The F-philes

Anyone will tell you that ferrari is special some are more qualified than others to comment

Stirling Moss

A difficult bastard, for whom I have great respect. I don’t think any of his cars ever caused a driver’s death, but they gave pleasure to many of us who raced them. He has contributed as much to our sport as any man; may the name live and be admired forever.

Ken Tyrrell

Ferrari is Red; Ferrari is the Italian motor industry; Ferrari is Italy.

Tom Wheatcroft

I can only look at a Ferrari through Grands Prix. I am not a lover of a Ferrari as a motor car, but a Grand Prix is just not a Grand Prix unless a Ferrari is in it. It is like the mother of all cars.

Nigel Mansell, OBE

I think if you are a motorsport follower, to drive for the Ferrari racing team is a boyhood dream of any racing driver. For me it was a very special period of time in my career when I raced for them not least because I was the last driver to be signed by the late, great legend Enzo Ferrari. To then go on and win my first ever race for Ferrari in Rio, Brazil, in 1989 was a very special feat. Of all the teams I have driven for there is no question that there is a special mystique about Ferrari, and the Italians certainly go motor racing in a different way. This is their great strength at times.

John Surtees

Ferrari means to me a period of success but also frustration at the loss of opportunities for building on it due to the political intrigue that Mr Ferrari loved to create and preside over. It also meant to me, however, that despite the above I loved being part of the team and having a good but frank relationship with Enzo Ferrari and living and working in the rather special environment that was Modena and Maranello.

Chris Rea

Wolfgang von Trips’ speech to Jo Maldine in the film “La Passione”:

When it hurts with cold,Jo

When the heart and soul aches with despair

When you have nothing, no past, no future

You will always have the red can

And those who try to make them win

Those who try to make them beautiful

They do it for their own reasons

But tell yourself something which is also true

They do it for you

When they win, there is no despair

There is a smile

And when they lose, it gives a shared meaning to your own frustration

When they make them great to look at

They are great to see. I know two words of a foreign tongue:

La Passione’

And this, myJo… is all yours

Enjoy it, love it

Let it keep you from the hurting wind

Let it blind you from what you can’t bear to see

Let it be in a world otherwise empty

A reason…

A reason… to… be.

Doug Nye

Ferrari is without doubt the most significant marque in the entire history of motor racing. Its own story’s complexity and many provide an abiding fascination, a source of perpetual surprise, perplexity and often great amusement. Its mix of personality, politics, brilliant engines and often lousy chassis and racecraft remain enduringly riveting.