, following a 16-month transformation by Leicestershire-based Retropower – which specialises in unique vehicle builds – it now stands as one of the most powerful, most expensive and undoubtedly meanest-looking Chevettes ever created.

1. The rear-wheel-drive car is equipped with floating Atlas axle with limited-slip differential 2. Bodyshell is braced, seam-welded and fitted with a built-in rollcage 3. Gearbox is a sequential Quaife unit 4. Competition clutch is either ‘on’ or ‘off’ 5. The 2.3-litre red top Vauxhall engine has been tuned to produce around 290 horsepower 6. Power steering makes the Vader less of a handful

 

1984 Vauxhall Chevette ‘the Vader’ rear

It was commissioned by a wealthy, anonymous client – the car is said to have cost around £200,000 to complete and was inspired by the extremely rare HSR rally Chevettes, a mere 50 or so of which were built between 1980 and ’81. ‘The Vader’, though, looks even more extreme thanks to its braced and seam-welded shell, full rollcage, extra-wide wheel arches based on those of the Dealer Team Vauxhall asphalt rally cars – and, of course, the ‘triple black’ finish that gives it its name.

Beneath the menacing skin lies a highly tuned 2.3-litre Vauxhall red top engine that’s said to produce 290bhp and drives through a six-speed Quaife sequential gearbox. Stopping is taken care of by a quartet of AP racing brake calipers and 304mm front discs, with top quality Bilstein suspension keeping the car on track.

1984 Vauxhall Chevette ‘the Vader’ interior

According to the auction house £200,000 was spent transforming this Chevette

Iconic Auctioneers

Inside the Chevette, everything is completely bespoke (and black), from the carbon fibre seats to the billet aluminium pedal box and digital instrument display. And rather than Vauxhall spelt out on the rear, there’s Vader, inset.

Little used since the build was completed (but fully shaken down and tested) the Vader is ready to be used as a quick and eye-catching restomod road car.

Or, if you could bring yourself to muddy that gleaming paintwork and pristine interior, it would make a superb rally weapon at what will likely be a fraction of its build cost. Fancy bidding? May the force be with you.

1984 Vauxhall Chevette ‘the Vader’

On offer with Iconic Auctioneers, Ashorne, Warwickshire, February 22, Estimate: £60,000-£70,000. iconicauctioneers.com

Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

The Jaguar XJ13 replica so accurate it has a £20m price tag

This impressive ‘evocation’ of the car that Jaguar hoped would mark its Le Mans comeback in the late 1960s has been priced at £20m-plus (on the advice of respected historic vehicle valuer Richard Hudson-Evans).

It is being sold by JD Classics, the Essex-based restoration firm that went into administration in 2018 following a multi-million pound court ruling. JD was renamed Woodham Mortimer and acquired out of administration in 2022 by a UAE-based investment fund, which then took the bold decision to reinstate the once-revered JD Classics name, despite its troubled past.

True Spirit of XJ13 rear and engine

The real XJ13 was scanned to create a carbon copy body, and the only other surviving period correct V12 engine sits at its heart

In with the deal came ‘True Spirit of XJ13’, which began life in 1973 when top UK-based replica builder Bryan Wingfield set out to recreate the unique XJ13 that Jaguar hoped would echo its Le Mans successes of the 1950s. But by the time the car was ready for testing in 1967, Ferrari, Ford and Porsche were already way ahead of the game and the Jaguar’s mighty 5-litre engine was no longer eligible to run in the class for which it had been intended.

True Spirit of XJ13 front nose

XJ13 was thus pushed into a corner of the factory where it stayed for four years before being taken to the MIRA test facility near Nuneaton to star in a promotional film for Jaguar’s 12-cylinder E-type – but it was wrecked after a high-speed blow-out caused a huge accident that legendary British test driver Norman Dewis was fortunate to emerge from unscathed.

Later rebuilt by the factory, XJ13 performed a parade lap before the start of the 1973 British Grand Prix, inspiring Wingfield to create a replica.

After acquiring one of the six original XJ13 prototype four-camshaft engines, Wingfield spent a decade building his interpretation of XJ13 before selling it to a prominent collector in the United States.

True Spirit of XJ13 interior

By 2006, however, the car was back in the UK having ended up with JD Classics through a direct swap for a 1957 Jaguar XKSS (which subsequently sold at auction for £10m).

At this point, the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust sanctioned the ‘authentic evocation’ (as it insists the car is officially called), allowing JD Classics access to the original XJ13 – which is now a static exhibit at the British Motor Museum – for 3D scanning to enable a new, to-the-millimetre-accurate body to be created.

The result is what you see here, with the True Spirit of XJ13 name alluding to the fact that it is claimed to be the most accurate representation of the XJ13 in existence, and the only version powered by one of the two surviving prototype V12 engines from 1966 – the other being, of course, in the original car that’s on display in Gaydon.

True Spirit of XJ13 engine

Unveiled at the 2024 Salon de Rétromobile in Paris, it is the result of what has effectively been a 45-year project.

And, having driven True Spirit of XJ13 on a Dorset airfield just a couple of weeks before Christmas, I can vouch for the fact that it sounds glorious, goes like stink and sends a shiver down the spine.

Is it worth the £20m-plus price-tag? The price does seem a bit, err, strong – but stranger things have happened.

‘True Spirit of XJ13’
On offer with JD Classics, Maldon, Essex. Asking: £20m-£25m. jdclassics.com

Patsy Burt’s ’65 Ferrari sings the blues

Patsy Burt 65 Ferrari

  • When highly successful hillclimb and sprint race driver Patsy Burt died in 2001, her death notice in the Daily Telegraph read, “Retired on 73rd lap due to mechanical failure”. Her cars were known for their Burt Blue livery, and this 1965 Ferrari 330, is no exception, which she bought new. One of just 44 RHD models, its on sale for £349,995 at West Sussex’s Premier GT.
  • RHD Stingrays, ZO6s and E-Rays will become more common in 2025 as Corvette sets its sights on the UK market. Dealer partners will be Arnold Clark (Glasgow and Altrincham) and Lumen Automotive (Shrewsbury). “In the UK, there’s incredible demand for these award-winning cars,” said Callum Rankin, Arnold Clark brand director.
  • If you’re quick, there’s still time to see Ayrton Senna’s bright yellow Lotus 99T at Lotus cars’ Mayfair showroom on London’s Piccadilly. “This is chassis four – the car Ayrton used to win in Monaco and Detroit in 1987,” informed William Taylor, heritage manager at Classic Team Lotus.

2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Sauber racing

  • Car one of 10 for the UK market, and with just 312 miles on the clock, this 2020 Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio Sauber Racing edition, on sale at keep collection in Guildford for £102,000, was developed with Sauber to enhance its 2.9-litre engine and bodywork. Its livery mimics the F1 team.
  • For the eighth year on the trot, the most scrapped vehicle in the UK is the Ford Focus (6.3%), according to scrap car comparison. The average age of motors heading to the big car park in the sky? Seventeen. LG
Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

All routes lead to Italy

CHRIS FROGGATT headshot

Chris Froggatt

For Chris Froggatt, the XX Programme provided an entrée into motor sport. Eight years on from taking his first steps out on circuit with Ferrari, he’s the winner of four class titles in GT World Challenge Europe and has twice captained the Team UK squad at the FIA Motorsport Games.

Froggatt, 31, went from taking part in one of Ferrari’s  track driving Corso Pilota events, to buying a 599XX, to racing in the Ferrari Challenge one-make series and on  to international sports car racing in double-quick time – with a slight diversion onto the F1 Clienti programme.

Invited to take part in the Corso Pilota by  a friend, the renewable energy entrepreneur was told he had an aptitude for driving by instructor Andrea Belicchi, an 11-time participant at the Le Mans 24 Hours. When he joined the XX Programme, former Ferrari F1 driver Marc Gené was, says Froggatt, “very complimentary about my driving” on his first outing. Next time out Eddie Cheever III, son of the former grand prix driver and Indy 500 winner of the same name, asked him if he’d thought about having a go at the Challenge.

His race debut in Ferrari’s one-make series came in 2017. The following year he ended up third in the pro-am class, combining his racing with pedalling an F1 car at Clienti events. Froggatt bought a V8-powered 2011 150° Italia, chassis no289, raced by Felipe Massa in period.

The car was sold after three years because Froggatt struggled to squeeze his frame into the cockpit. “My shoulders and knees were hitting the tub,” he explains.

Froggatt still takes part in the Ferrari events in an FXX-K alongside his racing exploits. It allows him time in some exotic machinery in a more relaxed environment than racing his 296 GT3 in the GT World Challenge Europe.

“I have a completely different mindset to when I go racing,” he explains. “When I come to these weekends I just enjoy myself. I can bring friends, give them passenger rides and share my deepest passion with them.”

JIMMY LIN headshot

Jimmy Lin

Jimmy Lin is a successful pop singer, actor and reality TV star in his native Taiwan and in mainland China, but, he insists, he’s a racing driver at heart – and he is a team owner. “When I was a kid my dream was to be a racing driver,” he says. “Roller-skates, bikes, it was all about speed for me.” He competed on both circuits and rally stages before family commitments got in the way. These days he scratches that speed-freak itch by driving his Ferrari F2001 in F1 Clienti events.

Lin’s music career began at the age 17 and he  bought his first Ferrari – a 348 – when he was 23.  He raced the car before going on to compete in single-seaters, touring cars and various sports car categories, as well as rallying – he has a World Rally Championship start to his name. Then the children came along.

“When I had my first kid I stopped rallying because rallying can be very dangerous and when I had twins  I stopped racing,” he says. “I might not race any more, but I was always dreaming of racing and cars. I wanted an F1 car and waited a long time to get this one.”

Jimmy-Lin in the Ferrari

Lin’s Ferrari is a V10-engined F2001 car, chassis  212, that saw service in the hands of Rubens Barrichello. The machine was lightly used in period making a single start in the hands of the Brazilian at the Canadian Grand Prix in 2001. Lin joined F1 Clienti in 2019 and only finds the time to take his beloved F1 car out two or three times  a year. He lists Mugello as his favourite circuit and plans to keep on driving his Ferrari for the foreseeable future.

Or perhaps another Ferrari.  “One day I hope to have a Michael Schumacher car,” says Lin. His regard for a driver  he once got to interview for GQ magazine is such that he has an official F2001 show car at home in Taiwan. In his F1-themed lounge!

Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

Inside Ferrari’s exclusive F1 Clienti members’ club for its GP car owners

It started with a simple yet bold request. A purchaser of an early 2000s Ferrari Formula 1 car wanted to experience his machine on track. He understood that the only way to do that was with the help of the team that built it. So the question was popped to then Scuderia Ferrari team principal Jean Todt, who liked the idea and put together a small group of engineers and mechanics to allow the customer to live out his dream. More than 20 years on Maranello has a department stacked with upwards of 50 F1 chassis owned by patrons doing the same.

Ferrari F1 car leaving the pit lane

Owners of Ferrari F1 cars can get a GP experience with the backing of a Ferrari pitcrew

Ferrari Le Mans 2024 winners at Finali Mondiali, Imola

Ferrari saluted its Le Mans 2024 winners at Finali Mondiali, Imola, last October

What is known as F1 Clienti, which formally kicked off in 2003, was born of the unnamed customer’s brazen question. It was followed three years later by the XX programme, which allows customers to own and drive a line of special track-only variants of its fastest road cars, from the Enzo-based FXX through the 599XX the FXX-K developed out of LaFerrari, and evo versions of each. From this year there is something called Sport Prototipi Clienti, which pretty much does what it says on the tin: the 499P Modificata is a version of the Le Mans 24 Hours-winning prototype in which owners can also take to the track in the series of Ferrari-organised events around the globe.

Ferrari’s new F80 at Imola

Ferrari’s new F80 was launched at Imola.

Ferrari

Ferrari drive in the XX Programme

A lucky few drive in the XX Programme

Mr X, or perhaps we should call him Mr XX, wanted to go again after sampling his Ferrari F1. Others heard how he was getting out on track with the help of the factory and wanted to blood their cars as well. Ferrari made it all possible, and it had to if the owners, who for the most part remain anonymous, were to drive their prized possessions. An attempt to run an F1 car laden with electronics from the past 30 years or so without the expertise of the people who produced it would be at best extremely difficult and at worst damaging for the  high-value machinery.

“A purchaser of an early 2000s Ferrari Formula 1 car wanted to experience the machine on track”

“Ferrari has been selling F1 cars forever, at least since the 1970s,” says Filippo Petrucci, who is the technical lead of the department running the F1 Clienti, XX and Sport Prototipi cars. “It is possible somehow to run the cars from the ’70s, ’80s and early ’90s, but when you start to have many electronic systems and semi-automatic gearboxes, it becomes difficult. You would need to know the procedures for start-up and the pressure targets for all the systems. If you don’t have this information there could be problems.”

WEC Ferrari experience in a 499P

The WEC experience in a 499P

Ferrari man with spare parts

Need a spare part? We know just the man

Getty Images

Ferrari has this information, all of it. Need the blueprints for the rear wing of  a 1982 126 C2? No problem, fetch it from the archive. That’s not a flippant comment.  The rear wing is one of the last items on the job list as one of Harvey Postlethwaite’s first F1 designs for Ferrari is restored by Petrucci’s team. The wing is being manufactured from the original drawings.

