Seven best Ferrari F1 cars

Ferrari F2002

It’s a difficult choice with these lists: Do you start at the very beginning or do you start with the best. We’ve chosen to kick this one off with the latter. The F2002 is one of the most dominant Formula 1 cars of all time, and therefore probably Ferrari’s greatest hit of all.

Designed by the early-2000s supergroup that was Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne and Aldo Costa, the 2002 won 15 Grands Prix in 19 races, the last of which came four races into its second season of racing, when practically every other car on the grid had been upgraded.

The F2002 took some of the knowledge from its predecessor, the equally cryptically named F2001, and added some brand new tech. It had a gearbox built from a new, lightweight material, it had a clutchless gearbox and a new traction control system. There were some setbacks, that fancy new gearbox took so long to develop it delayed the whole car. But the wait was probably worth it, as the F2002 won its first four races, and then nine of the remaining ten in the 2002 season. Ferrari finished the year with 221 points, when its nearest rival had... 91.

Ferrari Tipo 500

Alright, alright, it wasn’t built to Formula 1 regulations, but it did win two consecutive F1 championships and in two seasons of F1 racing failed to win only one race that it entered. This is the car that secured both of Alberto Ascari’s championships, the last Italian to win the F1 title, and cemented Ferrari’s place as one of the early greats of F1.

The Tipo 500’s success came about because F1 abandoned its own formula due to a lack of interest. The 1952 and 1953 seasons ran to F2 rules and Ferrari were the only team with a car ready to race to the new design. With an inline four-cylinder engine mounted behind the front axle, its better weight distribution helped it to completely humiliate the opposition. Indeed Ascari would win seven consecutive F1 races, a record that was only beaten by Sebastian Vettel in 2013. If you discount the 1953 Indy 500 from contention, the run was actually nine.

Ferrari 1512

The Ferrari 1512 didn’t really do a lot in motorsport. It helped to secure John Surtees the 1964 F1 title and recorded four podium finishes, but there were no wins. It is the tech inside this little F1 machine that we think should sit it in this company. In the early-1960s F1 decided that it would limit engine size, implementing a maximum capacity of 1.5-litres. While engine builders developed V8s, already running some tiny little cylinders, Ferrari began to experiment with taking the concept even further.

Having achieved a lot of success with V6s and V8s in the early parts of the decade, in 1964 the 207 engine was introduced, increasing the cylinder count even further. This was a 1.5-litre flat-12 engine, meaning that each cylinder was just 125cc. While it wasn’t a success the engineering behind this tiny 12 is incredible. Amazingly for such high-strung tech it was pretty bulletproof, with only one retirement from eight races. It’s just a shame it wasn’t particularly successful.

Ferrari 312T

The Ferrari 312T was the basis for Ferrari’s racing cars from 1975 all the way to 1980. In various guises, it entered 89 races, won 27 of them, finished on the podium 61 times and started on pole for 19. It won four Constructors’ Championships and three Drivers’. 

It all began in 1974 with the original 312T. Based around another flat-12 engine (or is it a V12?) the T in the name stood for transaxle, rather than turbo. The old Ferrari 312B3 had performed reasonably well, but had inherent instabilities that made designer Mauro Foghieri decide a rethink was needed. While the T was largely based on the 312B3 chassis the gearbox was now mounted transversely, allowing it to be positioned ahead of the rear axle. The suspension was a new design and the front end was narrower than the outgoing car. 

The 312 T wasn’t introduced until the third race of the 1975 season and had some mixed results off the bat – fifth was the highest finish in the first two races. But once the team had got used to the car, there was pretty much no stopping it. Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni won six of the remaining races in the 312T and then the first three of the 1976 season before its replacement, the 312T2 was introduced. It was the beginning of something special.

Ferrari 156

The 1961 F1 season was one of the most tragic yet brilliant in the history of the sport. The number of drivers lost to various incidents was getting fearfully high – including title contender Wolfgang von Trips’ death at Monza – but it produced some of the great races in F1 history (see Stirling Moss’ incredible Monaco win).

The centrepiece for this season of contrasts was the introduction of the Ferrari 156. Or to give it the name that most used for it: the Sharknose. Starting the season with a 65-degree Ferrari Dino V6 engine, the 156 would pretty quickly change to using a revolutionary 120-degree engine designed by Carlo Chiti. With smoother power delivery, and more of it to boot, the Chiti engine very quickly showed itself to be the only choice for Ferrari, even though Enzo himself had opposed its introduction. Screaming to 9,500rpm the 156 would win five races in 1961 and secure both titles.

Ferrari F399

In 1999 Ferrari had not won any kind of Formula 1 title since its last Constructors’ crown back in 1983. After years in the relative wilderness, other than the odd bright season, the superteam of Michael Schumacher, Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne had begun to turn things around since Schumacher joined in 1996. But crucially, there was still no title to show for their efforts.

In 1998 Ferrari, and the rest of the grid, had been shown a clean set of heels by McLaren and Mika Häkkinen, but there was promise from the F300 that Ferrari had campaigned. So Brawn and his team set about making things better. There was a modified front wing, smaller sidepods and an improved exhaust layout. The 3.0-litre V10 that Ferrari used was also given a little fettle, now producing around 790PS (552kW). 

The changes were a success. Eddie Irvine won the car’s first race in Australia and Schumacher began to pick up wins as the season progressed. By the end of the season, the car had six in total and 17 podiums and finally excised the championship demon that had been cursing the Scuderia. If it hadn’t been for the accident that broke Schumacher’s leg at Silverstone, there’s a decent chance it would have clinched both crowns.

Ferrari F2007

Right now Ferrari is in another title drought. It has not won an F1 crown since 2008, not quite matching the previous barren spell, but certainly heading into a period of no success not really compatible with what Ferrari expects.

Before this period began Ferrari won titles in eight years out of ten, often completing a double. The last time it managed such a feat was in 2007 with the F2007. A relatively large departure from the 248 F1 Ferrari ran in 2006, the F2007 was longer, the suspension was zero-keel for the first time in a Ferrari and the aerodynamics were altered, and greatly improved. 

On its debut, Kimi Räikkönen took the F2007 to victory in the Australian Grand Prix, and he and Felipe Massa would add eight more wins between them as Ferrari took the constructors crown for the penultimate time. Even if McLaren hadn’t been excluded from the running following the Spygate scandal, Ferrari would have taken the crown. Räikkönen added the drivers crown with victory at the last race and the F2007 was added to the history books as one of Ferrari’s greats. They haven’t won the Drivers’ title since.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.