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The divorce is complete between Ferrari and Ickx, the pilot examined their position and that of the company in two days of talks with the manufacturer. At the end, on Tuesday 31 July 1973, Ferrari issued a press release, confirming what had been said for some time: the Belgian would not race for the Maranello team in 1974.
"Having Ferrari decided not to participate in racing for an indefinite period, Mr. Jacky Ickx regretted having to consider this situation as prejudicial to the agreement that bound him until 31 December 1973. During a friendly meeting the agreement itself was resolved today with an understanding of mutual satisfaction. To Jacky Ickx, who gave Ferrari five years of collaboration, the company is pleased to witness the decisive contribution offered on many victorious occasions, both in Formula 1 and in prototypes. If Ferrari resumes activity in the near future, Ickx has declared his agreement to drive the cars of the Maranello company in the remaining races of the 1973 World Championship".
A first element emerges from the text issued by Ferrari. Ickx and the Modena manufacturer, after the moments of tension and controversy of a month and a half ago, have rediscovered - thanks also to the skilled work of Luca Montezemolo - the cordiality that seemed compromised. In short, it is an amicable divorce, not a stormy and unpleasant closure. Better this way, because Ferrari gave a lot to the Belgian, but Ickx also offered - as the press release pleasantly recalls - the contribution of class and experience of great value. The Belgian was recently worried for two reasons: first, the certainty of not being reconfirmed for 1974; second, the moment of pause wisely imposed by Ferrari on its Formula 1 activity. Ickx must have asked himself - he was already so reluctant to carry out tests and inspections - what advantages he would obtain from testing a car that he would not drive next year and, at the at the same time, staying away from the slopes in a month in which the various teams decide their lineups. And Enzo Ferrari must have wondered what collaboration he would have from a listless and distracted driver. For 1973 the door for further collaboration remained open. Reading between the lines of the press release, one could understand that Ickx is available but that it is not certain that Ferrari will make use of his abilities. And the Indeterminate period should not be too long: Germany perhaps not, Austria almost certainly yes. With practice for the German Grand Prix on the Nurburgring, starting only five days after the unhappy Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, there is a general air of unpreparedness on Friday lunch time. It is only a feeling, for in fact all the teams present are in pretty good condition, considering the shortage of time for preparation.
Those teams sponsored by tobacco companies, have some real time-wasting work to do, for the German Government decrees that there would be no forms of advertising by tobacco companies at the Grand Prix, with the result that B.R.M., Lotus, Williams and Graham Hill have to erase their sponsors’ name from the cars, the transporters, the drivers’ and mechanics’ overalls, the team personnel clothing and so on. This stripping of the power of John Players, Marlboro and Embassy is as a result of pressure being applied by German tobacco firms who do not approve of racing or any other sports, and the German Government gives support to this faction. In consequence Fittipaldi and Peterson are entered by JPTL and are driving JPS, Graham Hill is entered by E. Racing and is driving a Shadow, Regazzoni, Beltoise and Lauda are driving BRM cars, entered by B.R.M. of Bourne, and Frank Williams enters two ISO cars driven by Ganley and Pescarolo. As I always consider a Lotus 72 to be a Lotus 72, a B.R.M. to be a B.R.M. and Frank Williams cars to be Williams Specials, the whole scene in Germany bore some resemblance to reality. Stewart and Cevert have no problems with their ELF-sponsored Tyrrell cars, nor do Hulme and Revson have any problems with their Yardley-sponsored McLarens, and the other sponsors, who range from Tea Bags to Argentinian Meat and Brazilian Coffee are all in order. Most of the teams come direct from Holland, with the same cars and materials they had used in the Dutch event. Absent once again is the Ferrari team, but the Commendatore released Jacky Ickx for this event, and he is snapped up by McLaren, who put him in the newest car, M23/4, to join Hulme (M23/1) and Revson (M23/2).