It helps that the majority of the staff working on Ferrari’s treasure trove of old F1 cars have come from the F1 team – there is a staff of 60 working across the three strands of the department. Petrucci, for example, joined the Scuderia in 1995, after a stint with the short-lived Forti Corse F1 team, as  a design engineer specialising in composites and went on to run the test team before ending up at F1 Clienti in 2015.

Ferrari F1 museum

It’s practically a fully operational F1 museum.

Getty Images

Ferrari rich F1 heritage at Imola

Ferrari celebrated its rich F1 and sports car heritage at Imola.

Ferrari is uniquely placed to run a programme that allows its old F1 cars to be taken out on track by the most loyal of its customers. It has designed and built both the chassis and engines of all its grand prix machinery throughout its history, with the odd exception in the case of the former. That’s why it is able to run F1 Clienti.

“Until recently there was no Ferrari in 1982 specification  in existence”

More than a dozen F1 cars were out on track when Motor Sport was on-hand to witness the last F1 Clienti event of 2024 at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari at Imola at the end of October. Just as good as the sight of the Scuderia’s finest is the sound. In action all at once were V10-powered cars from the early 2000s, some later V8 cars and then V6 hybrids of the modern era. They are joined at the Finali Mondiali, Ferrari’s annual extravaganza that brings together competitors from its one-make Challenge series around the world, by a sonorous V12-engined 412 T1 from 1994.

Owners of Ferrari F1 cars test the cars

Owners of Ferrari F1 cars are taught to keep the revs low and not over-stress the engines

It was the oldest F1 on track in Ferrari’s backyard at Imola. The most recent car taking part is a 2017 SF70H, but the Scuderia’s ’18 and ’19 F1 contenders – the SF71H and the SF90 – will be released next year.

There is good reason why newer cars dominate. They are more durable and, most pertinently, engine life – the time between rebuilds – has increased dramatically by regulation in F1. These days each driver, is allowed four power units, comprising the internal combustion engine and the twin hybrid systems. Back in the day, F1 cars would undergo multiple engine changes over the course of a grand prix weekend.

Owner drives Ferrari in the wet

More modern racers require the period correct software.

Ferrari

Maranello management Ferrari

Maranello management.

Getty Images

“In those days you had one engine for the Friday, one for Saturday and then one for the race on Sunday,” explains Petrucci. “Engine life is only 300 or 400km [200 to 250 miles or so] when we are talking about the old cars.”

The majority of F1 Clienti cars now can go upwards of 1400km (900 miles) between rebuilds. “With some small tricks, turning down the revs by a few hundred and using some strategies that are a bit softer than the old race strategies, we can preserve the life of the engine,” says Petrucci.

That means an F1 car can complete a full schedule of events. The calendar typically encompasses eight weekends. On the schedule last year were the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, the Sonoma Raceway in California and the new Balaton Park track in Hungary. This year, a highlight for the F1 owners will be the chance to drive on a shortened version of the Miami International Autodrome three weeks after the grand prix.

Rainy weather at Imola

Cover was needed at Imola

Ferrari No27 1990s 333 SP

Another No27, this time a 1990s 333 SP

For the older cars, “take it easy” is Petrucci’s recommendation. “Maybe you take it to Goodwood [for the Festival of Speed], you come to one of our events and do four or five laps,” he says. “I would not stress too much those old ladies.”

“The software we use is original, but  the laptops  can break”

But there are older cars on the programme. The 126 C2 is a very special one. Until recently there was no Ferrari in 1982 specification in existence. Two of the six chassis were destroyed in the accidents that cost Gilles Villeneuve his life and Didier Pironi his racing career, while two more were written off in testing. The remaining pair were converted into flat-bottom 1983 C2B configuration. The owner, an F1 Clienti regular, sourced a set of ’82 bodywork and then took the car to Maranello for its restoration to be completed. It has already been fired up and will take part in events once finished. The same goes for the 312 T4 in which Jody Scheckter drove in his 1979 title-winning campaign onwards from the Belgian Grand Prix at Zolder, the first of his three victories that year. The car, chassis 040, was part of Scheckter’s personal collection from 1982 and was sold by Sotheby’s in Monaco last summer. It is now a runner again and was driven at Fiorano by its new owner in November.

Old Ferrari F1 on showcase

You have to treat the old ladies with respect.

Formula 1 vs WEC at imola

A track battle you don’t see often – Formula 1 vs WEC

Keeping a fleet of F1 cars running isn’t without its problems. Petrucci admits that Ferrari is encountering issues with some of its 1990s cars, not because they are proving unreliable but because the laptops required to switch them on are coming to the end of their working lives.

“The software we use is original, but we had one PC in which the hard disc broke,” he explains. “We are following two different solutions: one is to try to find on the market one of those laptops, the other is that one of our suppliers is working on a sort of emulator to run old software on a new PC.”

At the other end of the age range, F1 Clienti has to manage the hybrid technology of the later cars – its first F1 chassis with an energy-retrieval system was the 2009 F60. The batteries need constant maintenance and removing the hybrid element of the power unit would be impossible, says Petrucci. “All the electrical supplies in the car come from the high-voltage battery: without that you can’t even turn on the car because there is no alternator,” he explains. “The car has also not been designed to brake without recharging the electric motors.”

2010s GP cars Ferrari

The 2010s grand prix cars can be near-impossible to run without Ferrari assistance

Jimmy Lin with Gary Watkins

Taiwanese singer/actor Jimmy Lin with our man Gary Watkins

Gary Watkins

Petrucci’s advice to owners of hybrid machinery is leave them at the factory under F1 Clienti’s supervision, but it is not mandatory. It is a myth that the terms of the sale of its F1 cars obliges the owner to store them with Ferrari.

“The moment you buy the car, it’s yours and you can do with it whatever you want,” he explains. “But it makes sense to leave it here at Maranello if you are in the programme because we take care of everything.”

Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

Nick Mason: ‘Ferrari for Italians is like the Spitfire for us’

Ferrari, for me, has always been all about a number of different things; the history, the sculptural look of the cars, the noise of those V12 engines, and they are still the best looking cars. My first Ferrari was the 275 GTB four-cam. It was another five years before I could afford the GTO.

My first connection with Ferrari must have been the Dinky toy, the blue one with a yellow nose, Prince Bira’s racing colours. Then I went racing with my dad, to Goodwood and Silverstone, and this was the ultimate treat because he was both a spectator and a competitor. So I’d seen the 1950s drivers like Fangio and Ascari, and become very aware of the Ferrari grand prix cars.

Nick Mason with Ferrari 166 Corsa

Ferrari stands for so much more than just the racing cars, it’s also about what it means to Italy, to Italians. Our nearest equivalent would be the Spitfire, what it means to the nation. So, with Ferrari it’s much more than the racing or the drivers. The Prancing Horse is a totem that no other manufacturer has, apart from possibly Mercedes. Ferrari has been a constant presence in the sport when other manufacturers have dipped in and out.

Then there’s Enzo, the man and his vision, which was sometimes flawed. He could be a monster, his rudeness and falling out with Stirling [Moss] in the 1950s was never resolved and that makes the story even stronger.

Ferrari_250_GTO_of_Nick_Mason_Goodwood_hill

Mason’s stunning 250 GTO blasts up the hill at Goodwood.

The Ferrari 512 S Mason’s of Le Mans

The Ferrari 512 S is also part of Mason’s collection, and was once used in the filming of Le Mans

If you love Ferrari you have to go to Monza but I went there for historic racing before I ever went to the grand prix, though it was somewhere I’d always wanted to go. Going to the factory to collect a car was always part of the joy of owning a Ferrari, going to the Cavallino restaurant over the road where Enzo had a private room, and there’s the Ristorante Montana right outside the Fiorano test track. So now you had the pasta, the red wine and the Ferraris… well, maybe not so much of the wine these days. When you’re five miles away the roads are already bristling with Ferraris, and you see places where you can rent one for an afternoon. The whole place is dedicated to the red cars, there’s so much history. I was down there recently and everyone was talking about Lewis Hamilton coming to the Formula 1 team.

V12 Ferrari Engine

V12 has a special resonance

ferrari portofino

Owning or racing the cars, the noise is an important part of the pleasure, the V12s in particular. When you’re up against six-cylinder cars the sound is special, part of the joy. That Prancing Horse badge must be one of the top five most-recognised logos in the world. So many brands have changed their logos over the years but Ferrari has never done that. The horse was there at the very beginning and it’s still there now. Ferrari is about tenacity, about not jacking it in when the boardroom decides it’s a waste of money or some other corporate reason. It’s about total commitment.

Ferrari_250_MM_of_Nick_Mason

Mason’s rare 250 MM in action

People say every F1 driver wants to go to Ferrari but I’m not sure they all do. It’s quite an alarming experience. You need a lot of confidence for the relationship to work like it did, for example, with Niki Lauda and Luca di Montezemolo. That was a magic combination. There is so much pressure on the team and the drivers from the Italian media. I guess the equivalent here is the English football team. They undergo the same treatment, but they only have to worry about it every four years or so. For Ferrari, it’s on a daily basis.

“The team and drivers are under daily pressure from Italian media”

Ferrari has never lost its aura, or its appeal. A relatively recent car, like the LaFerrari, is a stunning piece of engineering and it was all done in the factory at Maranello. The cars have got bigger, however, and what I really love is how small the GTO is compared to the new cars. As far as running them is concerned the worst was my 275 GTB which wet its plugs all the time. I’d take them indoors to warm them up. The experience varies from car to car. The F40, which I bought new in 1988, is still a joy after all the years. It’s such an exciting car, totally analogue, a bit like having a dog that wants to be petted but might just prefer to take a piece out of your arm. I got some special luggage to go with it – one piece would take a large pizza, one would fit a chunk of cheese, but it’s a really nice part of having such a great Ferrari.”

Mason poses with his F40

Welcome to the Machine: Mason poses with his F40. His first car bought from Pink Floyd cheques was actually a Lotus Elan…

Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

Ferrari’s 296 Challenge track monster is much friendlier than you’d think

Have you ever driven a Ferrari Challenge car before?” enquires a thickly Italian-accented voice from behind a full-face helmet. The man speaking is none other than Giampiero Simoni, a legend of Alfa Romeo’s 1994 BTCC assault. That alone is enough to make the trip to Circuito Monteblanco in Spain more than worth it, let alone to have the chance to drive Ferrari’s latest Challenge car. “Yes, but no… sort of,” is my stuttering, unhelpful reply, because I did once drive an F355 Challenge, albeit one that had been converted into a road car long after its competitive career ended. Wonderful though it was, I couldn’t tell you – or Giampiero – what it was like on a track.

Adam Towler at the wheel of Ferrari’s 296 Challenge

Adam Towler at the wheel of Ferrari’s 296 Challenge – the ninth model used for the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo in 33 seasons

Then again, trying to draw any parallels between that disarmingly pretty, quaintly analogue car and the tech-heavy beast of a machine I’m clumsily contorting my 6ft-plus frame past the rollcage into is an entirely fruitless exercise. The 296 is the ninth Challenge model, and the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo has just completed its 32nd season; much has changed in over three decades, and, as I’m about to discover, this is a car that leans heavily on Ferrari’s highly successful recent involvement in sports car racing.

Ferrari 296 chllenge rear end

The landscape dominated by that rear wing. The 296 Challenge boasts 200bhp more than its GT3 sibling due to a lack of Balance of Performance rules. However, the GT3 still laps a handful of seconds faster

Lorenzo Marcinno

Ferrari 296 Steering wheel and interior

The 296 Challenge comes dripping with tech and is built purely for track competition

Lorenzo Marcinno

The F355 wasn’t the first Challenge car – that distinction goes to the 348 – but it was the first to appear officially in the UK. Back then, a kit of parts arrived to convert a road-going F355 GTB, whereas this 296 Challenge is a pure race car, albeit one that started life in the same factory as the 296 GTB in Maranello. Challenge shells are tagged at the body-in-white stage, with the necessary modifications made, such as bespoke fixing points for the bolt-in rollcage, before manufacture is completed on a dedicated separate line.

“This is a pure race car, albeit one that started life in the same factory as the 296 GTB in Maranello”

The 296 Challenge first appeared in 2023 at Ferrari’s now customary end-of-year bash, the Finali Mondiali, which hosts – among much fanfare and other attractions – the resolution of the two International Challenge series: the European and the North American one. Those championships ran with the 296 in 2024, whereas the UK and Japanese series continued for one more year with the outgoing 488 Evo model. In 2025 the 296 will be used across the board, including in the new Australasian Challenge. The main Challenge series are heavily oversubscribed; churning out these ‘racing versions’ is good business for Maranello, just as the Supercup/Carrera Cup is for Porsche.

Towler in situ Ferrari 296

Towler in situ

Lorenzo Marcinno

This is a strikingly aggressive machine, from the delicate aerodynamic ‘flics’ either side of its elongated and strut-supported snout to the huge ‘swan neck’ rear wing. As with the 296 GT3, the water radiator for the high-temp circuit is mounted at the front of the car (the intercoolers and air intakes are down the sides), and the hot air from this rad is ejected through the S-duct vent on the bonnet, effectively sealing the underbody of the car to assist with downforce generation.

Naturally, while the devil is in the detail, there’s far too much of it to expand on here, save to say that this careful manipulation of the air passing over and under the 296 hasn’t just increased the car’s ultimate downforce (to 870kg at 155mph, an 18% increase over the 488 Evo), but has assisted in improving the balance and consistency of the car over an entire race distance, one of the key targets for the new car along with improved braking performance.

