25 April in Ferrari history: Imola controversy and Felipe Massa’s birthday
April 25 in Ferrari Formula 1 history
Explore Ferrari Grand Prix results, qualifying and Sprint sessions, driver birthdays, remembrance dates and selected milestones connected with this day.
Ferrari Grands Prix held on April 25
Ferrari driver birthdays on April 25
Felipe Massa
Felipe Massa was born in 1981. Ferrari record: 139 Ferrari F1 starts · 11 wins · 36 podiums.
Ferrari drivers remembered on April 25
Michele Alboreto
Michele Alboreto died on this date in 2001.
Race, qualifying, Sprint and Ferrari driver biographical dates are generated from the locally processed F1DB dataset. Session anniversaries are shown only when an explicit session date is available in the source. Selected non-race Ferrari milestones are curated separately from Ferrari sources. Historical shared-car result rows are preserved without inventing additional Grand Prix starts.
25 April brings together one of Ferrari’s most contentious race finishes and the birthday of Felipe Massa. The date connects the disputed conclusion of the 1982 San Marino Grand Prix with a driver who later became a central figure in the Scuderia’s championship campaigns.
Didier Pironi and Gilles Villeneuve at Imola in 1982
On 25 April 1982, Didier Pironi won at Imola ahead of Ferrari teammate Gilles Villeneuve. Just 0.370 seconds separated them at the finish, with Michele Alboreto taking third for Tyrrell.
The one-two result concealed a serious disagreement. Villeneuve believed Ferrari’s instruction to slow down meant the leading order should be preserved. Pironi continued to contest the lead and made the decisive pass on the final lap.
Villeneuve’s anger turned an apparently successful afternoon into a lasting controversy. The result remains a prominent example of how differing interpretations of team instructions can damage the relationship between teammates.
Felipe Massa was born on 25 April 1981
Felipe Massa’s birthday provides another Ferrari connection. The Brazilian went on to win Grands Prix for the team and challenge for the 2008 drivers’ championship, becoming one of Ferrari’s most recognisable drivers of his era.
The date also brought a later Imola victory: Michael Schumacher won the 2004 San Marino Grand Prix on 25 April.
Read more through Felipe Massa’s Formula 1 records and the Ferrari history calendar.
