Ferrari was racing in the pre-war days of Formula One, and after the World Championship as we know it began in 1950, Enzo Ferrari's team emerged as a major force. The first year in of the Championship proved fruitless, but Alberto Ascari and Jose Froilan Gonzalez fought Alfa Romeo in 1951 with Ascari only losing marginally to Juan Manuel Fangio in the final race of the season. Ferrari was ready when the sport's governing body ran the races to two litre regulations. Ascari dominated in 1952 and 1953, but then fell behind Maserati and Lancia when 2.5 litre regulations were introduced. At the end of 1955, they took over the Lancia's with Fangio using the D50 to score three wins and secure his fourth title. Fangio switched to Maserati in 1957, and unfortunately, Ferrari failed to win a race without the Argentinean ace.

In 1958, the new car, the Tipo146, christened 'Dino' after Enzo's son, put Ferrari back on the F1 map. Many fans believe that Stirling Moss was the rightful champion that year, but the title fell to Mike Hawthorn and Ferrari in the finale of the season. The next two years saw the Cooper team dominate but Ferrari returned with vengeance in 1961 with the new 1.5 litre Tipo 156 'shark nose'. Tragedy struck as their driver, the great Wolfgang von Trips was killed in the Italian Grand Prix. The teams other driver, Phil Hill, went on to clinch victory for the team.

John Surtees was the next driver to win the cup for the Italian marquee, in 1964, making him famous for being the only man to win the championship on both two wheels and four. 1966 saw the introduction of the three litre and Ferrari were once again struggling, this time trying to match Cosworth's superb DFV which was introduced in 1967. For the following 8 years, Ferrari were mid field at best, apart from limited success by Jacky Ickx and a win by his team mate Clay Regazzoni at the Italian Grand Prix in 1970.

A quick, but inexperienced Niki Lauda joined the team in 1974 and although he lost out to Emerson Fittipaldi and McLaren that year, he made amends by winning the title for the team in 1975 and he would have won again if not for his near fatal accident at the Nurburgring, losing to his team mate, James Hunt by a solitary point. He won for Ferrari again in 1977. Jody Scheckter won the title for them in 1979 beating team-mate Gilles Villeneuve that year, despite only winning two races to the Canadian's three.

In the latter part of that season their 312T4's were outshone by the Williams of Alan Jones and the following season, their T5 was a disaster. The 1.5 litre turbo charged engines were beginning to appear at this stage, and Ferrari produced the agricultural 126C. Villeneuve did have some remarkable wins with it though, in both Monaco and Jarama. The team employed a British designer by the name of Harvey Postlethwaite and their 1982 design, the 126C2 was the class of the field. Once again tragedy struck the Italian outfit as Giles Villeneuve was killed in practice at Zolder and Didier Pironi was injured at Hockenheim while leading the championship. Although Ferrari won the Constructors' title that year and the next, the drivers' title was awarded to another team.

After a dip in fortunes Michele Alboreto was competitive with the team in 1985, but 1988 saw the death of the beloved Enzo at the ripe age of 90. Enzo wasn't present to witness the undignified barging between Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna in 1990 as Prost won five races in the season, yet lost to the Brazilian in controversial circumstances in Japan.

When Michael Schumacher joined the team in 1996, the Tifosi didn't initially greet him with delight. However, many believe that he has galvanized the team and with the support of Jean Todt, turned the then failing team around and put them back on the pace by the end of the year. Five wins in 1997 saw Schumacher in contention for the title, but he lost out when he drove into Jacques Villeneuve in the year's finale.

1998 saw the Tifosi's hopes for a driver's title in 19 years revamped, but once again, at the finale of the season, Schumacher saw his chance of victory fall away as he stalled the F300 on the grid. McLaren Mercedes was still dominant the following season and Schumacher was fighting hard until an accident at the British Grand Prix saw the German sidelined with a broken leg for all bar the final two races of the season. Team-mate Eddie Irvine carried the team flag but was unable to pip Mika Hakkinen to the title but the team did take the Constructors' title.

The 2000 season saw their dreams finally realized when after a very dominating start to the season in Australia, Schumacher went on to take the drivers crown for the team in the second last race of the year. This was followed by the constructor's title in the following race, making it a double victory for the Italian team. 2001 produced a dominating championship victory with Michael Schumacher taking his fourth drivers crown, his second successive with the team and the first since 1953, in the 13th round of the season. This victory also saw the teams' third consecutive constructors' trophy.