Ferrari 296 Challenge Towler getting in

Although the driver is over 6ft tall, the cabin was still accommodating

Lorenzo Marcinno

The 296 catches into life with a thunderously loud percussive boom that ricochets off Monteblanco’s pitwall, before the little V6 settles to a menacing throb of an idle, the volume achieved via a new exhaust system that also dumps the road car’s gas particle filter – or GPF – although retains the use of cats. Within that shapely body lies Ferrari’s latest and ultra compact 3-litre twin-turbo V6, here shorn of the hybrid accompaniment utilised by the road car, and reworked with alterations to the turbos to produce an additional 37bhp and a wider torque band. That means there’s 690bhp on offer, making it the highest specific output of any road car-derived Ferrari engine at 234bhp/tonne. Losing the battery and e-motor contributes to a weight saving of 140kg (the Challenge weighing 1330kg dry), even though an air-con compressor and conventional starter motor had to be added, driven from the crankshaft.

“The V6 barks into life, although you feel it as much as hear it from within a crash helmet”

Once inside, the view is everything you’d expect from a car that plays heavily on its relationship to Ferrari’s current GT3 challenger. The steering wheel is more yoke than wheel, and is festooned by switchgear including a pair of manettino rotary switches towards the bottom. These are the adjustment for the four-stage traction-control system that uses an extremely advanced 6D chassis sensor (shared with the road car) to monitor longitudinal, lateral and vertical loads, modulating the engine’s output and the E-diff accordingly to maximise grip and power delivery. The TCS1 setting is for braking and turning, effectively keeping the car stable under extreme trail braking, while TCS2 is more of a traditional throttle-centric form of traction control to help limit wheelspin on exit for those with a heavy right foot. As TCS1 suggests, it’s closely linked with the new ABS Evo Track, the Challenge’s brake-by-wire system, of which the crown jewels are the new carbon-carbon CCM-R+ discs, measuring 402mm on the front axle and 390mm at the rear. Of particular note is their construction, which uses longer strands of carbon in a 3D matrix pattern to improve their resistance to heat. Another manettino-style switch on the dashboard controls the ABS, offering four options: two for wet, two for dry.

Flick the battery and ignition switches and then give the start button a firm shove. The V6 barks into life, although you feel it as much as hear it from within a crash helmet. There’s nothing intimidating about getting the Challenge moving: it’s a squeeze of the right-hand paddle into first, and then onto the throttle.

Ferrari 296 Challenge track day

The first impression is the need to slow things down. Not the car, that is, but my own inputs. High on adrenaline and the anticipation of taming a 690bhp monster, I’m too rough with it; the 296 Challenge is a sensitive soul, light to steer and highly reactive, only requiring the smallest of inputs on the steering ‘wheel’ to effect a considerable change of direction.

The brake pedal is not overly firm in initial operation, although therein soon lies the next big revelation – namely that the braking power of this new carbon-carbon set up is positively Herculean. It is the one aspect of the car in the brief time we have with it that I know I’m leaving plenty left on the table. The start/finish straight is a good example: a decent exit from the final right-hander, a satisfying third or perhaps fourth-gear curve with plenty of room on the exit makes for a top speed brushing 160mph by the time the Challenge enters the braking zone. The telemetry reveals a good 100 bar or more of pedal pressure is ideal here, but even falling just shy of that on my initial laps the Challenge slows as if I’ve opened a giant, invisible parachute out the back.

Ferrari 296 Challenge test day

The new front end helps to duct airflow and seal the floor, leading to big downforce generation over the old car

Lorenzo Marcinno

Putting so much force through the left pedal elicits just the slightest shimmy from the 296’s hips, but it feels so well balanced all the way to the apex (each TCS dial set to the middle number), and with heat in the slick tyres, readily capable of accepting everything the V6 has on the exit. Push harder and you’re more likely to expose just a hint of understeer, even taking into consideration the new, wider bespoke Pirellis, and combined with that suite of sophisticated electronics the net effect is a car that feels disarmingly friendly – the ideal learning tool for gentlemen drivers as well as one for budding endurance stars to prove their mettle. That’s surely no accident.

“Putting so much force through the left pedal elicits the slightest shimmy from the 296’s hips”

Strangely, with such spectacular braking performance it’s the engine that becomes the least memorable aspect of the car. The 296 accrues speed at a suitably spectacular rate, but I find the outright acceleration is relegated in my mind, perhaps because of the aerodynamic drag at higher speeds, or maybe because of the satisfaction derived from the wonderfully plump mid-range torque or the comically savage ‘chooo’ of vented boost if you lift off the throttle sharply. From trackside, the gruff, dirty rasp of the V6 will be instantly familiar to anyone who’s heard a 499P at a World Endurance Championship race. It’s worth contemplating that while it’s nowhere near as sophisticated as a 296 GT3, the Challenge has nearly 200bhp more after the dreaded Balance of Performance has emasculated the straight-line speed of the former.

Ferrari 296 Challenge side profile on track

Those new to track racing will have much confidence in the 296 Challenge – more a race partner than a monster needing to be tamed

Lorenzo Marcinno

Ferrari is keen that we have a thorough grasp of the range of services it offers, from track days and lessons at Fiorano to one-to-one coaching and the Club Challenge, a sort of timed track day for Challenge owners who don’t feel quite ready yet for full-on racing – all at a price, naturally.

Talking of such things, a new 296 Challenge will set you back just over £263,000 plus local taxes, with the cost of a year’s Challenge racing on top of that. Yes, that’s no small sum of money, but in a world where hypercars and their track-only relations can cost many times that figure, the idea of an authentic, slicks-and-wings factory Ferrari racing car that’s exhilarating yet forgiving to drive makes the 296 Challenge extremely desirable however you decide to use it.

Ferrari-296-Challenge-top-view

Ferrari 296 challenge

Engine 3 litres, V6 turbo
Chassis Aluminium monocoque
Power 690bhp
Transmission Seven-speed F1 DCT
Suspension (front & rear) Double wishbones, coil springs over damper
Weight (dry) 1330kg
Price £263,000 + taxes

Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

Luca: Seeing Red…. behind the scenes of Montezemolo film

If ever there was a character in Formula 1 who was made for the screen it is Luca Montezemolo. The suave Italian with matinée idol looks, easy charm and aristocratic lineage came to epitomise the image of Ferrari in the 1970s. And now thanks to Manish Pandey – the man behind 2010’s Senna – he has a full-length feature film dedicated entirely to his extraordinary career.

Motor Sport was invited to a pre-release screening of the new – and at the time not completely finished – film just before Christmas. Directed by Pandey and Christopher M Armstrong, Luca: Seeing Red tells the story of how a young Italian law student with a passion for rally caught the eye – or rather ear – of Enzo Ferrari while defending the sport on a local radio station and rose to become chairman and CEO of the company, as well as one of the most influential men in Italy, before being ruthlessly dispensed with in a corporate coup. Along the way and as team manager of the Scuderia he oversaw the rebirth of Ferrari on track with world titles in 1975 and 1977 during the glory years of Niki Lauda.

Manish Pandey’s in the directors seat

Pandey’s CV includes docs about Ayrton Senna and Bernie Ecclestone

Brando Masi

But this is no ordinary biopic. In a piece of inspired casting the film is narrated and fronted by Chris Harris, the former Top Gear host, see page 90. Harris brings a note of levity (“Can Pavarotti fit an F40?” he asks upon being told the opera great was an early buyer”) as well as deep knowledge to proceedings as he and Luca shoot the breeze in a variety of locations.

For Pandey the project was a long time in the making – even by the famously glacial timescales of movie making.

“I was introduced to Luca through a mutual friend in 2012,” he says. “I’d written a Ferrari feature film straight after Senna, and this friend of mine sent him an email saying, ‘Would you meet Manish?’ And the next thing I knew, I was in Maranello to discuss the idea. I remember my first meeting with Bernie Ecclestone for Lucky! [the documentary on the F1 impresario released in 2022], and he has a particular charisma, and Luca also has that. It was a half an hour meeting. And I remember when I finished just thinking what an incredible man he was. As I left he gave me a big remote control Ferrari for my son.”

The idea of a Ferrari film never made it – and in fact Michael Mann ended up doing a similar project on Enzo in 2023. But the idea of working with Montezemolo stuck and the two men stayed in touch.

“Walk down the road with Luca and you are swamped with fans. He’s like Paul Newman”

Then, in 2020, when Pandey had just started the Lucky! project and was interviewing Ecclestone in Switzerland, he received a call from Montezemolo: “He said he’d never done a book or anything about his life – and is that something that I would like to make? I was just amazed. A year later we had done Bernie and I went out to Rome and spent two full days with him and it was a very surreal experience but he spoke from the heart and I thought, ‘We just have to make this.’”

The key to the project was signing Harris. “I had dinner at a hotel in London where Luca always used to stay with Niki Lauda – because it’s right across the road from Hyde Park which Niki used to run around. Chris joined us and it was just amazing watching the two of them chat at such a high level about everything Ferrari.”

Luca Montezemolo horse stables

The Montezemolo film is almost complete – to be released later this year.

Brando Masi

A recce mission was agreed in May 2023 but things didn’t go well. Armstrong takes up the story: “I remember the idea was the two would get to know each other, we’d do a road trip… beautiful Ferraris… Italian countryside… but at the time Italy had the worst weather you can possibly imagine. It was like Lost in La Mancha, the Terry Gilliam film where everything was a washout. I mean there were literally landslides, torrential rain, mudslides, you name it. It was so far from the beautiful Ferraris on a road trip through the Italian countryside but somehow we made it work and the relationship between Chris and Luca was magic. When we came back to the edit suite we realised that we had something.”

In the film the two men meander through the streets of Rome and the corridors of Montezemolo’s palatial home reliving the highlights of a long career. It is beautifully shot, although as Pandey recalls filming wasn’t always easy: “Walk down the road with Luca and you are swamped with fans. It’s like being with Paul Newman.”

Armstrong adds: “Apart from that time we were in Rome and were driving down the street and someone with an English accent shouted, ‘Chris ’Arris! Oi! What ya filming Chris!’”

For me, the best of the film comes when Harris moves seamlessly from being a narrator to becoming part of the action. In the section about Montezemolo’s downfall under the new boss of Fiat, Sergio Marchionne, Harris recounts how he covered the story as a journalist. “Yes, Chris was there for all the big milestones in Luca’s life,” says Pandey, “from the Fiat 500 launch to his resignation from Ferrari. There is so much empathy there.”

Chris Harris with Luca Montezemolo with Ferrari

Chris Harris, left, was vital to the film’s success

Luca: Seeing Red

As ever with Pandey’s work the archive material is incredible, in particular film from that colourful period in the mid-70s when Montezemolo and Lauda were forging their relationship – much of it ferreted out by the archive researcher Edoardo Stella, son of the current McLaren F1 team principal Andrea.

“What you get from the footage is the interaction between Niki and Luca, who were pretty much the same age,” says Pandey. “It reveals the depth of their relationship. These are soulmates and even if you think you know the story of Luca and Niki you will be amazed at the closeness that you can see. It takes the Lewis/Bono [Peter Bonnington, Mercedes’ race engineer] thing to a whole different level. Imagine Lewis and Bono straight after a race go out for dinner, then get drunk together and stay in the same hotel. That is the thing that completely floored me.

“The other thing you see was the depth of his love for Michael [Schumacher] and how he papered over those titles that slipped away in 1997 and ’98 in the face of the Italian press. In the end this film, if it is about anything, is about loyalty.”

Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

Chris Harris meets Luca Montezemolo: telling the extraordinary life story of Ferrari’s rockstar boss

It was a clear, crisp summer morning and I was walking the dog across a deserted Cornish beach when my phone rang. The number was Italian. No one likes these moments of solitude and contemplation interrupted, and I was angry at myself for even looking at the blasted device. But there’s something curiously exotic about an international dialling code on an Apple screen, and curiosity won – so I answered.

There was a slight crackle, a decent pause and then:

“Am I speaking to Chris ’Arris?”

“You are,” I said.

“I am calling to discuss a project I would like to speak with you about. It’s called F41.” (All delivered in accurate English, but with a perfectly Italian lilt.)

He continued, largely because I was silently processing whether this was an Amarone-fuelled Frankel playing a prank, or just a mad man.

“You see it’s like F40, but plus one. F40 was, of course, fantastic but I think we can add one more.”

“I’m sorry, who is this?” was all the wit I could summon.

“Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, and let me tell you it is a pleasure to speak to you Mr ’Arris.”

Chris Harris and Montezemolo at his villawith animals

The Montezemolo villa is also home to a number of animals, including Gina, a wayward donkey

My era of testing cars intended for road and competition use, of meeting those talented people who devised them and drove them, will be remembered as the golden era. I am certain of that. I sat next to Colin McRae at the Race of Champions, rode shotgun with Sébastien Loeb in one of his loony Citroëns. I raced a 911 GT3 RS with Walter Röhrl at the Nürburgring. I am easily seduced into hero-worshipping those I feel are superior to me – that being most adults – and yet I have only one real hero from that time: Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.

Montezemolo at the wheel in Rome, with Chris Harris

Montezemolo at the wheel in Rome, with Harris taking in the sights.

Luca: Seeing Red

Niki Lauda with Montezemolo at the Scuderia helm

Niki Lauda, left, won two F1 titles with Montezemolo, right, at the Scuderia helm

The origin of this man-crush was the Geneva Motor Show 1999. As a cub Autocar reporter I was charged with taking as many copies of that week’s magazine as hand luggage as I could, and delivering them to the show so the honchos could hand them to car company bosses. I’d never been to the Geneva show before and wandered around like some drunk Bisto kid until I ended up on the peasant’s side of the rope that guarded the Ferrari stand.

