November 16, 1929: 96 years ago, Scuderia Ferrari was born
On an autumn day in the late 1920s, the company “Società Anonima Scuderia Ferrari” was founded in Modena, marking the beginning of a unique and legendary story that continues to this day.
In the rich history of Formula 1 alone, Scuderia Ferrari proudly counts 16 constructors’ world championships from 1950 to today, alongside 15 drivers’ world titles earned across more than 1,000 Grands Prix. These numbers not only make the Prancing Horse the team with the highest number of appearances in the history of the sport, but they also highlight the prestige of a historic and successful racing institution. Its legacy has been shaped by the achievements of extraordinary champions who have worn the red racing suit over these 96 long years, not only in F1 but across multiple categories.
None of this would have been possible if, on a cold autumn day in the late 1920s, Enzo Ferrari had not managed to transform his greatest passion into a racing team that today represents the dream of countless drivers around the world. Regardless of moments of triumph or the darker periods, Ferrari has always captivated fans like few others, embodying the highest expression of Italian engineering and racing technology—the pure essence of ‘Made in Italy’ competition.
To understand where and when everything began, we must go back to November 16, 1929—exactly 96 years ago. On this date, at the Modena courthouse, the founding of Società Anonima Scuderia Ferrari was officially approved under very particular circumstances. For the first time ever, the name “Ferrari” appeared in the Italian automotive landscape. The Scuderia represented the first concrete step toward the creation of the brand that would later be known worldwide for its road cars, a journey that took shape only after the end of the Second World War, on March 12, 1947.
To better understand the context, it is essential to look at the life of Enzo Ferrari, who at the time was a young Modenese driver born in 1898. In the early 1920s, he became a gentleman driver for Alfa Romeo, securing his first personal victory in 1923 at the Circuito del Savio Grand Prix. It was during this event that the first stone was unknowingly placed for the future creation of Scuderia Ferrari. During the podium ceremony, the mother of Italian aviation ace Francesco Baracca gifted Ferrari the “cavallino rampante,” the prancing horse symbol her son carried on the fuselage of his plane, encouraging the young driver to use it on his future cars as a good-luck charm.
Alongside his racing activity, Ferrari also worked as a journalist, contributing to the newly founded Corriere dello Sport. However, he later suffered a serious nervous breakdown, which forced him into a long period of recovery. Having regained his health in mid-1929, Ferrari received a call from Alfa Romeo inviting him to Milan to create a racing team supported by the Milanese manufacturer and Pirelli. During a meeting with representatives of the two Lombardy companies, Ferrari proposed establishing a team that, responding to the requests of wealthy gentleman drivers eager to compete, would manage the organizational costs of racing.
With early interest coming from drivers such as the Caniato brothers and Mario Tadini—who offered to support the management costs—the final agreement for the creation of the new team was reached during a gala evening at the Casa del Fascio in Bologna, attended by notable sporting and political figures. Thanks to the drafting of a formal document by lawyer Enrico Levi, notary Alberto Dalla Fontana later validated the request, which was officially approved by the Modena court on November 16, 1929. This was the moment the Società Anonima Scuderia Ferrari was born, with Alfa Romeo becoming the supplier for the new entity based in via Trento e Trieste in Modena.
In the months that followed, and thanks in part to Ferrari’s major strategic move of hiring engineer Vittorio Jano from FIAT, the team began achieving its first victories, encouraging Alfa Romeo to return directly to racing. When this happened at the end of 1937, the Milanese brand promoted Enzo Ferrari to Sporting Director of Alfa Corse, which led to the automatic dissolution of Scuderia Ferrari. However, the increasing tensions between Alfa Romeo and Ferrari convinced the latter to launch a new independent venture. In 1939, he founded Auto Avio Costruzioni in Modena. Due to contractual restrictions with Alfa Romeo, he was initially unable to build racing cars, but this company effectively became the foundation for the second chapter of Scuderia Ferrari’s history, which officially—and permanently—came to life in 1947 in Maranello.
Registered for the very first Formula 1 World Championship in 1950, Ferrari achieved its first Grand Prix victory a year later thanks to Argentine driver José Froilán González. He triumphed at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone, on a day when Enzo Ferrari uttered one of his most famous phrases. After realizing he had beaten Alfa Romeo for the first time, he said: “Today I have killed my mother.” It was from that moment onward that the legend of Ferrari began to grow, strengthened further by its participation in the Sport-Prototype and GT championships.
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