As Formula 1’s most revered team, it was ironic that by the mid-1990s Scuderia Ferrari had assumed the role of perennial underachievers. Without a World Drivers’ Championship since 1979, and with their 1983 Constructors’ title but a distant memory, the Tifosi—and the notoriously demanding Italian press—were getting restless. For 1996, double World Champion Michael Schumacher was lured away from the Benetton team with which he had won back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995, his passage somewhat eased by a two-year $60 million contract—not to mention the recent arrival at Ferrari of highly-rated team principal Jean Todt and a seemingly limitless budget courtesy of long-time team...
Full Story »