“It was bonkers and captivating. Pure theatre. He ended up banning me”

On it strutted and gesticulated a man I’d only ever seen on television and in magazine interviews – Mr Montezemolo. The name is important by the way. He is either Luca, or Mr Montezemolo, or Luca Montezemolo, or Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. But he isn’t the version most commonly attributed – Luca di Montezemolo. That’s incorrect.

Anyhow, this was the only human being within the vast Geneva expo halls who could rival all the shiny new metal for attention. And remember, this was still the era of the motor show girl. Journalists and customers queued for a whiff of his aura. He was the only rockstar in the building. He had so much charisma that he could have lent his surplus to the bosses of Lamborghini and Aston Martin and still left them invisible to others humans.

Chris Harris in Montezemolo villa

Memories in the villa

Luca: Seeing Red

Chris Harris walks with Montezemolo

Harris believes Montezemolo, despite his life at the top, is a people person at heart

He was willing to engage, too. I watched him talk to anyone and everyone – even discussing the finer points of the 550 Maranello with quite junior hacks. I saw the great Peter Robinson (also hero material) have what looked like an argument with him, before it evaporated into joshing and smiles.

He was the pre-eminent car company boss of the next years. There were the stories – apocryphal or not – about Luca banning troublesome journalists or taking issue with minor aspects of road tests. Or, one of his favourite ploys, waiting for journalists to visit Maranello and then summoning them for a ‘chat’ about some of the opinions they might have offered over the past few months. Can you imagine another car company with the sheer chutzpah to bundle someone into a waiting Alfa, before being whisked away, not really knowing what was going on? This was the myth of Ferrari viewed through the goggles of a motoring journalist. It was bonkers and captivating. It was pure theatre. He ended up banning me.

Luca, left, at the Geneva Motor Show

Luca, left, at the Geneva Motor Show.

Getty Images

In the early 2000s Ferrari was entering its greatest phase. The Schumacher/Brawn alliance was landing F1 championships and the road cars were exceptional – 430, 599, 612. These gave way to 458, FF and F12. We don’t recognise epochal greatness at the time, but it’s now clear to me that Ferrari will probably never again hold an advantage over its road car rivals the way it did then. And who was the boss at the time, what was the one common aspect of all of that greatness? Luca.

What did Luca want to talk about on the telephone that random morning? The prospect of a Ferrari SUV, the prospect of an electric Ferrari. He wanted to, respectfully, challenge some of the decisions the company had made post IPO. He was in his mid-seventies, sharp of opinion and instinct. The call lasted around 20 minutes. I assumed that was the last time I would hear from him or speak to him.

Luca Montezemolo 1998 Italian Grand Prix

Overseeing the 1998 Italian Grand Prix

Getty Images

A few months later I met Manish Pandey, the man who produced Senna. He was in the process of telling Bernie Ecclestone’s story and I thought he’d be a fine guest on my podcast. Manish mentioned he’d been talking to Luca about telling his story, and that he would be in town soon – would I like to meet them both for tea and a chat? Afterwards, Manish mentioned that he wanted to try a different approach with Luca than the one he’d used with Bernie. For those of you who have watched Lucky!, the formidable first-person presence of Mr E is unforgettable and works perfectly. But English isn’t Luca’s first language – and this was to be an English film – and Manish wanted something different. Perhaps a second, background voice to tease out Luca’s frankly extraordinary story? Perhaps a recently unemployed BBC presenter with an unusually keen interest in the subject?

We set off to Rome a few months later. Obviously I thought this was a chance for me to decide if I wanted the job when the reverse was the case – I was being vetted by Luca. Either way, the drive from the airport to Luca’s apartment was one of those I will never forget. We were met at arrivals by a man in a dark suit and taken to a nondescript diesel Audi A6 which was parked where you shouldn’t park at an airport. Manish and I jumped into the rear seats.

“Manish Pandey mentioned he’d been talking to Luca about telling his story”

The car then made for Rome at alarming speed. The driver kept his left hand on the wheel, his right behind the atomic transmission lever where he appeared to be twiddling with something. Nothing unusual within Roman driving rules there. However, judged against the lawless madness of Rome’s road network we seemed to be taking even more risks than the other lunatics, yet always emerging unscathed. Cars moved out of our way. I was busy adding this to my list of great passenger ride experiences when we arrived and my door opened – and I saw the suggestion of a gun holster under the driver’s suit jacket. The car’s cupholders had two auxiliary switches: one red, one blue. Carefully hidden in the Audi’s front grille were a bank of blue and red LEDs. It’s at this point you remember Luca Montezemolo isn’t just the ex-boss of a car company. Not even the ex-boss of Ferrari. He’s one of the most famous Italians, his standing so far beyond national-treasure status that, as I’d discover, his fellow countrymen and women can’t hide how much they love him.

Nicola Larini, Gianni Agnelli, Michael Schumacher, Montezemolo, Eddie Irvine, Jean Todt with 1996’s Ferrari F310

From left: Nicola Larini, Fiat CEO Gianni Agnelli, Michael Schumacher, Montezemolo, Eddie Irvine and team principal Jean Todt with 1996’s Ferrari F310

Getty Images

We stayed for a few hours. I must have passed the test because soon after we agreed terms to make a film about Luca’s life. Matters moved quickly and, a year later, we began filming. Film doesn’t move quickly.

I don’t want to paraphrase the doc’s contents here – of course I want you to watch it! Luca is now 77 years old. It is still difficult to comprehend how much he has crammed into those years on this planet. I want you to watch this film to learn about all the things you didn’t know he’d been involved in. This isn’t some biopic crammed with facts, it’s a love letter to a man both Manish and I feel utterly privileged to have spent time with. Like anyone overburdened with charisma and skills, he’s complicated and inspiring. He doesn’t suffer fools and he’s very clear on what he thinks is right and wrong.

Luca Montezemolo salute the wine

Salute: we’ll let Luca choose the wine.

Luca: Seeing Red

I spent several weeks with him, in Rome and his villa in the hills above Bologna. He reflected on his many successes and his few failures. He’s a smiler. He loves to laugh and joke. He wants to leave a room knowing he made everyone feel better than when he arrived. Perhaps above all of his other skills, that’s his ultimate gift? People just love him.

This, after all, is the man who once phoned Sergio Pininfarina early one morning with an urgent message. “Sergio,” he said, “I am convinced the next Ferrari should have three wheels. This is the future for Ferrari!” Mr Pininfarina was strung along for some time before Luca could no longer suppress the giggles. He’s impish and human. He’s unlike anyone of his status and stature I’ve ever met. When I introduced him to my girlfriend, he clasped her hand, looked at her, then looked at me. “This is not the same person you introduced me to in Rome.”

Helmet of previous F1 campaigns

The spoils of previous F1 campaigns

There is a sadness at how his time at Ferrari ended, and this is explored in the film – I think with sensitivity and balance. From my interpretation of events – how Luca was jettisoned from the place he adored – he would be well within his rights to try and lob some bombs, but he’s a much bigger man than that. Regardless, he knows his legacy rests untarnished. He was the boss the greatest brand of them all deserved; he alone had the charisma to carry Ferrari and it’s clear the company currently misses the luxury of a figure like him. Don’t get me wrong, Ferrari is a great car company creating amazing motor vehicles, but I believe it would be better still if had someone like Luca at the very top.

Manish Pandey’s Ferrari Chris Harris

Manish Pandey’s doc is, really, the inside story of Ferrari – as told to Harris

Luca: Seeing Red

There are two memories I’d share as a lens through which I’d like you to see Luca. The first was after another exceptional Bolognese lunch. We jumped into his little Toyota and he said he wanted to show me something. We stopped outside an ordinary clothes shop and went inside. Everything was end-of-line or discounted. He was so excited! “You can find real bargains here, and then you can negotiate the price further when you pay!” Sure enough, he did. The shopkeeper loved haggling – Luca loved striving for a bargain. This is a man happiest among ordinary people. He is interested in people’s lives. Of course he loves Ferraris but when we’d head into Bologna for dinner, we’d go in his Renault 4 and talk about the genius of making cars that appeal to millions.

Luca Montezemolo at the 1977 Spanish GP

Double denim and Adidas Gazelles: Luca at the 1977 Spanish GP, where Carlos Reutemann finished second for the Scuderia

And he adores animals. The villa is home to Alex, his huge Bernese mountain dog, and his herd of Angus cows that his youngest child Lupo tends to. He knows every sheep, goat and chicken by name and he so clearly adores them all. And then there is Gina the donkey. “She is fantastic,” he always says when her name is mentioned, with a huge grin. Gina has his number too, rarely doing what he requires of her. I first met Luca as he played rockstar on the Ferrari stage, I last saw him hollering, “Gina, Gina!” at a naughty donkey. Combine both scenes and you have the essence of the most interesting man I’ve met in my professional life. I do hope you enjoy Manish’s beautiful film.

Luca: Seeing Red is in post-production and will be in cinemas later this year.

The man with the Midas touch 

  • Joined Ferrari in 1973 and by the following year had been entrusted to run the ailing F1 team. In alliance with a like-minded Niki Lauda, team fortunes were revived. Lauda won world titles in 1975 and 1977.
  • A close ally of Gianni Agnelli, Montezemolo became head of all Fiat competition activities in 1976, then was promoted a year later, becoming Fiat’s youngest senior manager.
  • In 1984 Montezemolo was appointed managing director of the Cinzano drinks company. Early in the decade, he also managed Azzurra, the first Italian yacht to take part in the America’s Cup. He also presided over Turin’s Juventus football team.
  • Between 1985-90 Montezemolo was general manager for the organising committee behind the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
  • Montezemolo returned to Ferrari – as chairman and managing director in November 1991. Once again, a priority was to revive the fortunes of the down-at-heel F1 team.
  • In 1993 he also became vice-chairman of Bologna FC, and in ’97 was handed control of Maserati with a brief to revive an ailing marque.
  • Having appointed Jean Todt to run the F1 team in 1993, Ferrari won its first constructors’ title for 16 years in 1999, then Michael Schumacher ended a 21-year drivers’ title drought in 2000. Schumacher and Ferrari would dominate F1 for five years.
  • In 2010, Montezemolo was replaced by John Elkann as chairman of Fiat. In 2014, in the wake of tension with successor and Fiat Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, he resigned as chairman and president of Ferrari.
Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

Gerhard Berger: The Motor Sport Interview

Austrian Gerhard Berger is a man who knows all about what it’s like to start a new life aboard the Prancing Horse at Maranello. It was at Ferrari that he had some of the best moments of a long and successful career in grand prix racing.

The first of his two stints at Ferrari came in 1987, after a single season at Benetton, summoned by Enzo himself. A huge accident at Imola in ’89 was his worst ever and he left at the end of the season to join McLaren alongside Ayrton Senna.

Berger in F1:87:88C 1988 Belgian GP

Berger in the F1/87/88C at the 1988 Belgian GP. He’d retire from this race but two weeks later he’d win – at Monza

Getty Images

He returned to Ferrari in 1993 and the following season he won the German Grand Prix in the Scuderia’s 412 T, the team’s first win since 1990. A move back to Benetton in 1996, when Michael Schumacher had arrived at Ferrari, saw him complete two more seasons before he retired at the end of 1997 having won 10 grands prix and stood on the podium 48 times in his 13 years at the pinnacle of the sport.

Known for his highly developed sense of humour and fearless driving, Berger remains a hugely popular figure in the F1 paddock. He takes us back to his years at Ferrari and assesses where the Italian team stands ahead of the arrival of Lewis Hamilton for the upcoming season.

Gerhard Berger 1989 Japanese GP

Qualifying third for the 1989 Japanese GP

Getty images

Motor Sport: Let’s start with Ferrari as it is today, the prospect of Lewis Hamilton alongside Charles Leclerc. Everyone is talking about it and some wonder why Carlos Sainz was replaced.

GB: Yes, they had two good drivers, but Lewis has something that could be really quite valuable for Ferrari. He is seven times world champion, still very competitive, and the strongest of all the drivers in terms of marketing and image, especially in North America, and Ferrari is the biggest name of all the teams. He will bring a lot of experience, a lot of momentum, and maybe some guys will come from other teams to work with him. Engineers love to work with a guy who is seven times a champion. If he is successful, if he wins the championship, that will be the biggest thing ever in Formula 1. It doesn’t really matter if he is quicker than Leclerc or not, what matters is can he bring enough points for another championship?

Gerhard Berger Ferrari Suzuka, 1987

Gerhard Berger’s first win for Ferrari – Suzuka, 1987

Getty Images

He will be a motivator, it will be positive for Ferrari. Also, it’s great for Leclerc to have the chance to compete against a seven times champion. He may be a little bit quicker, so if he does better than Hamilton then that’s great for his CV. It’s about who is better all round, not about who is faster, and Lewis knows what to do, how to win. He needs to smell that the day is a winning day to get fully motivated and he hasn’t always been in that situation recently – but he’s been so long in the business, and that will count.

What is it about Ferrari? Why do so many drivers want to go there? What was it for you so early in your career?

GB: It was a totally emotional decision. I was one of those drivers attracted by Ferrari, maybe it’s the same for Lewis. It was the name, the history, the race cars, the road cars of the 1960s, ’ 70s and ’80s. Ferrari was the pinnacle, different to any other team and it’s still the same today. Maybe it was more in my time but it’s still there. I mean they’ve been in Formula 1 since day one and it’s just that special atmosphere, that feeling.