The Tecno team in all its complication disappears to try and think straight, the Ensign goes home for a bit of redesigning, there is still no sign of the Hexagon Racing Brabham for John Watson, the Hesketh team has withdrawn in order to catch up with some intensive development work, and the works March team are absent. Added to the Brabham team is Rolf Stommelen, taking the place normally occupied by de Adamich and driving BT42/5, and the Surtees team has the addition of Jochen Mass in TS14A/01, rebuilt after its Silverstone accident. After crunching his Shadow against the Zandvoort Armco, Oliver takes over the brand new one (DN1/6A) with the more orthodox rear suspension layout and the BRM trio are exactly as they finished the Dutch race, but are awaiting some rebuilt engines and a complete spare car (P160/05). In the Lotus team Fittipaldi is far from 100% fit, and is restricted to one car (72/R7), the Zandvoort-damaged one needing a major rebuild, while Peterson is still using 72/R6 fitted with a fresh engine and gearbox, 72/R8 standing by as his spare. The Tyrrell team never looked more healthy or happy, Stewart (006/2) and Cevert (006) being in fine form, with the spare car (005) in side radiator form and with its new wedge-nose, the oil radiator being at the rear of the car now. Wilson Fittipaldi (BT42/2) and Stommelen (BT42/5) modified front-aerofoils on their Brabhams, with the actual aerofoil surface of the centre section raised up above the rest of the nose cowling, and all three cars have small deflectors added to the cowling, just in front of the tyres. As everyone begins to assemble in the pit area at midday on Friday, a light summer rain begins to fall and there is a bit of a rush back to the paddock to collect rain tyres. However, the rain does not develop, the track dries and the business of practice begins, with spare cars for Stewart and Peterson standing by. With the long lap of the Nurburgring, taking just over 7 minutes to cover; there is a system whereby drivers can leave the pit road, take the South Turn, drive up the return leg behind the pits and then double back round a loop to rejoin the pit area, instead of setting off over the bridge and down the twists and turns of the Hatzenbach and away on the 22.835 kilometers lap. This loop provides two things; an opportunity to try the car before leaving the pit area irrevocably, and the means for getting an officially timed lap without having to go all the way round the circuit beforehand.
The timekeepers are situated before the pits, so that as cars leave their pit they are not seen or timed until they have been all the way round. If the timekeepers were beyond the pits, the reverse would apply, any car ending a lap at the pits would not pass the timing line. On a short circuit of 1'20"0, these untimed laps are no worry, but on a 7-minute circuit they can absorb all the valuable practice time without showing any results. The pits loop obviates this, and also allows for a flying finish at the end of a lap, without the necessity to go all the way round again on a slowing down lap. At every first practice session at the Nurburgring, there is always a reluctance to make the irrevocable decision to set off round the full lap, so that the dicing round and round the loop seems to go on interminably. One of the first drivers to get on with the job is lckx in the third of the McLaren team cars, and he is setting competitive lap times before some drivers have even got out on the pits loop. The fastest lap ever made on the Nurburgring is by Ickx in a Ferrari in practice last year when he recorded 7'07"0 so that 1973 is clearly going to see the Aces well below 7'10"0 and a close approach to 7 minutes is not beyond the realms of possibility, while hopeful people even think the 7-minute barrier might be broken. As it would represent an average speed of over 120 m.p.h., the occasion is looked forward to with great interest, but prematurely as it turns out for a time there is a pretty lethargic air about the place, with people turning laps in 7'20"0 as the best, and mostly nearer 7'30"0, until lckx gets the feel of the McLaren M23 and goes round in 7'09"7. Just as he is getting wound up the Cosworth V8 engine breakes and he abandons the car out on the circuit. There is a short break in practice while the car is retrieved and during this time everyone seems to wake up, with the result that Stewart, Peterson, Cevert, and Lauda all get below Ickx time and the Scot is only one tenth of a second off the unofficial record time. The performance by Lauda is particularly courageous, making the other B.R.M. drivers look a bit hopeless, but it achieves more by enthusiasm than skill, for the young Austrian continues to arrive at corners too fast and leave them too slowly, instead of the reverse, which produces smoother, cleaner and faster driving. As always it is the regular group at the top and the usual ones at the bottom, with the Surtees team in trouble with a misfiring engine on the car of Mass, and Hailwood having a front wheel break its centre as he is plunging down the Fuchsrohe, fortunately with no dire results.
