Michael Schumacher’s Beloved Ferrari Once Raced Without the Iconic Red Livery

“Ask the child to draw a car, and certainly he will draw it red.”– Enzo Ferrari. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when someone says the word–Ferrari? For some, it might be racing heritage. However, for most people, it’s an image of a supercar in red. One must believe from Enzo Ferrari’s above-mentioned quotes that all his F1 cars must be red. However, that isn’t the case, as Michael Schumacher‘s beloved Ferrari once raced without the iconic red. But why and when?

Well, the story goes back to the 1960s, still the early days of Formula 1. Ferrari is the oldest and the most successful team in F1, now having been in the sport since the inaugural F1 season in 1950. So much so that F1 pays the Scuderia a long-standing team bonus for being in the sport for so long. Michael Schumacher along with Jean Todt can be accredited with most of Ferrari’s recent success. Even 1964 was a successful season for Ferrari but with a hiccup or two.

It was 1964 when Ferrari abandoned the iconic Ferrari red and went for a blue and white livery. But why? The story begins in 1962 when Ferrari wanted to homologate their 250 GTO for GT racing. However, 100 production models had to be built of a road-going version for Ferrari to be eligible to enter the 250 GTO. It is believed that wasn’t the case, as old man Enzo had another trick up his sleeve.

Enzo Ferrari showed the FIA inspector half the batch of cars before taking them for a break and then later put the same cars in a different facility. How much of this is the truth is still unknown. It is speculated that for the same reason, Ferrari was denied eligibility to enter the then-new 250 LM for the 1964 season. What added fuel to Enzo Ferrari’s rage was the Italian Motorsport governing body ACI deciding not to back Ferrari. As a result, Enzo decided that Ferrari won’t be featuring the national racing colors of Italy. 

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Back in the day, teams used their national colors on the car. However, Ferrari did enter with a new badge, the North American racing team, and features the colors of the USA on the car. Hence the famous blue and white Ferrari in which John Surtees won the 1964 title and set a record that hasn’t been broken yet. What was this record?

John Surtees is the only man to win both Formula 1 and MotoGP titles

We’ve seen Lewis Hamilton and Valentino Rossi swapping their machines for a promotional event. However, MotoGP and F1 are very different disciplines with very different skill sets required to master each of them. Nonetheless, Valentino Rossi is believed to have taken a secret test for Ferrari’s F1 team back in the mid-2000s and was very close to signing, but chose to stay in MotoGP.

John Surtees had a similar idea back in the day. Having won multiple titles in 350 cc and 500cc Motorcycle World Champion, Surtees decided to make a move to F1 and won the 1964 championship with Ferrari. Surtees, to date, is the only person to have won the MotoGP (earlier called Motorcycling World Championship) and a Formula 1 title.

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What do you think about Ferrari not always racing the iconic red?