Red, Ferrari flagship color, how was this color chosen?

Red, Ferrari flagship color, how was this color chosen?

The Rosso Corsa ("Race red") or Ferrari red is the color of Italian racing cars. Since 1920, the Italian racing cars Alfa Romeo, Maserati, and later Ferrari and Abarth have been painted in Rosso Corsa color, according to the recommendation of the organizations that would later become the FIA.

The competitions in cars became fashionable at that time, and infected by the 'fever' of the engine, James Gordon Bennett, millionaire and owner of the New York Herald newspaper, proposed to the Automobile Club de France (ACF) the creation of an annual race in which the cars of the Automobile Clubs of each country could participate. The idea was accepted, there were competitions between 1900 and 1905 in different circuits. In 1920, the Automobile Club de France (ACF), considered the embryo of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), established the obligatory standard of colors by countries. The idea of Count Eliot Zborowsk that the participants chose a certain color for their cars was admitted, so that the public could recognize the cars more easily by the nation of origin. France, Germany and Italy chose blue, white and red, respectively; the French vehicles were blue, the Germans white or silver and the British green. The colors were not assigned by the country of manufacture of the car or by the nationality of the driver, but by the origin of the equipment.

Since then, Italian racing vehicles (Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Maserati) were identified with the tone of passion and fire.

After the creation of the F1 World Championship in 1950, the rule of tonalities by nations, remained twenty more years. In 1968, advertising came to the bodies of the cars. Unlike most teams, the Italian teams decided to maintain the previously chosen color, although they accepted only changes in tone. In 1996, for example, Scuderia Ferrari painted the cars with an orange hue, called "Marlboro Red"; but in 2007, another darker metallic hue was taken, even reaching garnet in some cases.

The track cars and the rest of the Modena racing vehicles retained the iconic 'rosso corsa' or red racing ... until today. As an exception, Ferrari won the 1964 F-1 World Championship with John Surtees, competing with cars painted white and blue, since they were not presented by the Italian factory, but by the American NART team. The change was made as a protest by Ferrari against the Italian competition authorities, regarding the decision on the use of a new type of engine.

The legend of the color red and Ferrari, a mythical couple in the four-wheel trials is still alive. In 1952 the red arrived at Ferrari to become his hallmark; only in 1964, Ferrari turned its red and replaced it with the combination of gray-blue and white that Ferrari called 158. Later, in 1975 Formula 1 cars were very similar to those of today, except for some details such as the Ferrari 312 T that combined red with white, blue and yellow details. In 1978, Ferrari had a much more serious design, a very powerful red with white center strip. Since the 90s, Ferrari cars have changed very little. Red has become the hallmark of the team par excellence.