Follmer’s Shadow has the side plate tear off its rear aerofoil and Ganley crashes his Williams into the guardrails and crumples the cockpit area very severely, quite beyond immediate repair. Jacky Ickx is the center of attention at the Nurburgring on the first day of testing for the German Grand Prix, which reopens the Formula 1 World Championship in a climate of controversy and accusations after Sunday's tragic fire in Zandvoort. Ickx, who divorced from Ferrari, drove a McLaren-Ford, setting the fourth time: 7'09"7. Stewart, with the Tyrrell, Peterson, with the Lotus and Cevert, with the other Tyrrell did better than the Belgian Ickx's performance, however, impressed everyone, starting with his colleagues. The Belgian set his excellent time in just five girls, the first two of which were warm-ups, and then had to stop due to an engine failure. Stewart, Peterson and Cevert instead achieved their performances after many attempts and having completed about ten laps. Stewart's comment is symptomatic, as Emerson Flttipaldi is still in pain from the blow to his right foot in training for the Dutch Grand Prix. the previous week - he was convinced that he would have an easy time at Nurburgrlng and that he could easily win more points.
"To be honest, I wish Ickx hadn't come here. He is a fast driver and has a competitive car. But couldn't he leave Ferrari in about ten days?"
Ickx, of course, is quite satisfied.
"I am pleased to have parted ways with Ferrari in an amicable manner. I confess that in this race I am looking for a record performance. I would like them to convince themselves in Maranello that it wasn't my fault if the B3 wasn't achieving good results. It's a car that needs to be made competitive and I'm sure that, if I show off here with McLaren, the Italian technicians will work hard to improve their car. And I would be proud to drive a Ferrari again one day".
On his contacts with other teams, Ickx says:
"I have many ongoing negotiations. No Lotus, however, because Chapman's cars don't give me confidence in terms of safety. For this season finale I would like to point out that the agreement with McLaren is only valid for Nurburgring. Then, if Ferrari returns to racing in Formula 1 and calls me, I will be very happy to conclude 1973 with Maranello. Otherwise I will be a spectator".
If Ickx, who claims that the McLaren is a very easy car to drive and not at all in need of those constant adjustments that the B3 requires, is a cloud for Stewart, for Emerson Flttipaldi he represents a rosy hope. The Brazilian only scored the twelfth time.
"My foot still hurts and feels the effects of fatigue after a few laps".
The Lotus mechanics modified the pedals, placing the brake and accelerator pedals on the same level to make it easier for the World Champion to maneuver heel-to-toe, but the precaution had little effect.
"I'm really unlucky. Just now that the championship is being decided, the accident should have happened to me. And, what's more, when there is just a week's gap between two Grand Prizes. The doctors explained to me that another seven days would be enough for the limb to return to perfect efficiency. I can only hope for Ickx. I hope Jacky wins and can take points away from Stewart. I'll be rooting for him. I'll just try to finish the race".
Still on Ickx, it is worth noting how his two McLaren teammates achieved much lower performances: 7'15"9 Revson and 7'20"8 Hulme.
Ickx, therefore, and this is not a play on words, is truly the unknown factor of this German Grand Prix and, perhaps, of the World Championship itself. The other unknown is represented by the safety element. Will everything be okay on Sunday? The organizers have put in place impressive measures (today four helicopters circled continuously in the sky of the German circuit), but no one knows if they will be enough. We hope, however, not to even have to experience them. Meanwhile, the GPDA has informed that in 1974 it will boycott any circuit on which the requests made are not implemented. On Saturday, there are small rain clouds drifting across the Eifel mountains, every now and then dropping their load on different parts of the circuit, so that all hope of any superfast times is gone before practice gets under way. For a long while, everyone goes round and round the pits loop until finally Purley is the first to make a breakaway and sets off on a full lap. Stewart has a careful go round in the spare Tyrrell on rain tyres, and Lauda sets off with a new type of air box on his B.R.M. engine. Ickx is soon flying round, trying to make up for lost time, and poor Hailwood seems to be fighting a losing battle with his Surtees, which look to be all floppy at the back end. In contrast, Mass is looking fast and stable, his car having 1972 suspension at the back, and the Lotus 72s, the McLarens, and the Tyrrells are all looking exactly as one would expect, fast and stable. All this is observing on the downhill twisty bit from the North Curve to Hatzenbach, where the brave ones have the throttle down on the stop, and the not-so-brave are feathering.