2002 was a dominating season by Schumacher and the Italian marque by anyone's standards. The German driver clinched his fifth driver's title by the eleventh round of the season and together with Barrichello's efforts, the team wrapped up their fourth consecutive constructors crown soon afterwards. Record after record fell during the season as they took 15 of the possible 17 victories.

The 2003 season, though, was not another record-breaking season as a host of new regulations were introduced by the FIA aimed at slowing down Ferrari and Schumacher. Although the battle was taken down to the wire at the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix both the team and the German succeeded in retaining their titles.

There are probably not enough superlatives left to praise Ferrari enough following the 2004 season. 15 wins from the 18 races, 29 podium positions, 32 points paying finishes and just two failures to finish. The Ferrari F2004 was a stunning chassis, so much so that it kept on winning long after development shifted away from the car to the 2005 design.

The season got off to a perfect start with Michael Schumacher taking a relatively easy win from Rubens Barrichello. Schumacher went on to win the next four Grand Prix before a coming together with Juan Pablo Montoya in the Monaco tunnel ended his run of wins. The next seven races all fell to Schumacher and heading to Spa Francorchamps, another solid result would secure him his seventh World Championship. Second position behind Kimi Raikkonen did the job for the German star and he was Champion again.

The run could only continue so long and after six years Ferrari string of Constructors' Championships came to an end as did Michael Schumacher's five successive Drivers' titles. It was a poor season from the defending champions, never able to challenge main rivals Renault and McLaren for race pace. Ferrari's long-term relationship with Bridgestone hit trouble as the Japanese tyre giant was firmly beaten by rival Michelin. As a result, Schumacher would score just one race victory in a race where only the Bridgestone runners took part. The US Grand Prix fiasco, Ferrari struggled through the season and would end up third in the standings.

Ferrari bounced back strongly in 2006 with Schumacher putting in back-to-back wins at Imola and Nurburgring. Wins would follow at Indianapolis, Magny Cours and Hockenheim putting both Schumacher and the team in contention for more championship glory.

Felipe Massa took his first Pole Position and victory for the team in Turkey while Schumacher rattled off wins at Monza and China. The Japanese Grand Prix saw Schumacher's engine fail as he led the race. In one cloud of smoke, his chances of an eighth Championship were over. Massa would dominate his home race in Brazil to finish off his first season with Ferrari in style, while Schumacher drove a stunning race to finish fourth after problems in qualifying and a puncture early in the race.

Ferrari now had to face life after Schumacher with the German star retiring from the sport. The team recruited Kimi Raikkonen to join Massa while behind the scenes Technical Director Ross Brawn has ended his time at the team with his position being taken by Mario Almondo. Stefano Domenicali took over as Sporting Director.

Despite the changes, Ferrari had a strong season making best use of its extensive Bridgestone knowledge as the series moved to a single tyre supplier. Raikkonen kicked off his Ferrari career in style by winning on his debut in Melbourne and then taking further victories in France, Britain and Belgium. The title still seemed a long shot but with back to back wins in China and Brazil as rivals Lewis Hamilton slipped up, handed Raikkonen his first world championship.

The F2007 proved ultra competitive on the longer sweeping circuits, but not as nimble as its rival McLaren on the shorter more technically demanding circuits. Felipe Massa won three Grand Prix on his way to fourth in the championship while the team won the constructors' championship after McLaren were thrown out following the espionage scandal involving Ferrari employee Nigel Stepney.

Back on top with Raikkonen, the team remained largely unchanged heading into the 2008 season but it was Massa and not Raikkonen who led the charge on this occasion. Massa started the season with two failures to score but victory in Bahrain while title rival Lewis Hamilton struck problems launched the Brazilian back into the title fight. Wins followed in Turkey, France, Germany, Belgium and finally in the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix. Massa also dominated the Hungarian Grand Prix before an engine failure robbed him of ten valuable points. While Massa won the final race of the season, Hamilton took the championship by one championship point, courtesy of his fifth place finish.

Raikkonen had a low-key season after taking two wins from the first four races and finished the season third in the standings while Ferrari claimed the constructors' championship once again.

Armed with the new F60 package, few doubt that Ferrari will be back and challenging for the title in 2009.