Ferrari

1996 was a year for building for the future and in 1997 and 1998 Ferrari lost out on the title's only in the final race of the season. 97 will be remembered from the Jerez incident in which Michael Schumacher tangled with title rival Jacques Villeneuve handing the Williams driver the title. In 1998 it was Mika Hakkinen in the McLaren who took the title on the final day of the season after Schumacher's Ferrari stalled on the grid at Suzuka.

In 1999 a Schumacher driver's title looked on the cards until a leg breaking accident at Silverstone ruled him out of the title battle, it was left to Eddie Irvine to take the fight to Hakkinen and fight he did, the title again went to the final race of the season but not even the return of Michael Schumacher could prevent Hakkinen taking the crown once again, Ferrari however took victory in the constructor's championship.

2000 was a turning point for Ferrari's fortunes, another tough battle with McLaren was won in style with a fine end of season comeback which saw Michael Schumacher win the final four races of the season to secure both titles for Ferrari. And in 2001 the success would be repeated, this time Ferrari had less of a challenge and Schumacher had wrapped up another title long before the season was over.

In 2002 Ferrari launch the F2002 and it will be a car that is long remembered in the history of the Scuderia. The F2002 simply dominated the season after making a delayed debut in Brazil. Schumacher won the driver's title quicker than any other driver before and Ferrari won by a record margin of points. However this success caused the FIA to worry about the sport becoming boring and in 2003 they were to introduce a raft of changes to try and slow down Ferrari and keep the title's competitive.

The changes to F1 in 2003 did at least stop Ferrari running away with the title's once again, but they did not stop the winning streak from continuing. Schumacher once again took the driver's title this time fighting off a double challenge from Montoya and Raikkonen. Ferrari took their 5th straight victory in the constructor's title and put another notch on their domination of the sport in this period of time.

2004 would see Ferrari continue to dominate F1, after the tough battle in 2003 many expected Ferrari's winning run to come to an end at the hands of their Michelin shod rivals, but the F2004 was simply the class of the field as Ferrari went on the rampage once again similar to 2002 where nobody had an answer to their pace. Ferrari were so far ahead of the rest they stopped developing the chassis in the summer to work on the 2005 car, thus allowing their rivals some hope as they caught up with the champions towards the end of the season, but by then it was all done and dusted and the team sealed yet another double championship win, with 15 wins from 18 races.

As of 2004, the team's records include fourteen World Drivers Championship titles (1952, 1953, 1956, 1958, 1961, 1964, 1975, 1977, 1979, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004), fourteen World Constructors Championship titles (1961, 1964, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004), 179 grand prix victories, 3445 and a half points, 544 podium finishes, 174 pole positions, 11,182 laps led, and 180 fastest laps in 1622 grands prix contested. Famous drivers include Tazio Nuvolari, Juan Manuel Fangio, Alberto Ascari, Phil Hill, Mike Hawthorn, John Surtees, Niki Lauda, Jody Scheckter, Gilles Villeneuve, Nigel Mansell, Alain Prost and Michael Schumacher.

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