To keep a sense of proportion, it is worth remembering that the average sporting driver in a normal car would go down this part of the Nurburging with the brakes on most of the time. The intermittent rain showers puts a stop to any heroics being performed, but Ickx gets a lap in at 7'10"3, which is fastest of the day, no-one else approaching this sort of performance. In the Lotus camp Fittipaldi is far from being fit and takes a very secondary position, while Peterson’s effort collapses in a heap beside the road when a suspension ball-joint at the front brakes. Stewart and Peterson in the front row, then Cevert and lckx: Tyrrell, Lotus and McLaren always at the top in the Formula 1 World Championship. In short, there is no departure from the usual patterns, with a variant that this time concerns men, namely lckx who, having left Ferrari and moved to McLaren, returns to the very top positions and Emerson Fittipaldi, who, still sore from the after-effects of the Zandvoort accident, will only start in the seventh row, together with his brother Wilson. It is a race that risks being decisive for the purposes of the fight for the world title, which until the Dutch Grand Prix had been played on a substantially balanced plan between Stewart and Fittipaldi, with the inclusion in the last races of Sweden, France and Great Britain by Hulme, Peterson and Revson. At Zandvoort the Brazilian ended up off the track in practice, suffering a painful injury to his right foot. He had to withdraw immediately, in the first round of the competition, and even in Germany he doesn't seem capable of defending himself.
"My foot still hurts. The doctors treat me and give me a lot of advice, but the pain doesn't ease. At the Nurburgring you have to constantly work on the brakes and accelerator and after a while I almost can't drive anymore. There's no point in hiding it: for me tomorrow's race is a lost race from the start. I just have to rely on lckx, hoping that he takes some points away from Stewart".
lckx once again demonstrated today that he is in great shape and more than ever deserves the nickname king of the Nurburgring. The day was rainy: wet asphalt at the start of practice, then a splash and finally a real downpour, which prevented the fastest riders from dropping below the limits reached yesterday. The Belgian, however, lapped in 7'10"3, a fabulous performance and all the more remarkable considering that Stewart achieved the second time in 7'16"4. Ickx says:
"It's clear that I'm quite happy with these two days of training. I absolutely don't want to be polemical, but I think I have already demonstrated something to my friends at Ferrari. I heard that Merzario is doing well in Fiorano. I'm pleased, but to effectively evaluate any improvements of the B3 we need to leave Fiorano and go to some other track where it is possible to have references with the other brands".
Even though he has distanced himself from the Maranello team, lckx always follows Ferrari's events very carefully. Attention and perhaps affection, even if the Belgian is now pampered by the McLaren mechanics. His performances have won the respect of the small British team. Hulme states:
"If it rains tomorrow, lckx will definitely win the race".