“Ferrari was the pinnacle, different to any other team“

Benetton was super lovely. I was happy there. It was a small team, like a family with Rory Byrne and Peter Collins. They supported me, and the ’86 car was bloody good – but Ferrari was another league altogether, another level. It was nothing to do with the performance of Benetton: Rory was brilliant, Peter Collins knew how to work with me, I loved working with them, but again Ferrari was so special. I could not resist that opportunity. Also, I knew John Barnard was moving there. He’s a clever guy, and I thought he would sort out any mess that might be at Ferrari at that time.

Gerhard Berger with Piero Ferrari

Berger with Piero Ferrari

Was Ferrari everything you had hoped it would be?

GB: Yes, it was a wonderful time, and it was my first top team. I never did karting, started racing cars when I was 21, and by 24 I was in Formula 1. Three years later I am at Maranello. Unbelievable, and they would become like a family to me.

When you went there for the first time in 1987 you had been summoned by Enzo himself. How did that come about while you were at Benetton in ’86?

GB: There was a race at Imola, the San Marino Grand Prix, and I had overtaken Stefan Johansson’s Ferrari on the grass… The next day Marco Piccinini [Ferrari team principal] called me and said, “Mr Ferrari would love to meet you” – and would I go to Maranello? Well, I was living in Austria so I got in the car and we met at a petrol station outside Maranello. He [Piccinini] told me to lie down on the back seat of his car, covered me with a blanket and drove me to Fiorano where Enzo had his office.

Nigel Mansell was Berger’s team-mate in 1989

Nigel Mansell was Berger’s team-mate in 1989

He was sitting there at his desk, Piccinini on one side and Piero Lardi [aka Piero Ferrari, Enzo’s son] on the other, and his first question was did I have a manager? I said no, I didn’t, so he asked me if it would be OK for me to sign a contract, and I said yes, it would be. We talked about money but where I was coming from, I didn’t know if I should pay him or he should pay me. I was not used to taking money at that stage.

To be honest, if he’d asked me to bring some money I would have been happy to go out and find it to get a drive at Ferrari.

When you got there in ’87 did it feel different from other teams? Piccinini had started to ban the long paddock lunches, the pasta and the Lambrusco.

GB: Ha! Yes, but I thought it might have been John [Barnard] who wanted less of all that. He was very organised, and in some ways I understood why it was necessary. Wine makes you tired at lunchtime, you know. At night it’s fine, but the Italians have their own rules. It’s funny, we still talk about all that these days when it comes round to Ferrari at that time.

Ayrton Senna and Gerhard Berger McLaren 1991

Ayrton Senna and Berger – the McLaren driver line-up in 1991

Grand Prix Photos

More importantly, Barnard brought the semi-automatic gearbox to the Ferrari 640 among other innovations. Was it difficult to get used to that system after a manual box?

GB: Not really. People had different opinions on its benefits. The first time I tested the car at Fiorano, I came in and told them I never wanted to go back to the manual. It was such a clear advantage, two hands on the wheel all the time, so better for reactions, especially in a place like Monaco. My team-mate Michele [Alboreto] felt differently. He didn’t like it, said he’d rather have the manual shift.

“It was difficult for Michele when this young Austrian turns up“

We had a good relationship but it was difficult for Michele when this young Austrian turns up and is mostly quicker than him and now he has opposition in the team. He was the Italian superstar, second to Alain Prost in the world championship in’ 85, and an Italian can always have a bit of an advantage at Ferrari. Not a big problem but when I looked at the telemetry one time I was down on power compared to him so when we tested at Imola they put me in Michele’s car, which confirmed his engine was stronger. From then on I never had this problem any more. We had 10 or 12 engines on race weekends and maybe there were differences of 3hp or whatever. It doesn’t really matter, it wasn’t like there were good engines and bad engines.

Gerhard Berger at Silverstone 1989

The 1989 season was a torrid time for Berger in the Ferrari 640 – he failed to finish 12 races, including here at Silverstone

Grand Prix Photos

I know you had a lot of respect for John Barnard and his car proved to be very solid when you crashed at Imola.

GB: Yes absolutely, I have to thank John for building such a strong carbon-fibre chassis. I mean, I didn’t have any broken bones, just burns from the fire in that accident. I hit the concrete wall at Tamburello, straight on at 250kph. The car was full of fuel. It was a miracle how I escaped bad injuries.

I drove the 640 again at Goodwood last year, first time since I raced it, and I scared myself a bit even though it felt just as I remembered, the seat, the belts, the mirrors, the pedals, still a perfect fit after all those years. The fans loved it of course, sparks flying over the bumps, the sound of the V12, but I only did it because Charles (Duke of Richmond) invited me and I love those Goodwood events.

Giorgio Ascanelli

Mechanic Giorgio Ascanelli, who Berger rated

Getty Images

You had enjoyed your first stint at Ferrari so why did you move to McLaren in 1990?

GB: They had won so many races in ’88. I liked the way Ron Dennis ran the team, the perfection, and I wasn’t worried about having Ayrton as a team-mate. After three years at Ferrari it was a good time for something new. Ron always supported me, I had no problem with him. He said, “You are a diamond but we need to shape you. You’re going over the kerbs, going sideways, going too fast here and there, so look at Prost, he doesn’t touch the kerbs, doesn’t go sideways.” I tried to change but it didn’t work. I had my way, so when I tried to be like Alain it just made me slower. I was also looking at Ayrton to see why he was so quick so I lost my way. At Ferrari nobody told me how to drive.

“In my time at Ferrari I never had a problem with journalists“

Was it good for me to be teamed with Ayrton? Yes and no. Would I do it again? No. I always had the same equipment, same engine, but he was difficult to beat. At Ferrari I had this great relationship with my mechanic Giorgio Ascanelli. He knew exactly what I needed. The engineers at McLaren were different. They’d worked with Lauda, with Prost, a different generation. They would ask me, “What do you want to change, the rollbar, the spring, the wing?” I said, “I don’t know, this is your job.” So I went to see Ron, told him about this young engineer at Ferrari, Ascanelli, I think we should try to get him. Two months later he called me, he says, “I have good news and bad news. What do you want to hear first?” He says, “I have got your man Ascanelli.” I thought, “Great, what’s the bad news?” “He says he will work with Ayrton.” I knew if I could work with Ascanelli I could be a pain for Ayrton. I have a good sense of humour but I still can’t laugh about this. I needed to get my act together, get the job done.

F93A, 1993 Monaco GP

F93A, 1993 Monaco GP

Grand Prix Photo

Why did you go back to Ferrari in 1993? The team was not in a good place at the time.

GB: It’s true, it was all a bit messy, but I knew Honda was leaving McLaren, they would have a Cosworth, and the last thing I needed was not having a winning car and being with Ayrton. Luca di Montezemolo and Niki Lauda were pushing to get me back and I liked the team so much, so let’s go back. You never know how good the car will be before the season, and it wasn’t good. Aerodynamics were becoming more and more important and we struggled with connecting properly the aerodynamics and the mechanical. Otherwise I got on well with Jean Todt, John Barnard was coming back, and it was a good contract. Me and Jean Alesi. Maybe Jean was missing a little in his concentration, but he was quick. He should have won more races. I loved him, and we are still friends today.

Ferrari team Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi, 1994

Ferrari team-mates Berger and Jean Alesi, 1994

Getty Images

Is Fred Vasseur the right man to get another world championship for the team?

GB: Fred is like Jean Todt. He doesn’t get distracted by the politics or the media. He quietly gets the job done and I believe he is the right man for Ferrari. I would put some money on them for 2025. Everybody says there is too much pressure from the Italian media, all the expectations, but in my time there I never had a problem with journalists. It was a privilege, not a pressure, to have so much support from the fans.

Ferrari 1993-95, 1994 German GP

A second stint with Ferrari came in 1993-95, which included a win at the 1994 German GP

Getty Images

Did you go back to Benetton in ’96 because Schumacher was arriving at Ferrari?

GB: I knew he was coming but I had my contract with Ferrari with an option to leave, so I went to see Jean Todt and said, “OK, Schumacher is coming, I take the challenge, but I want Ascanelli on my car.” Jean said he could not do that, so I left. I didn’t want to make the same mistakes I made when I was team-mate to Ayrton. I went back to Benetton but it wasn’t the same. Ross Brawn went to Ferrari with Schumacher, and I was not the same person. I was tired and getting towards the end of my career.

1994 Hockenheim Ferrari win Berger

The ’94 Hockenheim victory was Ferrari’s first for four years

Getty Images

In 2006 you acquired a 50% share in Toro Rosso, which in a way was back to your roots because you had Ferrari engines.

GB: Yes, and I took Ascanelli with me too so that was also back to my roots. He was the engineer on Vettel’s car. Vettel was clever, grown up, the opposite to me in my early twenties. He never made the best of his time at Ferrari but nor did Alonso. I think the only two guys who really understood how to get the maximum from Ferrari were Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher. They brought the right people in, got everyone behind them, and they used all the facilities, working and testing all the time at Fiorano to achieve the best results for them.

Do you think grand prix racing would be the poorer without Ferrari on the grid?

GB: Yes, absolutely, 100%. No question. Ferrari is the soul of Formula 1. It’s the colour, the emotions, the Italians, the history, the winning, the losing, the whole story. Ferrari is Ferrari.

Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

On track in the Dino 206 S: Ferrari’s near-perfect pocket racer

You know that phrase ‘if it looks right, it is right’? Were that always the case the Ferrari Dino 206 S would have won every race it entered, probably lapping the field for good measure. In the entire history of motor sport few, if any, have looked more right than this.

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider rear

But it’s not what I’m thinking about just now. I’m just waiting for it all to go horribly wrong, which it well might at any moment. I’m at Donington, not for a relatively cuddly track day, but a full test day for unsilenced racing cars. I’m sat in a car worth £4m, without seatbelts, while professional drivers in their modern slicks and wings machines they’re paid to drive, dive and hustle their away about and around me. And with just one mirror loosely lashed to the windscreen, I can’t really even see them coming towards me.

“In the entire history of motor sport few, if any, have looked more right than this”

In that moment my mind fled back to my first ever race of the old Nürburgring. I was in a ratty old Renault Clio Cup car sharing track space with Le Mans specification Dodge Vipers. And Hans Stuck in a V8-powered BMW M3 GTR. They appeared to hunt in packs, appearing by the gridful over the brow behind you, a blaze of blinding white light heralding the attack, during which they’d find a way past whether it meant sticking to the track or not. I was so intimidated and miserable I was on the point of abandoning the whole stupid adventure when in a fit of pique I punched the interior mirror away. In an instant I could see them no more. It was their job to find a way around me, not vice versa, and I spent the rest of the race in a state of blissful ignorance of all that was going on behind me. I managed even to quite enjoy myself. So I did the same in the Dino, figuring that not even hardened touring car drivers would fancy having to explain to the authorities why they thought taking the side off a classic Ferrari racing car was worth a couple of tenths on a test day. It worked all over again.

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider donington park bend

Even for a 6ft 3in driver, the little Dino is accommodating – here at Donington.

Dean Smith

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider number 28

The Dino script was based on Alfredo’s signature

Dean Smith

And now I wasn’t thinking about anyone else. The little Ferrari came to me, opened its soul and let me in. I’ve driven many far faster cars, many with far greater success stories behind them, some that are even more valuable and just a few whose memories, for usually positive reasons, will live longer. But have I ever driven a sweeter racing car? One which has offered up the simple joy of driving in a more delectable form? I’ll need to get back to you about that.

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider side profile wheel

The 206 S followed Ferrari’s naming convention – 2.0 litres, V6.

Dean Smith

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider steering wheel

Tiny, perhaps, but very big in sound

The 206 S looks like a 330 P3 or P4 and there’s a good reason for that: they were all contemporaries at the Scuderia, their bodies shaped by Piero Drogo’s famed carrozzeria. But it’s tiny. I first saw it when I visited Girardo & Co for some entirely other purpose and saw it sitting there, whereupon I completely lost the ability to understand or respond to anything being said to me. Words became white noise. Until Max Girardo suggested I sit in it, whereupon I replied that sadly there was no chance of me squeezing my 6ft 3in frame into its interior and I wasn’t about to try as I feared what might happen next. The mind rewound again, this time some 25 years when it was my backside in the Motor Sport editor’s chair. I’d tried to squeeze into a Lotus 18, my feet had slid past the pedals requiring the car to be dismantled piece by piece to get me out. But Max looked me up and down and said he thought I’d be fine. And to my amazement, I was. “Then,” he said, “you must drive it.’

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider on bend at donington park

Originally, Enzo Ferrari had plans for at least 50 of these cars but just 18 were built. Nevertheless, they were frequent class winners

Dean Smith

But what exactly is this exquisite little Ferrari? It was built primarily as a hillclimb car back in the day when the European Hill Climb Championship was a sufficiently big deal for companies like Ferrari and Porsche to build bespoke factory machinery for the purpose. But it was also intended to supplement or even sub for the big bangers at the more tortuous rounds of the World Sportscar Championship, such as those held at the aforementioned ’Ring and, of course, the Targa Florio.

