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History about the car and the drivers:
Ferrari is and will always be, the most famous team in Formula One and until the 1990's when McLaren caught up with the prancing horse, it was the most successful in terms of victories. Ferrari have now reclaimed that status after a very lucrative 1999 season that saw the Constructors cup back in their possession.
Ferrari were racing in the prewar days of Formula One, and after the World Championship began in 1950, Enzo Ferrari emerged as a strong force.
The first year in of the Championship proved fruitless, but Alberto Ascari and Jose Froilan fought Alfa Romeo in 1951 with Ascari only losing marginally to Juan Manuel Fangio in the final race of the season. Ferrari was ready when the sports governing body ran the races to 2 litre regulations. Ascari dominated in 52 and 53, but then fell behind Maserati and Lancia when 2.5 litre regulations were introduced. At the end of 1955, they took over the Lancias with Fangio using the D50 to score three wins and secure his fourth title. Fangio switched to Maserati in 1957, and unfortunately, Ferrari failed to win a race without the Argentinean ace.
In 1958, the new car, the Tipo146, christened 'Dino' after Enzo's son, put Ferrari back on the Formula One map. Many fans believe that Stirling Moss was the rightful champion that year, but the title fell to Mike Hawthorn and Ferrari in the finale of the season.
The next two years saw the Cooper team dominate but Ferrari returned with vengeance in 1961 with the new 1.5 litre Tipo 156 'shark nose'. Tragedy struck as their driver, the great Wolfgang von Trips was killed in the Italian Grand Prix. The teams other driver, Phil Hill, went on to clinch victory for the team.
John Surtees was the next driver to win the cup for the Italian marquee, in 1964, making him famous for being the only man to win the championship on both two wheels and four.
1966 saw the introduction of the three litre and Ferrari were once again struggling, this time trying to match Cosworths superb DFV which was introduced in 1967. For the following 8 years, Ferrari were mid field at best, apart from limited success by Jacky Ickx and a win by his team mate Clay Regazzoni at the Italian Grand Prix in 1970.
A quick, but inexperienced Niki Lauda joined the team in 1974 and although he lost out to Emerson Fittalpadi and McLaren that year, he made amends by winning the title for the team in 1975 and he would have won again if not for his near fatal accident at the Nurburgring, losing to his team mate, James Hunt by a solitary point. He won for Ferrari again in 77.
Jody Scheckter won the title for them in 1979 and in doing so is still the last man to win the drivers title for the team. He beat his teammate, Gilles Villeneuve that year, despite only winning two races to the Canadians three.
In the latter part of that season their 312T4's were outshone by the Williams of Alan Jones and the following season, their T5 was a disaster. The 1.5 litre turbo charged engines were beginning to appear at this stage, and Ferrari produced the agricultural 126C. Villeneuve did have some remarkable wins with it though, in both Monaco and Jarama.
The team employed a British designer by the name of Harvey Postlewaite and their 1982 design, the 126C2 was the class of the field. Once again tragedy struck the Italian outfit as Giles Villeneuve was killed in practice at Zolder and Didier Pironi was injured at Hockenheim while leading the championship. Although Ferrari won the Constructors cup that year and the next, the drivers title was awarded to another team.
There have been mixed fortunes at Ferrari since then, with Michele Alboreto being competitive in 1985, but 1988 saw the death of the beloved Enzo at the ripe age of 90, and fortunately, he wasn't present to witness the undignified barging between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna in 1990 as Prost won 5 races in the season, yet lost to the Brazilian in controversial circumstances in Japan.
When Michael Schumacher joined the team in 1996, the Tifosi didn't initially greet him with delight. However, many believe that he has galvanized the team and with the support of Jean Todt, team manager, turned the failing team around and put them back on the pace by the end of the year. This earned him the respect of the Tifosi, and he has become an icon to the entire team.
Five wins in 1997 saw Schumacher in contention for the title, but he lost it when he ran into Jacques Villeneuve in the year's finale.
1998 saw the Tifosi's hopes for a driver's title in 19 years revamped, but once again, at the finale of the season, Schumacher saw his chance of victory fall away as he stalled the F300 on the grid. Twenty years have now passed since a Ferrari driver has become champion and this year was going to be the one that would see Michael do it. The McLaren was still dominant as it had been in 1998, but the Ferrari engineers had produced a car to challenge it. The F399. Michael Schumacher was fighting hard until an accident at the British Grand Prix saw the German sidelined for all bar the final two races of the season. Teammate Eddie Irvine carried the team flag and finally, the team had a driver in serious contention to return the team to its former glory.
Schumachers absence had more effect on the team than just not having the German winning races, the F399 was suffering without his technical input. The team could only watch as poor pitstops and a car that wasn't up to the challenge any more, drove around the track well behind their main rival, McLaren. Schumacher returned with force for the last two races of the season, and although Ferrari's hopes of a driver title were not realized, they did win the 1999 Constructors Cup. Maybe next year will see that dream fulfilled.