Stewart begs, but appears rather worried. The Scotsman, who together with Hulme is campaigning for safety on behalf of the Grand Prlx Drlvers Association, was also shocked by an accident involving Ronnie Peterson. The Swede slowly returned to the garage, saying that the front left suspension of his Lotus had crashed on one of the bumps on the circuit and that he had miraculously managed to dominate the car. The Lotus mechanics immediately covered the damaged part with a tarpaulin, but many noticed what happened, which, naturally, also considering the breakage suffered by Fittipaldi's car at Zandvoort, calls into question the robustness of the single-seaters built by Colin Chapman. And Stewart gave a significant look to Chapman. On Sunday morning, the Grand Prix cars have a short test session, and the Grand Prix itself is due to start at 1:00 p.m. The day is bright and sunny. As the 22 starters leave the pits to drive round the loop to the dummy-grid, all is set fair for a clean and sporting German Grand Prix over 14 laps of the demanding Nurburgring. In spite of the width of the starting area, which used to contain four cars abreast, the field is lined up in pairs, slightly staggered to the right. Stewart and Peterson are side-by-side on the front row, with Ickx behind them and aimed between them, with Cevert on his right. In Germany, the starting flag is raised, not dropped, and as it goes up Cevert shoots forward alongside Stewart, who promptly moves slightly left, close to Peterson and Ickx have nowhere to go. Down to the South Turn Peterson and the two Tyrrells are side-by-side, with Stewart nicely placed to chop across in front of the Swede, which he does. Cevert follows him through closely and the two blue cars cut across in front of the Lotus, leaving the Swede in third place, with Ickx in fourth place, and as far as there being a motor-race it is all over. Away on the opening lap goes Stewart, with Cevert shadowing him closely, followed by Peterson, Ickx, Lauda, Reutemann and the rest. Barely half-way round the first lap, as they plunge down to the lowest point of the circuit at Breidsheid, Peterson’s engine cuts out and dies completely with a major electrical fault and he pulls onto the grass and retires.
On an intuition, he asked for his engine to be changed at the last moment before the race, and he now spends the rest of the day wishing he left the nuts and bolts of racing to those who know about such things. As a race the German Grand Prix is all over by the time, the two Tyrrells end the first lap, for Stewart and Cevert are way ahead, even at a standing lap of 7'27"5, and Ickx is making no impression on them at all with the McLaren. Long after everyone has gone by on the opening lap Beuttler arrives at the pits with his left-front tyre flat, and after having it changed he rejoins the race, such as it is. After Ickx comes Lauda (B.R.M.), then Reutemann (Brabham), then Revson (McLaren), Pace (Surtees), Hulme (McLaren), Fittipaldi E. (Lotus), Fittipaldi W. (Brabham) and all the odds and sods. On the second lap, as Lauda takes the tight climbing right-hander at Bergwerk, he feels there is something odd about the feel of his B.R.M., and while he is thinking about it and taking the flat-out swerves at Kesselchen he flies off the road and in a long accident completely demolishes his B.R.M. and brakes his wrist. It all points to a deflating rear tyre, for B.R.M.s are not prone to breaking suspension members, wheels, or steering parts, like some cars. While all this is going on, Beltoise has a completely flat left-rear tyre and is limping along to try and regain the pits. Altogether, it is a pretty momentous lap, for Revson loses control in the Hatzenbach swerves, bounces off a curb and hits the Armco barrier, but is able to continue, his McLaren suffering a badly buckled left-rear wheel rim, but the tyre is undamaged. This little excursion, drops him from sixth to fourteenth place, from which he never really recovers. The two Tyrrells just drive off into the middle distance, neither Stewart nor Cevert putting a foot wrong, and they don’t have to try too hard lapping at around 7'17"0 to 7'16"0, gradually speeding up, but not approaching the old lap record of 7'13"6, let alone the practice times.