“But what exactly is this exquisite little Ferrari? It was built primarily as a hillclimb car”

It succeeded the 206 P prototype that had won Ludovico Scarfiotti the 1965 European Hill Climb Championship (itself essentially a 166 P with an enlarged engine), but differed in one key regard: instead of being a one- or two-off prototype, Ferrari intended to build and sell 50, the minimum required to homologate it as a Group 4 sports car rather than a Group 6 prototype. He never got close. Labour issues meant Ferrari could not build as many cars as he wanted; faced with the need to cut production of something, it’s perhaps understandable why the little hillclimber wasn’t chosen ahead of his full-bore V12 sports racers, his beloved F1 cars and his lucrative road cars. In the end just 18 were built and this is the very last of them.

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider metres

The Veglia dials are as much a part of the romance of the 206 S as the bodywork styling

Dean Smith

It was, however, less successful than its predecessor. Scarfiotti won a couple of climbs but over the season was well beaten by Gerhard Mitter’s Porsche 904/8, while on the circuits second place and class wins at both the ’Ring and Targa in 1966 were its greatest achievements. Improbably a couple were entered for Le Mans – it would be hard to think of a circuit to which it would be less suited, a pre-chicane Monza perhaps? – one entered by Maranello Concessionaires driven by David Hobbs and the late Michael Salmon. Both absolutely adored it but were perhaps more sad than surprised that it failed to go the distance.

“This near 60-year-old car has a comparable power-to-weight ratio to Ferrari’s new 12Cilindri”

As ever with Ferrari racing cars, particularly of that era, there was no innovation in its design. While Porsche was experimenting with beryllium brakes (a carcinogen in the same category classification as asbestos, mustard gas, benzene and plutonium), titanium springs, a silver-thread wiring loom and placing the fuel in a pressurised bag to negate the need for a fuel pump for its forthcoming Bergspyder hillclimb car, Enzo played it straight down the line. The 206 S has a tubular spaceframe chassis, a body made from aluminium and glass-fibre panels, a five-speed transaxle gearbox, double wishbone suspension at each corner, plain disc brakes and fat Dunlop tyres.

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider donington park

Even then the engine should have been a museum piece too, its design already 10 years old before it found its way into this Dino. But this was a Ferrari engine or, to be precise, an engine for a Dino Ferrari, worked on by the Old Man’s son before his death in 1956 aged just 24. Yes, its design was primarily the work of the master that was Vittorio Jano, but there’s no question the lad was involved in its conception and development though tragically he didn’t live long enough to see it run, let alone make its race debut in 1957.

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider front nose

But between them they designed an extraordinary engine and, to this day, a unique one too, being still the only V6 motor with a 65-degree bank angle. This was done simply to create space between the banks for optimal shaping of the inlet ducts, and compensated for by offset crankpins to create an even firing order. And they must have been onto something because back in 1992 Ferrari reintroduced the 65-degree bank into the brand new V12 designed for the 456 road car, a configuration retained not just for every V12 Ferrari since, but also adopted for the V12s in cars like the Aston Martin Valkyrie and GMA T.50. But Jano’s V6 remains unique. It went on to have an extraordinary life, powering not just sports and hillclimb cars like this one, but F1 and F2 cars, road cars and rally cars alike. It powered Mike Hawthorn to the 1958 F1 World Championship. It could be as small as 1.5 litres or stretched past 2.9 litres. Over the years it would feature two, three and four valves per cylinder, carburettors and fuel injection. And it was winning rounds of the World Rally Championship in the back of the Lancia Stratos as recently as 1981. As much as the vaunted V12s of Colombo and Lampredi, this V6 deserves absolutely to be considered among the greatest engines of the greatest engine manufacturer of them all.

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider gear stick

Its five-speed manual transmission has an interlock system for ease of gearchange.

Dean Smith

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider rear number 28

Most of these models are stored in long-term collections

Dean Smith

In this 206 S it displaces 1987cc and is in ultimate specification, developing around 270bhp at 8800rpm on Lucas fuel injection. It doesn’t sound like much until you consider it’s parked in a car weighing just 580kg, giving this miniscule, near 60-year-old a comparable power-to-weight ratio to Ferrari’s brand new 12Cilindri flagship with its 6.5-litre V12 engine.

“I’d been told to wear earplugs, which sounds excessive until I thumb the button that fires it up”

Max has already warned me to wear earplugs, which sounds a trifle excessive until I thumb the button that fires it up. It’s like someone has dropped a thunderflash in the middle of the pit garage. Drivers, engineers and hangers-on from other teams all instinctively flinch. I’m sure I saw one duck. If ever there were a prize for the amount of noise relative to its number of cubic inches an engine can make, no other would bother entering.

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider engine

The Vittorio Jano-engineered 65-degree Dino engine is from a Ferrari golden era.

Dean Smith

But all seems well. The gorgeous old Veglia dials spring to life as the Jano/Ferrari motor bellows happily away to itself at a 2000rpm idle. I look down at the gearlever and see some complex machinery beneath its exposed gate. And again my mind is spooling back the clock to another time, to the first racing car I drove for this title in fact. It was the Maranello Concessionaires 412 P (essentially a customer P4 with carbs instead of injection and two valves per cylinder instead of three) and it was on the cover of the April 1997 relaunch issue. I’d got Richard Attwood along to drive it too because he was (and remains) a mate who’d raced it in period, and he pointed out the same mechanism to me, which turns out to be an interlock system making it literally impossible to select a gear more than one higher or lower than the one you’re in, making wrong-slotting almost impossible. Pure genius and as reassuring now as it was then.

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider close up wheels

It looked the part – and was

Dean Smith

I ease out onto the circuit and spend a couple of laps putting some heat into the brand new Dunlops and making sure all the other needles are pointing in the right direction. Then, having received none of the warning signs you come to recognise at times like this of a car whose agenda may not be exactly the same as yours, drop a couple of gears and let it do its thing.

At once your head fills with the sound of a Ferrari racing motor at maximum attack. The sound is not as pure as a V12 but it’s deep, complex, raucous and joyous all at once. I find it hypnotic. So much so that I have to really concentrate to stick to my self-imposed rev-limit of just below 8000rpm, because at those revolutions it’s yelling with such approval at you it feels like it would be no less happy with ten grand on the clock.

“The sound is not as pure as a V12 but it’s deep, complex, raucous and joyous all at once”

To drive it fast and well you need to play to its strengths: there’s not unlimited power, but it is ultra-light, beautifully set up and handles as precisely as you’d hope a car looking like this and from this era might handle. The trick is to carry speed, everywhere. This is not a car for rushing up to a corner, standing on its nose and chucking at an apex. It’s a car you drive with your fingers and wrists, not elbows and shoulders, using the electrifying throttle response to keep it beautifully balanced from entry to exit. No doubt you could skid it about and have huge fun, but it’s not how it wants to be driven.

So I savour the experience. Everything about this car – steering, brakes, gearshift – is as good as you could hope it would be, a car built as a true thoroughbred, to the same exacting standards as the P3s and P4s that stole the headlines. It’s not the fastest thing out there, but if you want driving pleasure distilled into its simplest, purest form, a few laps of Donington in this 206 S will provide it. A car, then, that is perhaps even more beautiful to drive than it is to regard. From one looking like this, that is some achievement.

Ferrari Dino 206S Spider rear at donington park

Ferrari Dino 206 S

Engine 2 litres, 65 degrees V6
Chassis Tubular steel spaceframe, rear-engined
Bodywork Aluminium and glass-fibre panels
Power 270bhp @ 8800rpm
Transmission Five-speed manual
Suspension (front & rear) Independent, unequal-length wishbones, coil springs, telescopic shock absorbers
Weight 580kg

Thanks to Girardo & Co and Donington Park for making this feature possible. The Dino is for sale now. For further details go to girardo.com

Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

Ferrari’s F1 Brit pack

john surtees in the pits

John Surtees

Lewis Hamilton is set to become the 13th British driver to start a world championship Formula 1 grand prix for Scuderia Ferrari (let’s hope that’s not an omen). Of his forebears, John Surtees is the shining example of who he will most wish to emulate.

Surtees foreshadowed Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher as a galvanising force to revive a low-ebb Ferrari when he joined the team (at the second time of asking) in 1963. Across his three full seasons representing Maranello in the heart of the 1.5-litre era, he emerged as the most consistent threat to the pre-eminence of Jim Clark and Lotus, famously snatching that historic world title – with the aid of a double dose of fortune and a helping hand from team-mate Lorenzo Bandini at the Mexican Grand Prix finale in late October, 1964.

Nigel Mansell headshot

Nigel Mansell

His two seasons with Ferrari were ultimately ill-starred – but they were rarely dull. Dubbed ‘Il Leone’ by a tifosi attracted by his heart-on-sleeve all-out attack, Nigel Mansell was never likely to last long at volatile Ferrari. The twin 1989 highs in John Barnard’s semi-auto 640 stunner – unexpected debut victory in Rio and Senna-defeating rise from 12th in Hungary – cemented the love affair. But the arrival of Alain Prost, in for Gerhard Berger, left Mansell flailing in 1990. Insinuations of victimhood bordered on paranoia and the knee-jerk ‘retirement’ at Silverstone – revoked when a competitive Williams became available for 1991 – stained his time in red. Prost was too good for him.

If Surtees is the examplar, Mansell’s Ferrari tenure is the reverse. For Hamilton, could Leclerc become Mansell’s Prost? Hamilton too is driven by emotion which exists below an at-times brittle surface. But he’s surely too canny and self-aware to follow his predecessor down similar rabbit holes. Plus he has Vasseur, whereas Mansell had a pot-stirring Cesare Fiorio. Although the Italian media remains as voracious and quick to judge. Some things remain unchanged from the good old bad days

Eddie Irvine holds up trophy

Eddie Irvine

As Prost told us last year (‘It sounds like a joke but I’m completely underrated’, March 2024), he might have returned to Ferrari as an apparently subservient team-mate to Schumacher in 1996. But Eddie Irvine was far better suited to the role. Whip-crack smart and all too realistic and honest about his place in the F1 world, Irvine had strived too long and against the odds to waste his golden ticket when he was finally able to grab it.

How fate thrust him into the unexpected limelight in 1999 as Ferrari’s only hope of ending its long title drought was more than awkward. It wasn’t what Irvine was there for. But Schumacher’s broken leg sustained at the British GP meant he reluctantly returned to action at the season’s end in a support role
to the Northern Irishman’s unconvincing bid. To the German’s credit, he played his part for Ferrari’s greater good at a controversial Malaysian GP. But had Irvine joined Mike Hawthorn and Surtees as a third British Ferrari world champion, it would have said more about McLaren and Mika Häkkinen’s failings – and FIA string-pulling in the wake of the Sepang ‘barge-board’ scandal – than Irvine’s personal qualities. Irvine was an effective F1 operator, but nothing more.

Mike Hawthorn smile for camera

Mike Hawthorn

Ferrari’s maiden British F1 driver was Peter Whitehead, the wealthy amateur who was the first to buy an F1 car from Enzo. Only one of his 10 GP starts was as an official Scuderia entrant (1950 Swiss GP). A pre-championship win in Czechoslovakia in 1949 was significant: it was the first major overseas win for a Brit since Richard Seaman in 1938.

As for Hawthorn, he is forever enshrined as Britain’s first world champion. But like Surtees and his mantle of only man to win titles on two and four wheels, the ‘Farnham Flyer’ represents so much more. Especially as one could argue his title only stands at face value. Stirling Moss bested him on victories four to one in 1958, and made all the difference by sticking up for his friend in Portugal following a disqualification that was then overturned. Hamilton’s generation would struggle to comprehend such sportsmanship – although comparisons era to era are pointless. Grand prix racing as it was then is barely recognisable to what F1 is now.

If anything, Hawthorn’s best season was his first for Ferrari, in 1953 – when he scored in every points-paying GP and beat Fangio in a slip-streaming classic at Reims. Now that’s consistency Hamilton would appreciate.

Peter Collins behind the wheel

Peter Collins

Debonair, charming and talented, Peter Collins won three GPs – as many as his mon ami mate Hawthorn. He is also credited with surely F1’s most selfless act.

At the end of 1956, his first season at Ferrari, Collins arrived at Monza in with a shout of becoming world champion. In the closing stages, with Fangio out with a broken steering arm, Collins found himself chasing Moss with the title in his sights. Until a pitstop when he was asked to cede, for his team leader to take over his car.

In the book Fangio by Fangio, the Maestro’s manager Marcello Giambertone recounted making the request to Collins directly as he sat in his car. “Without a second’s hesitation, the Englishman jumped out of his seat, not even stopping to think that if Moss should break down, he might become world champion. It was a gesture of real nobility.” And one a grateful Fangio, who went on to secure his fourth crown, would never forget. Deference from another age. Car sharing can’t happen now, of course. But when one hears of drivers acting as team players ahead of their own selfish desires, Collins is the first point of reference.

Tony Brooks behind the wheel

Tony Brooks

“Mike and Peter were both bloody good,” Moss told Nigel Roebuck for this magazine. “Although I wouldn’t rate either with Tony Brooks.”

The tide had turned against front-engined cars by the time the understated Brooks signed for Ferrari in 1959. Yet still he headed to the final round at Sebring in title contention. How Brooks then chose precaution over glory is yet another sign of different times. Rueful after painful experience, he stopped for checks after a start-line ram by team-mate Wolfgang von Trips. Without the delay that ultimately proved needless he would have beaten Jack Brabham’s Cooper to the crown. But regrets? Not one. Brooks had stuck to his resolution for self-preservation. Principled Hamilton would likely respect that.

