[Auto] Behind closed doors at the Ferrari Finali Mondiali

[Mr.Talha]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/features/behind-closed-doors-ferrari-finali-mondiali

 

 

The privileged few who live cosseted in their own sumptuous little world? That’s not fair.

More accurately, those who can afford to buy and race Ferraris have their own universe in which to play and indulge, judging by the astonishing scale of the company’s end of season Finali Mondiali extravaganza, held last month. A voyeuristic dip into the World Finals, run this year at Ferrari-owned Mugello in the tranquil hills of Tuscany, revealed an insular motorsport dimension that tends to sweep straight past our general consciousness – because it doesn’t exist for our benefit. It’s a creation for those who continue to feed and breathe life into the most famous car maker in existence: the precious Ferrari customers without whom the prancing horse would have been put out to grass years ago.

To be fair, it’s only the ongoing effects of Covid-19 that thwarted Ferrari from opening the green banks and grandstands of Mugello to those who dwell in the real world: the fans who, even all these years on, are still swept up by the old mystique. Finali Mondiali is usually mobbed. But this time, attendance was limited to Ferrari employees and those deep-of-pocket customers, plus members of the Scuderia Ferrari Club, which is open to those who don’t own one of the cars. Still, there’s enough of a throng to ensure the place is dripping in a crisp atmosphere of anticipation, excitement and awe – because that’s what Ferrari creates when it gathers its greatest hits en masse. No other car maker comes close to successfully feeding its own legend, and while it’s easy to dismiss a commercial cynicism that glares through the scarlet haze, somehow you can’t help finding yourself caught up in the moment – simply because, well, it’s Ferrari.

 

 

I arrive by bus the day after the latest Icona model, the £1.7 million Daytona SP3, has been unveiled to the media in Florence and here at Mugello to those who might buy one. Suitably, it’s a car that’s preaching to the converted, limited to a run of just 599, most of which will head into the collections of those already fully immersed in the Ferrari myth. Giant red structures give the paddock a theme-park air for the rich and gauche as we head to the main grandstand and its views of both the start/finish and back section of Mugello’s sweeping contours. First, there’s the business of Ferrari Challenge one-make racing to conclude.

Unless you’re invested, either literally or figuratively as a watching family member, it’s hard to care too much about the Ferrari Challenge. But its scale is still impressive. Regional series run in mainland Europe, North America, the Asia-Pacific and the UK, and here at Finali Mondiali, they all come together. There was even a bit of history made on the opening day when Dane Michelle Gatting became the first woman to win a Ferrari series, the Pirelli Trofeo for 488 Challenge cars. On the Saturday, the main European series concluded and now a pair of bumper races finish the season, the winners of which are ostentatiously titled as FIA-endorsed world champions. For the record, Finland’s Luka Nurmi becomes the youngest Ferrari ‘world champion’ in the Trofeo Pirelli. He’s just 17, which at least breaks the perception that such racing is just for paunchy, ‘mature’ businessmen – while Ernst Kirchmayr completes a double in the Coppa Shell series, adding the world title to the European crown he had clinched the day before. The racing is spirited but peppered by too many safety-car periods as drivers, perhaps out of their depth, keep burying themselves in Mugello’s old-school gravel traps. 

 

 

Of far more interest is the Ferrari Show that follows the racing, capping what has been a successful year for the company’s wares on the race track. You scoff… Yes, on a day when Carlos Sainz Jr and Charles Leclerc will toil to a forgettable seveneight finish in the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix, it’s impossible to ignore Ferrari’s current lethargy in Formula 1 – and for most of us, that counts far beyond anything else. It has been a strange season for the Scuderia: ahead of the final two races, it has risen back to third in the constructors’ standings this year, comfortably outscoring McLaren. But there hasn’t been a sniff of a win, the gap to Mercedes-AMG and Red Bull-Honda is a chasm and Leclerc in particular continues to be wasted in a car operating far below his significant potential.