Ferrari and Monza celebrated their 90th anniversaries in style on Wednesday with Formula One providing the icing on the cake with a new contract securing the Italian Grand Prix until at least 2024. Wednesday was as much a celebration of all things Ferrari as enduring testament to Monza’s historic role as the ‘Pista Magica’, temple of Italian motorsport.
Fans unfurled a huge Ferrari flag in front of the majestic Gothic cathedral as drivers appeared on stage next to racing cars spanning the generations.
Current racers Charles Leclerc, fresh from winning last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, and Sebastian Vettel revved up the crowd ahead of Sunday’s grand prix in the former royal park outside Milan. F1 great Mario Andretti, world champion with Lotus in 1978, enjoyed the applause of the crowd and took selfies against a sea of red flags and shirts while French great Alain Prost surveyed the scene.
Mechanics, some of them hired by the team’s late founder Enzo Ferrari himself, recalled glory days of old.
However, Fernando Alonso was a notable absentee from the special event which took place in Piazza Duomo, Milan. His fans were angry that the official poster of the event did not feature the former Scuderia Ferrari and that Fernando was not present on stage. It was later revealed that the Spanish racing driver was invited by the Maranello team, but unfortunately could not attend as he was involved in a testing session for the Dakar rally in Poland. Fernando Alonso also featured on the official poster, with an image from the 2013 Chinese Grand Prix, which the Spanish driver won for Ferrari.