Beyond those featured here, Ferrari’s other F1 Brits were: Cliff Allison (promising career cut short by injuries); Mike Parkes (replaced Surtees, but injured in the line of duty); Jonathan Williams (one-off in 1967); Derek Bell (two-start cameo in 1968); and Oliver Bearman – the teenage Carlos Sainz supersub who impressed in Saudi Arabia last year. Another Ferrari one-off? Only thus far.

Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

Lewis Hamilton’s crucial first 100 days at Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton’s first 100 days at Ferrari – from January 1 to April 10 – will be crucial in setting the tenor of his season and maybe even the tone of his time as a Scuderia driver. A dramatic return to form after a troubling 2024 in which he was outperformed by a team-mate for the first time in his career? Or more struggles and questions about whether he has passed his peak? A glorious competitive rebirth or a fading-light payday?

Those 100 days take him from New Year’s Day to the end of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend, with Suzuka the third round of the 24-race Formula 1 calendar. Three GPs will be about all he’ll be given as a period of grace to adapt to his new environment, with Charles Leclerc – a driver with perhaps the most explosive single-lap pace of any on the grid – providing the barometer of Hamilton’s performance.

It’s simple enough to talk through the schedule of his preparations. On either January 20 or 21 he was scheduled to drive an old Ferrari (probably 2022’s F1-75, possibly the later SF-23) around Fiorano before then moving onto Barcelona for a further three days’ running in the old car. These will comprise all of the team’s annual allocation of TPC (Testing Previous Cars) running. The latest version of the regulations limits teams to a maximum of 1000km of such testing, within no more than four days, and on demo tyres without the performance of the rubber used on a race weekend.

Ferrari has devoted all its seasonal allocation to Hamilton to help with his transition. The first time he will drive the new car will be in pre-season testing at Bahrain, held on February 26-28. With teams permitted to run only a single car each, Hamilton will get one-and-a-half days in the new machine (shared with Leclerc) before qualifying for the season’s opening round at Melbourne’s Albert Park. In between those various runs, he will get as much time as he wishes on the team’s simulator.

But these preparations are just the ‘hygiene’ factors of his assimilation; necessary, but not in themselves what will determine his competitiveness. “We know that we have a lot of procedures to assimilate,” says team boss Frédéric Vasseur, “but he is experienced enough to do it. We have the advantage to have the simulator and he will be able to do a race simulation and a qualifying simulation in the simulator, and to be fully prepared with the steering wheel and all the particularities of the car. But I am not worried about this, and it is not the biggest challenge.”

Lewis Hamilton with Ferrari F40 at Maranello

Lewis Hamilton, dressing the part for day one at Ferrari – the realisation of a dream, he said

Ferrari

Quite. The real challenge will be elsewhere – and two-fold. Firstly, he must try to find a way to make the car’s natural traits and his own driving preferences dovetail together. Secondly, and partly related to that, he must find his own space within a team which has been focused around Leclerc for the past six years.

The first of these challenges is a potentially troubling one and if he cannot meet it, none of the rest matters. Because Hamilton generally dislikes this generation of F1 car, which is too heavy, on front tyres too weak, to fully reward his key skill, the thing which has previously differentiated him from other drivers: to be super-late on the brakes and still get good rotation into slow corners. As the ground-effect cars have come to run ever-lower, with less pitch and dive, so this has imposed a more insistent ceiling on what he is able to do in that crucial first part of the corner. He particularly suffered when Mercedes switched to its aero-flexible front wing from Montreal. Up to that time he’d qualified within three-hundredths of team-mate George Russell. After it, he averaged over 0.3sec slower. The feature made the car more competitive but increased the gap between him and Russell.

The possible silver lining is that all Ferraris of recent years have had a natural oversteer balance very responsive to the aggressive style of Leclerc. They have always been especially good into slow corners, way better than Mercedes, with a super-sharp turn-in but still good through-corner balance. If that has been retained, perhaps it will open up a window for Hamilton’s natural style to work more effectively.

But Hamilton will be aware he is not going to Maranello because Ferrari is in any way dissatisfied with Leclerc. He’s not going there as a number one, but only as an equal. Leclerc has been a protégé of Ferrari’s all the way from his early junior days, going right back to his link with Jules Bianchi. He’s incredibly fast, brave and mentally resilient – and 13 years younger than Hamilton. Without a world championship to his name yet, he will be motivated not only for the title but also to compare well with the seven-time champion. He has everything at his disposal to maximise the team, knows the people, knows the buttons to press. Things which will all be new to Hamilton.

So Hamilton must get the notoriously emotional team onside, must inspire them with his performances as quickly as possible – in much the same way Nigel Mansell did when he arrived there in ’89. Unlike Michael Schumacher, Hamilton is not bringing his team of people with him so can’t do it that way. Sebastian Vettel didn’t really achieve this. Fernando Alonso did so only for a time, until he decoupled himself from the team in the aftermath of Abu Dhabi 2010. Hamilton is equipped to succeed in this. But it will only work if he is delivering in the car. If the hands of time can be slowed for long enough.

Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

F1’s ‘planets aligned’ for Hamilton and Ferrari. But will Leclerc remain the star?

Lewis Hamilton heads into the 2025 Formula 1 season with more questions hanging over him than ever before. The seven-time world champion moves to Ferrari amid high expectations – from himself, from the team and from the fans – with the highest salary he has ever received, after the worst season of his career.

Victory in the British Grand Prix 2024 Lewis Hamilton

Victory in the British Grand Prix ended a two-and-a-half-year dry spell, but seventh in the 2024 championship was Hamilton’s worst result ever

Mercedes-Benz AG

Although Hamilton ended a win drought that dated back two and a half years with victories at the British and Belgian grands prix, seventh in the championship is the lowest he has ever finished. And he was comprehensively outpaced by a team-mate for the first time. George Russell outqualified him 19 times to five at an average advantage over the season of 0.171sec.

In 2025, Hamilton moves to a team like no other. For a start, it’s in another country. More than that, it is of another country. It’s the Italian national team, and as such the fans feel connected to it in a way that is different from any other outfit in F1.

Hamilton will have to assimilate to the team and this different attitude and expectation, and while doing so the driver on the other side of the garage is reputed to be perhaps the fastest of all. Many people in F1 think there is a decent chance Hamilton could lose at least the qualifying battle to Charles Leclerc next season.

Ferrari in the pitlane

Ferrari has been far from infallible across recent years, and will be under pressure to deliver a winning car in 2025

Getty Images

His 12th and final season at Mercedes has changed a lot around Hamilton. When his Ferrari move was announced in February, it was seen as a win-win for both him and Ferrari. Hamilton was moving to a team clearly in better shape than the one he was leaving and the perception was that Ferrari was clearly upgrading its driver, swapping someone very good in Carlos Sainz for an all-time great, the most successful in history.

“As Vasseur’s no-nonsense leadership has taken effect, the team has made significant strides”

On the team side of things, nothing has changed. Mercedes had a purple patch in 2024, which coincided almost exactly with Ferrari’s weakest period of the season. But over the 24 races Ferrari clearly had the better car, narrowly missing out on the constructors’ championship and finishing the season 184 points ahead of Mercedes.

Hamilton’s season was less positive. As it neared its denouement, Hamilton even went as far as to say he was “definitely not fast any more” after another qualifying disappointment in Qatar. Such was Hamilton’s 2024 that, as crazy as it might sound to some, there were even questions from some quarters as to whether he really would signify the upgrade in the cockpit Ferrari had every reason to expect when it signed him.

Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur, though, dismisses these questions. Vasseur, who has known Hamilton since he ran him in the junior categories 20 years ago and was instrumental in signing him, says he was “never, never, never worried about the situation” throughout Hamilton’s struggles in 2024. Vasseur points to Hamilton’s strong end-of-season races in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi. In Sin City, Hamilton moved up from 10th on the grid to finish on the tail of team-mate George Russell in a Mercedes 1-2. Mistakes on both qualifying laps had clearly deprived him of a likely victory.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton wheel-to-wheel in Qatar

Leclerc and Hamilton go wheel-to-wheel in Qatar. Both are gifted with natural speed. But will they be compatible in the same team?

Getty Images

In Abu Dhabi, Hamilton again excelled. Although overshadowed by Leclerc’s stunning drive to third from 19th on the grid, Hamilton’s from 16th to fourth, passing Russell around the outside of Turn 9 on the last lap, was almost as good.

Vasseur believes the difficulties inherent in driving for a team for an entire season knowing you are leaving at the end of it were instrumental in his struggles.

“Even when we had a tough journey the team reaction was very good”

“I am really convinced, and I don’t want to blame Lewis or Mercedes, this situation is not easy to manage,” Vasseur says. “And I can understand it if it is not going well. You can suffer in this relationship. He was not very well in his mind and he was clear about this in Brazil but he also did very well on the last couple of events and I am not worried at all.”

Explanations for Hamilton’s qualifying struggles in 2024 are not easy to find. One is clearly that Russell is very fast indeed, and perhaps underrated as a qualifier. This is the man who put a Williams second on the grid at Spa in the wet in 2021, after all, and between him and Hamilton there had been nothing to choose over one lap in the first two seasons together, Russell edging the battle the first year, Hamilton the second.

Ferrari pit crew Baku

Ferrari hasn’t always led the way with strategy and race execution. Baku last year was another race Leclerc failed to win from pole

Getty Images

Without doubt, some of Hamilton’s issues were that he sometimes simply over-drove the car when it came to the final part of qualifying, trying to find the last gains. And he found the particular characteristics of the 2024 Mercedes harder to handle.

“If you look for a common theme,” says Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin, “we have a car that is difficult to turn in the slower corners, and the way the drivers have to turn it is by sliding the rear on the way in and sliding the rear on the power on the way out. That adds [tyre] temperature, and dealing with that problem Lewis has found quite difficult.

“You could argue that Lewis was head and shoulders the best in the previous set of regulations. He certainly found driving the cars second nature. Lewis would set up the car so that, as the [rear of the] car came up [during braking] and you gained pitch, it would help you turn the car, and he relied on those elements. And that was how you generated performance in the previous set of regulations.

“He has struggled more with the way these cars run. These cars you need to run lower, you need to run stiffer, they are banging into the ground more, you haven’t got as much movement in the platform from low to high speed.”

Lewis Hamilton with his LaFerrari

Hamilton with his LaFerrari, one of his collection of Prancing Horses

Hamilton saw it more as a problem of car behaviour, particularly the rear. “It’s very unpredictable,” he said of the Mercedes towards the end of the season. “The floor’s working and then it stops and starts. That’s been the problem.”

Ferrari, too, has had its problems with stability in recent times. The car bequeathed to Vasseur in his first season as team boss in 2023 was evil to begin with, to the extent that the drivers struggled to keep it on the track. But as Vasseur’s straightforward, no-nonsense leadership has taken effect, the team has made significant strides. By the end of 2023, the Ferrari was the second fastest car to Red Bull, and Leclerc would surely have won in Las Vegas had it not been for an inopportunely timed safety car.

Last season started in the same way. There was a blip when a new floor introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix brought aerodynamic bouncing. In previous years the team might have lost its way, started some kind of internal blame game – think of the way development failed in 2022 despite the team starting the year with the fastest car.

But under Vasseur’s calm, clear guidance, Ferrari knuckled down and before long was back to form, Leclerc winning in Monza and Austin and Sainz in Mexico to close in on McLaren, and finish the season just 14 points adrift of the title.

Villeneuve and Scheckter’s in 1979

Could we see a battle akin to Villeneuve and Scheckter’s in 1979?

Getty Images

Vasseur says Hamilton has long had a desire to join Ferrari. “He had the project to drive for Ferrari in his mind for at least 22 or 23 years because we were discussing this in 2004,” he said at the team’s Christmas lunch at the end of 2024. “It was not too difficult [to convince him].

“Sometimes it is also a matter of coincidence or to align all the planets, that he is on the market, that Ferrari has a seat available and so on. The contact was an easy one. We started to discuss one year ago and it was not difficult to convince him.”

Vasseur’s remark about the planets aligning is accurate in more ways than one. This is the right time for Hamilton to join Ferrari – before Vasseur’s arrival, the team was probably not right for him.

Under the late Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne, who ousted Luca di Montezemolo, and installed as team principal first Marco Mattiacci in 2014 and then Maurizio Arrivabene the following year, the team was very different in outlook.

Whether or not it was a reaction to the cosmopolitan Michael Schumacher era Montezemolo created, when the team was led by Jean Todt, and engineering and design by Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne, under Marchionne the team became very Italian-focused. And very much not a place that worked in a collegiate, empathetic way with drivers.

Lewis Hamilton and Vasseur GP2 2006

Hamilton and Vasseur during their GP2 days with ART Grand Prix in 2006

Getty Images

Perhaps this was part of the reason for the unravelling of Sebastian Vettel’s title challenge in 2017 and 2018. When Mattia Binotto replaced Arrivabene for 2019, he attempted to instil a no-blame culture, but failed when it became essentially a no-responsibility one and the strategy errors and reliability failures in 2022 were allowed to continue. This led to Binotto’s replacement and the arrival of Vasseur, who has a very different approach.

Vasseur’s leadership is about enablement and collectivity. “Even when we had a tough journey in July,” he says, “the team reaction was very good. We never blamed a person or department and we worked together to come back and to find solutions between the different groups and it went well.

“It would have been better to not have the issue, but the reaction was good and it is what we are expecting for the future if we want to fight for the championship.

“To fix a goal for the team is to work as a team and not blame someone when you have an issue. It is easy to say but it is not easy to do when you have the pressure of the races. I was not there before and I can’t judge the past but I am very proud of the team this year.”