History of Michael Schumacher in F1:
Michael Schumacher started his career in the Formula Konig series in 1987, which he dominated to such an extent, that he had the title wrapped up early, and progressed into Formula Ford, coming second to Mika Salo in the European Championship, and fourth in the German series.
In 1989, he went to the German Formula 3 series, where he finished third, equal with his teammate, Heinz-Harald Frentzen, and just one point behind second place. 1990 saw him dominate this series, winning five times and later topping that by also winning the international races at Macau and Fiji.
Sports cars are nothing new to him either, becoming a member of the Mercedes junior team, even winning the round in Mexico City. He drove sports cars again in 91, winning at Autopolis. That year also saw his Formula 3000 debut where he finished second at Sugo, in the Japanese Series.
More importantly, 1991 saw him explode into Formula One, his first race driven for Jordan in the Belgian Grand Prix. He qualified seventh, but failed to complete the race, due to clutch problems. That was his only race for Jordan, as he switched to Benetton.
1992 saw him visit the podium 8 times, including once on the top step for his first Grand Prix victory in Belgium, completing the season third overall with 53 points.
He continued with the Benetton team and 1993 saw him win a superb race in Portugal, rounding off the season, fourth overall.
In 1994, Michael stunned the Grand Prix world, when he was quicker in the Benetton, than Senna was in the Williams. After Sennas death, Michael seemed unbeatable, even though Benetton were swamped with allegations of cheating. They fought through all the disqualifications and bans, and in the end, he beat Damon Hill to the crown by one point, after a controversial accident at the last race in Australia.
Nine wins later, he took the crown for a second time, before moving to the Ferrari team in 1996 where he still remains.
That year, he pushed the unreliable Ferrari to its limits, bringing home three wins that the car didn't deserve. It was more competitive in 97, where he won in Monaco, France, Canada, Belgium and Japan, and he went into the final race in Jerez, with a one-point advantage over Williams's driver, Jacques Villeneuve. Once again, the season finished in controversy, after an accident between the two. Villeneuve raced onto to take the crown, while Michael had his 2nd place in the championship stripped from him by the FIA.
1998 saw a very reliable Ferrari, and a very determined Michael Schumacher. Although McLaren dominated from the start, Michael wouldn't give up, pushing the Ferrari as far as it would go. Winning 6 races for the season, and once again it came down to the final race, but a stall from pole position, and a blown tyre, saw his chances of taking the title for a third time vanish.
The 1999 season didn't start that well for Michael, with problems in the opening race, but from then on, he quickly took to the lead in the championship and just as it started to appear that he may take the title this year, tragedy struck at the British Grand Prix where a first lap accident saw him sidelined for months with a broken leg. He watched helplessly as the season went on without him, but returned for the final two races and although his teammate, Eddie Irvine, narrowly lost out on the drivers title, between them both they gave Ferrari their first Constructors victory since 1983.
The 2000 season will see him partnered with Rubens Barrichello as Irvine moves across to Jaguar. Instead of working side by side with Irvine, Schumacher will now be fighting against him.
Histroy about Rubens:
Rubens had one of the fastest climbs from karting to formula one than any other active driver. By the age of 17, he had 5 national karting titles, and promptly went on to win the GM Euroseries in the same year. Formula Three came next for him, where he won the title in 1991 for West Surrey Racing. He had less success the next year, when he tried Formula 3000, but he came third overall, and was ready for Formula One by his twenty first birthday.
He made his Formula One debut in 1993, driving for Eddie Jordan, at the South African Grand Prix, where he qualified 14th, but the gearbox failed him on lap 31. He nearly finished in second place, behind his hero and countryman, Ayrton Senna, in only his third race, but fuel problems late in the race prevented this. In 1994, he claimed his first pole position, in the wet at Spa-Francorchamps, but sadly he spun off on lap 19.
That year did see him finish third at the Pacific Grand prix, as well as five other fourth positions. Mechanical failures plagued him in 1995, but the Canadian Grand Prix saw his first second place finish. He stayed with Jordan until the 97 season when he signed with Stewart, where he still remains, bringing home the teams only points when he came second in Monaco.
1998 showed another year without success, with fifth place finishes in Spain and Canada, 9 retirements, and an injury in the aborted start at the Belgian Grand Prix preventing him from restarting, saw him end the season in 12th position with 4 points.
In 1999 he partnered Johnny Herbert and after a very promising start to the season, the car failed on many occasions, but when it didn't. Rubens put in some strong performances, even taking pole position in a wet qualifying that took all the drivers by surprise. By mid season it was one of Formula Ones worst kept secrets that he was signing with Ferrari for the 2000 season in a basic swap with Eddie Irvine. Here the Brazilian hopes to fulfill his and his country's dreams of success.
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