When Ferrari Rebelled by Painting Their Vehicles Blue

At this year's Italian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc's chosen colors pay homage to their rivalry from 61 years ago, when the iconic cars were dressed differently than their signature scarlet red.

Ferrari chose to break with tradition at their home race by dressing Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in a blue team uniform instead of the fabled scarlett red. The choice was selected to honor the colors worn by Niki Lauda, a Scuderia icon who won the title in 1975 at Monza while sporting blue.

Irony struck, though, as Hamilton and Leclerc were left feeling depressed after finishing fourth and sixth, respectively, at the end of the 53 laps, leaving them 337 points behind McLaren in the Constructors' Championship.

Given that some higher-ups at the Automobile Club d'Italia, Italy's motorsport governing body, and even the FIA will have heard of the time when Enzo Ferrari himself used this color in a move that threatened to erase the legend of association between Ferrari and the color red, it may have been risky for Ferrari to do this, particularly at the Temple of Speed.

Agitation of Homologation

John Surtees was racing for the Prancing Horse in 1964 when he got into a three-way championship battle with Jim Clark and Graham Hill. It turned out that Surtees would not be formally representing Ferrari in the season's last two races. The United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen was one of those races and the point at which this rivalry erupted.

Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari's matriarch and a man who loves racing more than anything else, had requested permission earlier that year to homologate their road car, the 250 LM, for GT racing. The governing body declined to support its most significant cooperation when the FIA rejected this request, citing concerns over the production of the necessary 100 GT vehicles. Additionally, they were keeping an eye out for the possibility that the identical ploy from two years ago would be tried again.

When FIA inspectors arrived to evaluate the 100 recycled models in 1962, Enzo had asked to do the same for the 250 GTO. He had told team members to relocate the vehicles about the facility to persuade them that the required number of cars had been attained.

Prior to the extreme measure, Enzo is accused of turning in his team's racing license and promising that his team would never again compete in Italy's national racing color, red.

Enzo chose to withdraw the Ferrari name from both the Watkins Glen race and the season-ending race in Mexico in defiance of the 250 LM rejection. Rather, the vehicles were entered under the North American Racing Team flag and painted blue.

Though not formally registered as Ferrari's, the NART was a Ferrari operation in the United States that aimed to assist the Scuderia in breaking into America. Despite this, the team was still Ferrari in name and color, and it was sufficient to jeopardize Italy's standing as a motorsport powerhouse without the association of its most well-known export.

The rivalry continued into the season's last race in Mexico, when Surtees won the title. In a car owned by the North American Racing team, the Briton achieved the distinction of being the only racer to have won titles in both cars and bikes.

Before the 1965 season began, the conflict was resolved, Ferrai's legacy—which still lives on today—and Italy's alliance with the Prancing Horse were safeguarded.