Fans Ferrari’s tifosi. This appeared in Imola

Few fans are as passionate and erm, creative, as Ferrari’s tifosi. This appeared in Imola

Getty Images

Vasseur has also reverted to a more outward-looking recruitment philosophy, a move symbolised by the promotion of ex-Mercedes designer Loic Serra, a Frenchman, to the role of chassis technical director following the departure of Enrico Cardile to Aston Martin, and the recruitment of Belgian ex-F1 driver Jerome d’Ambrosio – also formerly of Mercedes – as deputy team principal.

Vasseur says: “Part of the performance is the transfer of know-how. We recruited and it has nothing to do with passport, it is more about culture and to look at what the others are doing. We recruited a lot from the other teams, including drivers.

“Part of the input of Lewis is also because he is coming with the experience of Mercedes and this is important for development. We are fighting for hundredths of seconds. On average the difference between us and the guy in front of us on the grid over the season is 0.03secs and this means that every single bit you can get from everywhere, it is always positive.”

“A record eighth title driving for F1’s most iconic team would be huge ”

Like Vasseur, Hamilton does not speak Italian. He is expected to make an effort to change this, but as an Englishman who does not speak any other languages and turned 40 in January, it will likely not be easy. Vasseur jokes that learning Italian is “a touchy subject for me”, but adds: “You know that 99% of the job is in English but it’s good to speak a little bit of Italian for the mechanics and the relationship in the team but I am not sure it is crucial for the performance.”

Schumacher, too, spoke hardly any Italian, which is as much knowledge as you need to know that the tifosi will love Hamilton as long as he does the business on the track. Inevitably, expectations in Italy are high about his arrival.

Vasseur says he expects another close fight between the top four teams in 2025, and if Ferrari can build on its strong finish to last year, Hamilton could be in the title fight in his first season there.

Lewis Hamilton stands infront of Ferrari Pit Team

The impact of losing the chance to win a record eighth title as a consequence of race director Michael Masi overriding two rules regarding safety car restarts at Abu Dhabi in 2021 has hung over Hamilton and Mercedes ever since. The failure of the team to provide him a car in which he could right what he perceived as that wrong has been large in Hamilton’s mind.

The chances of doing so were certainly a factor in the decision to join Ferrari, along with his desire for a longer contract than Mercedes was prepared to offer him, fulfilling a long-held dream, and the small matter of a close-to 50% pay rise to a reputed €65m (£54m) salary.

The impact should the only driver who truly transcends the sport win a record eighth title driving for its most iconic team would be huge.

But to do so, not only does Ferrari have to deliver as a team, but Hamilton has to beat Leclerc. Hamilton might be the all-time pole position record holder, but Leclerc’s prowess over one lap is well-established across recent seasons.

Ferrari F1 front wing nose 2024

Could the grass be greener on the red side? Mercedes’ failure to deliver a winning car after the 2021 debacle weighed heavily on Hamilton’s mind

DPPI

Some make reference to the relatively poor conversion rate of poles to wins across his career so far. Leclerc has 26 poles but just eight victories. However, a glance through his record is all it takes to see that ratio is a reflection of a combination of factors very few of which are down to Leclerc. A significant one of which, along with previous strategy, operational and reliability failures on Ferrari’s part, is the fact that his raw speed has essentially often been qualifying cars faster than their competitive level in race trim can sustain.

Leclerc’s strong 2024 season, his most consistent yet, with some superb drives including his three wins in Monaco, Monza and Austin, as well as that stunning performance in Abu Dhabi, further underlines the task facing Hamilton.

Throughout 2024, it was clear how much Hamilton was affected by Russell’s better qualifying performances. Hamilton fluctuated from seeing a conspiracy to complete befuddlement.

Given Leclerc’s talent, it’s certainly a possibility that even allowing for the fact that Hamilton has the excitement of a new environment to motivate him – and maybe, too, a car he gets on with better – it is at least a possibility that he will be facing the same situation again. Perhaps even more so.

Hamilton at least has to allow for it, and some insiders feel he will have to play to his strengths and use what he will probably consider his greater guile, experience and race-craft to see him through. It’s a manner perhaps akin to when Jody Scheckter managed to beat Gilles Villeneuve to the title when they were team-mates at Ferrari back in 1979, or how Niki Lauda beat Alain Prost at McLaren in 1984. Certainly, Leclerc is the modern F1 driver who most resembles Villeneuve, not just with his exciting, attacking driving style, but also his straightforward and direct character.

“Leclerc is the modern F1 driver who most resembles Villeneuve”

As well as being on paper the strongest driver line-up in F1, Hamilton and Leclerc complement each other in more ways than one. With Leclerc, Hamilton will face none of the manipulation and calculation that caused his relationship with Nico Rosberg to deteriorate, and not only do they both want similar things from a car, but they drive similarly, too.

Hamilton and Leclerc are both seat-of-their-pants, natural drivers – hence their joint predilection for ‘where did that come from?’ pole laps – who thrive on cars with a strong front end and a nicely predictable rear they can manipulate with their skills. If Ferrari can give them that, they will make a formidable pairing.

It might not be an easy combination to manage, but Vasseur sees only positives in what he expects to be the intense competition between the two.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc smiles

In the red corner: Ferrari now boasts perhaps the most exciting driver line-up, with 113 victories between them, 105 of those Hamilton’s

Getty Images

“It is always a challenge,” he says. “I had my challenges between Charles and Carlos but I think it was part of our performance. Between Charles and Carlos we had some moments, Monza ’23 or Vegas ’24. But at the end of the day it was beneficial for the performance of the team.

“Charles, Lewis… I am not particularly worried about this. They have a huge mutual respect, they know each other, they have been talking about this for months now, and I think it is much better to fight for (positions) one, two or three, than to fight for 19-20th.

“It is a good issue for a team to have this kind of discussion and approach and I am really convinced again that the performance of the team is coming from the emulation between the two.”

Hamilton, Leclerc and a Ferrari that promises to be competitive. The one certainty going into 2025 is that it will be box-office gold, however it turns out.

Andrew Benson is the BBC’s Formula 1 correspondent 

Issue Contents Archive - Motor Sport Magazine
0

Letters: David Brodie talks brakes with Barry Sheene

It was with much sadness to hear of the passing of David Brodie – ‘The Brode’ – a proper racer, if ever there was one.

I was a guest of Dave’s at Donington when he was racing the Starion. I had read a letter in Autosport from Dave saying that he had visited the trophy room at Duns, as he was a big Jim Clark fan, and said how good it was, urging people to visit.

Jim Clark is also my hero and I wrote a letter to Dave, and received one back with the invite to spend the day with the team.

It was wonderful. I remember sitting on the pitwall with Dave, when Barry Sheene wandered over and sat with us. He was driving a Toyota Supra, giving bikes a miss after his awful injuries. Dave asked how it was going, and he said he just couldn’t stop the damned thing. Words of advice about changing to different brake pads from Dave, to which Barry replied, “Nothing will work as I have a bunch of Cortina mechanics working on the car!”

The attached photo, above, is not the best quality, but it’s a lovely picture of times we will sadly never see again. RIP David Brodie, no one matches your style.

 Dave Griffiths, via email.

Mat Oxley’s article in the January 2025 issue [Matters of Moment: Motorbikes] bemoaning BMW’s lack of top level motorcycle racing success from 1952 until virtually 1980 omits to mention that BMW were world sidecar champions between 1954 and 1974, winning a total of 19 drivers’ and 20 manufacturers’ world championships.

BMW Fritz Scheidegger and Hans Burkhardt 1959

BMW duo Fritz Scheidegger and Hans Burkhardt, leading, in a round of the 1959 sidecar series

Getty Images

Their RS54 flat twin engines were uniquely suited to sidecar installation. BMW outfits were ridden throughout this period mainly by German and Swiss crews as BMW were loath to allow their engines to be used by ‘foreign’ riders.

Bill Pack, via email

Regarding your profile of the 2002 Ferrari F2002 (Grand prix history up for grabs, February). In the statistics at the top of page 84, two of the figures quoted are:

Races 19
Podiums 28
That cannot be correct, surely?

DR Moad, via email 

The podiums data refer to both drivers’ cars that contested that year’s Formula 1 world championship – Ed

Thank you for the mention of Spain’s Montjuich Park in the February issue of Motor Sport [Matters of Moment: Great Lost Circuits].

It reminded me of my schoolboy days when my great hero Denis Jenkinson wrote of a sidecar race there in 1949, keeping the third wheel of world champion Eric Oliver’s 596cc Norton outfit somewhere near the cobbles and Tarmac as they progressed to eventual victory.

I got to know the man as an occasional acquaintance when I was freelancing for Motorcycle News later in life and he has remained a favourite of mine through the long years that I have subscribed to only one motoring magazine.

Jim Reynolds, Shropshire 

We are in the process of building a Pocher model 917. I suspect the estimate of a 30-hour build is more than a little optimistic, as mentioned in Small Wonders in the February issue.

The Pocher model is a replica of the car driven by Siffert and Bell that came second in the Monza 1000Kms in 1971. The original car that won, driven by Rodriguez and Oliver, is now part of the Finburgh family collection. So if we get a bit stuck building the model we just have a look at the original.

Porsche 917 Monza

After building a Pocher Porsche 917 visit the National Motor Museum to see the real thing

UK model builders don’t have to go all the way to Le Mans to see an original 917. The Monza winner is in the National Motor Museum in Hampshire.

When I and my brother started collecting classics in the 1960s/early 1970s it seems you could buy some of the originals for not much more than the models today.

Mark Finburgh, London

As I picked up my copy of the February 2025 issue, I wondered what Gordon Cruickshank would be writing about and what books he might be reviewing, since his writing was, to me, a reading priority and his reviews being exceptionally both informative and perceptive.

I was privileged to write (as DDH) for Motor Sport in the late 1980s in what Andrew Frankel has described as its heyday, under a truly great editor, Bill Boddy, his deputy William Kimberley, with Gordon making up the third member of this stellar triumvirate with whom I was in contact (DSJ was not to be seen in the office). I knew Gordon both before and after the tragic accident in which he was a passenger in the Mercedes, which left him tetraplegic, but what struck me most then and since is that despite being physically much different, his mentality and personality remained very much the same.

After returning to my profession as a historian, I occasionally wrote to Gordon about things of mutual interest, like Brian Hart’s Formula 1 engines or the grand prix driver Peter Revson, who was a schoolboy friend. Invariably his replies were clear, concise and knowledgeable. He was a remarkable man who did much for the magazine to which he devoted his working life, not just making it survive the difficult 1990s but thrive right up to the present day. He will be missed.

Dr David D Hebb, via email

I have just read Andrew Frankel’s beautiful paean to Gordon Cruickshank [Parting Shot, February] and it brought a tear to my eye. I never met Gordon, but we exchanged a few emails over the years, not just on the finer points of grammar, but also on the Rouen, Reims and Clermont-Ferrand road circuits (in the summer of 2008 I did a road trip encompassing all three circuits, or what is left of them).

Please thank Mr Frankel for such a loving appreciation of a clearly wonderful and much-loved friend and colleague.

Simon Arbuthnot, London 

Great to see Jenks’s old Porsche 356 featured online in December (Denis Jenkinson’s 356 roars again at Goodwood) and better still to see it out on track where it belongs rather than weeping quietly to itself in a museum.

I know the car well as I stored it for many years for ‘S’, the previous owner. The photos, show it back in those days.

Porsche 356 Jenkins

Could we see Jenks’s Porsche 356 gracing the asphalt of Goodwood in the near future? Our reader hopes so

My good friend S the welder found the car derelict in the early 1980s – a time when such a car was seen as a fixer-upper. He duly fixed it up, painted it in Mini Metro metallic blue, talked to Jenks about it, drove it once and realised it was a taste he had not acquired. And so it was parked up again.

Years later I persuaded S to sell the car to a good home and Tom Pead fitted the bill. S cared more about that than about the money. I have other cars and never fancied it. A Porsche pal reckoned it would cost £70,000 or so to restore again.

Porsche 356 interior Jenkins

The old restoration was not up to current standards, but I think S deserves a lot of credit – both for rescuing the car and selling it on rather than hoarding.

It would be a nice touch to extend an invitation to see his car race at Goodwood at some point soon.

Does the car still have the sticker for the 1955 Mille Miglia in the window?

Mark Brett, Cobham, Surrey  

James Elson, who wrote the website piece, says, “Yes it does” – Ed

I note in Doug Nye’s always excellent article in the January 2025 edition [Archives] the photo caption of Alberto Ascari winning the 1925 Belgian Grand Prix. A great driver and so precocious winning a GP at the tender age of six! Could it be his dad?

Russ Taylor, via email

It could. And it was. Apologies and thanks to the other readers who pointed out the caption error – Ed

Your article on quick Kiwis in the January edition [The Kiwi conveyor belt of talent] took me back to 1960, when I was spectating at Snetterton. The main race started with local hero Mike McKee leading in Jim Russell’s Cooper-Climax followed by the similar cars of George Lawton and Denny Hulme, both making their European debut.

McKee had a comfortable lead and then it started to rain. With the Kiwis gaining rapidly McKee had an off at the esses and was unable to continue. Lawton went on to win with Hulme second. On that day I got the impression that Lawton was the quicker of the Antipodeans. He was more flamboyant. Sadly he was killed in September. McKee retired from racing in 1961, but Hulme went on to become world champion.

John Hindle, Penshurst, Kent

18-20 Rosemont Road, London, NW3 6NE email: [email protected]