A history of Ferrari’s iconic racing liveries in F1: ‘Rosso Corsa’ and all the times they haven’t raced in red

As the story goes, Enzo Ferrari once said, “Ask a child to draw a car, and he will certainly colour it red.” Scuderia Ferrari and ‘Rosso Corsa’ scarlet is one of the most iconic colour combinations in motorsport – but where did this partnership begin? Ahead of the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, and with Ferrari running a special Schumacher-inspired livery at the Temple of Speed, let’s take a trip down memory lane.

Ferrari are the most successful team in Formula 1 history, with a record 16 Constructors’ Championships to their name, and have always been associated with vibrant red liveries.

This weekend the team are running a special livery to commemorate Michael Schumacher’s 1996 victory in Monza, complete with seven stars on the front nose to mark the legend’s seven Drivers’ Championships.

Why are Ferraris red?

Before teams could customise their liveries to the extent we see today, cars were colour-coded based on nationality. These standardised colours made it clear where a team or driver was from, and some of these allocated colours have stuck around on modern machines.

Italy was red, and that colour was shared amongst Ferrari and other Italian manufacturers – like Alfa Romeo and Maserati – in the early seasons of the Formula 1 World Championship. France was blue like Alpine run today, Great Britain was green as you see on the current Aston Martin machines, and Germany was white.

All these colour connections date back as early as the 1900s, but for the 1968 season rules were relaxed on running sponsorship across the cars, which changed the commercial side of the sport forever.

Enzo Ferrari, the founder of Ferrari, was a very passionate Italian and wanted to showcase this by running his cars in the mandated national colour. The very first machine to come from their Maranello base – the Ferrari 125 S which debuted in May 1947 – was in racing red.

What is Rosso Corsa?

Rosso Corsa is a beautiful shade of red some fans instantly think of when imagining Ferrari. It’s the shade that the team will be running this weekend, and almost has a retro feel to it.

Literally translated as ‘Racing Red’, the colour was designed to look quick and show off the lines of the car by being flat and not using any metallic flakes.

However, the team now typically uses a lighter shade titled 'Rosso Scuderia', which was created to have a more visual pop on television screens.

There have also been darker shades of red used by Ferrari in F1, including their 1000th Grand Prix livery which embraced burgundy and paid tribute to a similar shade seen on Ferrari's cars in the 1950 Monaco Grand Prix.

Have Ferrari ever not raced in red?

It’s a common question, and the answer is yes. Although Ferrari have added pops of colour to their liveries – like yellow seen at the 2022 Italian Grand Prix or blue at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix – the last time the works team ran a fully non-red car was in 1964.

When Ferrari raced in blue

The story goes that Enzo Ferrari ordered the blue-and-white paint job for the final two races of the 1964 season in protest, after the governing body at the time refused to homologate his new machine for the World Sportscar Championship that season.

Losing the iconic trademark red was a huge shock among the paddock, with the blue and white inspired by the North American Racing Team, who were the group behind importing Ferraris into the United States.

When Ferrari raced in yellow

Privateer cars have also been branded in yellow in the past, with perhaps the best example being Olivier Gendebien at the 1961 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. The Belgian driver was behind the wheel of a factory Ferrari 156 with its famous ‘sharknose’ design, but was a private entry and ran in yellow – the national racing colour of Belgium.

Gendebien finished in fourth, and saw Ferrari secure a historic 1-2-3-4 result – the last time any constructor achieved this in F1.

When Ferrari raced in green

Finally, and not used across a Formula 1 World Championship event, Ferrari-badged cars have raced in British Racing green thanks to Vanwall.

The team previously raced modified Ferraris in Formula Libre races, and whilst Ferrari supplied plenty of key components, the car was mainly modified and assembled by the Vanwall squad.