Lewis Hamilton’s victory at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona will be remembered not only as his first success behind the wheel of a Ferrari, but also as a milestone in the history of the Prancing Horse. On the same circuit where Michael Schumacher claimed his first Ferrari victory 30 years earlier, the seven-time world champion helped Ferrari-powered cars reach an impressive landmark: 250 Formula 1 victories.
A historic milestone in Barcelona
The Barcelona weekend added another memorable chapter to Ferrari’s long and celebrated Formula 1 story. Today, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton share the record of seven world championships, and Hamilton’s breakthrough victory in Spain delivered another significant achievement for Maranello.
With that result, Ferrari engines reached a total of 250 Grand Prix victories in Formula 1. Given Ferrari’s unique history and its status as the sport’s longest-serving team, many fans would naturally assume that every one of those wins was secured by a Ferrari works car.
Not all Ferrari engine victories belonged to Ferrari
That assumption, however, would be incorrect.
Unlike manufacturers like Mercedes, Ford Cosworth, Honda, and Renault, which have supplied engines to numerous teams over the decades, Ferrari is most commonly associated with its own works operation. Nevertheless, among those 250 victories achieved by Ferrari-powered machinery, one came from a team outside Maranello.
In fact, only a single Formula 1 race has ever been won by a non-Ferrari team using a Ferrari engine.
The unforgettable Monza surprise of 2008
That remarkable achievement took place less than two decades ago, during one of the most memorable weekends in modern Formula 1 history.
At the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, in front of the passionate Monza crowd, the Faenza-based Toro Rosso team stunned the paddock by dominating the weekend with a young driver who would later go on to race for Ferrari itself: Sebastian Vettel.
The German driver, then competing for Toro Rosso — the team now known as Racing Bulls — achieved what seemed impossible. In wet qualifying conditions, he secured the first pole position in the team’s history, a feat that remains one of the greatest upsets Formula 1 has ever seen.
Rain once again played a role on race day, but Vettel delivered a flawless performance. Despite the difficult conditions, he controlled the race from the front and converted his sensational pole position into an equally remarkable victory. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton fought his way through the field after starting further back, eventually recovering to seventh place. Yet the spotlight belonged entirely to Vettel.
A record-breaking day for Sebastian Vettel
By winning at Monza, Sebastian Vettel became the youngest Grand Prix winner in Formula 1 history at the time. The record stood for almost eight years before being broken by Max Verstappen at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix — fittingly, on the very same Barcelona circuit that has now delivered another landmark moment in Ferrari’s history.
That extraordinary Monza triumph remains unique. Out of the 250 Formula 1 victories powered by Ferrari engines, Sebastian Vettel’s 2008 Italian Grand Prix win for Toro Rosso is still the only one achieved by a team other than Ferrari itself.
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