Ferrari 312 T2 RIGHT: Fans watch as mechanics work on Ferrari 312 T2s before the United States GP West on 2 October 1977 at Long Beach. (Schlegelmilch)

professional side, I think that, in the history of modern F1, they have an important role and an important position.

When people ask, ‘What is it like inside Ferrari?’ it is quite difficult to describe because there are a lot of ingredients; it is like a painting with different faces. Ferrari has had the colour red since the beginning, even though it is not the national colour of an Italian team. Red means a lot of emotion and Ferrari has always been careful to maintain it – maybe it is the only car in competition that has always had the same colour. The red should be a little bit different, but always red. So, there is a history of great passion, starting from an idea, from a piece of paper, from the grassroots. Another element is that Ferrari is a mix of elegance and design. A car like a GTO, maybe the most expensive car in the world, is a mix of elegance and exclusivity. Enzo Ferrari was always able to build up his myth through exclusivity, creating fewer cars than the demand. You have to wait to get a Ferrari because they avoid producing too many cars.

Then there is a mix of heritage, history and future. If you look at Ferrari, not only in my time, but also in Enzo’s time, we were able to build very innovative cars. We were the first to put a semi-automatic gearbox in F1 cars and road cars. So, there has always been a mix of innovation, looking ahead in terms of technology, and maintaining a strong link with the history of the key elements of the past.

Ferrari has been in F1 as a team since the beginning: in the good and in the bad moments, in the victories and the defeats, in the tragedies and in the happy times. I always say that, without F1, Ferrari is not Ferrari. But to be honest, F1 without Ferrari is not F1. So there has been a strong link since the beginning. There has also always been a special relationship between Ferrari and the tifosi, and not only in Italy. I was always impressed when the tracks in Canada or Australia were full of red flags.

At the first Grand Prix in China, in Shanghai 2004, we won with Rubens Barrichello and the team said to me, ‘Mr President, you have to go on the podium’. I had never been on the podium in my life. They pushed me so I went up and the spray of Champagne was everywhere, and Barrichello said to me, ‘Mr President, this is the first time in my life that I take a shower with a man’ and I said, ‘Listen, it is the same for me, don’t be worried!’ And looking out I was astonished to see a lot of red flags across the circuit. I was impressed because that was the first F1 race in the history of China.

One of the best moments, not only of my professional career but of my life, was when, in September 1975, we won the Grand Prix in Monza with Clay Regazzoni in front of the Italian people. At the same time, we clinched the World Championship title with Niki Lauda, 12 years after the last title with John Surtees. Not only Monza, but the whole of Italy had a huge party. Then, when we won the Championship with Michael Schumacher in October 2000 in Japan after a 21-year drought since Jody Scheckter won it in 1979, everybody was so happy. We then won five World Championships in a row. We were under a lot of pressure because, when you win, you are obliged to win again. It is a good pressure, though. Put yourself in my position: I arrived back at Ferrari at the end of 1991, and we didn’t win the World Championship for manufacturers until 1999. So, every single year from 1993 until 1997, the year of the crash between Michael and Villeneuve in the last race, I had to explain to the team and to everyone outside of Ferrari, ‘Watch out, we are working hard. Next year will be better, be patient’. Every year we did a better season than the previous one, and, despite the fact that Michael was not able to participate in a few races in 1999, we won the Manufacturers’ Championship. Eddie Irvine – nice guy, good driver but not a super driver – had the chance to become World Champion in the last race. He was up against Mika Häkkinen but just lost out by two points.

In my time, both as team manager and as chairman and CEO, we lost a lot of Championships at the last race. There was Watkins Glen with Regazzoni in 1974 and Fuji with Niki Lauda in 1977. But in F1 history, I’ve never seen something so unique as the race at José Carlos