Beltoise gets back to the pits on his flat tyre, a new wheel and tyres are fitted, and he carries on, but on lap 5 the gearbox/final drive brakes, no doubt having been over-strained while driving with a flat tyre. Follmer slides gently off the road at the North Turn on this lap, and crashes his Shadow against the guard-rail and on the next lap Purley arrives at the pits with a flat left-rear tyre. Although Reutemann is in fourth place it is very obvious that he is holding everyone up, for lined up behind him and getting very agitated, are Pace (Surtees), Hulme (McLaren), Emerson Fittipaldi (Lotus), Wilson Fittipaldi (Brabham), Mass (Surtees), Regazzoni (B.R.M.), and Pescarolo (Williams). At the end of lap seven, as Reutemann arrives in the Start and Finish area, officials almost poke a blue flag into his cockpit and, with a great rush, he lets everyone by. Before the end of the eighth lap, the Argentinian is gone for good as his engine blows up, and Pace streaks away from the others who have been queueing-up behind the Brabham. At 10 laps the two Tyrrells have a 30-second lead over lckx, the Belgian being all on his own, and in fourth place is Pace, equally on his own; then comes the Fittipaldi brothers racing in close company. He having the problem of injured ankles, with being fit and healthy. Hulme follows them suffering from a tyre complex and handling that don’t suit him, and then comes Mass really enjoying himself. In ninth place is Oliver, reveling in a moment of glory at having overtaken Pescarolo, but more joyful at having got beyond the first lap. The rest struggles along behind, Hailwood having visited the pits to change the front tyres, for what good it prevails him. The only excitement that occurred, is that the timekeepers automatically give Stewart the fastest lap on lap eleven, in 7'14"6, and then are embarrassed to find that Pace has done 7'14"4. The Brazilian has no hope of winning, nor any hope of catching Ickx who is in third place, but he is one of those irresistible characters who just love driving fast. His Surtees is going well, he is feeling good, the circuit is perfect so he is like the proverbial hog in the fertilizer, and the result is another fastest lap and a new record on lap 12, in 7'13"2, followed by an even better one on lap 13, in 7'11"4.
Quite unconcerned, Stewart and Cevert cruise round in team formation, the two cars perfectly prepared and models of reliability and performance. Hulme stops alter 12 laps to say his engine is making a funny noise, which is not surprising as the rear exhaust pipe on the right-hand bank of his Cosworth V8 is no longer there, so he carries on making a very flat sound. Almost unbelievably, Graham Hill is still running nonstop, his pit crew wondering what to do with all the free-time at their disposal, and the Shadow works team are looking very puzzled for not only is Oliver still running, but he has now passed Revson and is quite a respectable eighth. Jackie Stewart wins the German Grand Prix, eleventh round of the Formula 1 World Championship. The Scotsman precedes his teammate Cevert at the finish line, then Ickx, with the McLaren, Pace, with the Surtees, and the two Fittipaldi brothers, Wilson, with Brabham, and Emerson, with Lotus. It is success number 27 for the Scottish driver, the fifth of the season, the third at the Nurburgring, a fact which has granted him the honorary nickname of Maestro, previously attributed only to Fangio, Caracciola and Ascari. With this statement Stewart sets out to win his third world title. He now has an 18 point lead over Fittipaldi. The race had a linear progression. At the start Stewart and Cevert took the lead, followed by Peterson (Lotus), Ickx, Lauda (B.R.M.), Reutemann (Brabham), Revson and Hulme (McLaren). Peterson completed eleven kilometres, then stopped after the Adenau bridge with problems with the electrical system. Lauda, in the next lap, went off the track at 250 km/h and hit the guardrails. The Austrian only suffered a fracture of his right hand while the car was destroyed. The intervention of fire and rescue vehicles is very prompt. Except for Ickx, the group chasing the Tyrrell duo gradually fell apart. Revson lost contact from first hitting a wheel against a barrier and Hulme had to stop in the garage to have a wayward injector adjusted. Pace emerged, with Surtees, author of a brilliant performance, while Emerson Fittipaldi, tired and sore in his right foot, sailed darkly, gaining a modest sixth place. Stewart and Cevert were happy at the end and Ickx was measuredly happy.
"I couldn't do more than that. The car was new to me and I don't know how to perform miracles. Today, however, the Tyrrells were very strong. Unattainable".
Monday 6 August 1973 a roaring noise, the vibration of the windows, the piercing roar that goes away, interrupt the conversation between the journalists and Enzo Ferrari, in Fiorano. Is it the brand new Ferrari BB?
"No, it's the Daytona".
From the back of the room, a waiter who is drying the water spilled in tubs by a storm, confirms:
"It's the Daytona".
You just have to believe blindly, here you can recognize the cars by the sound of the cylinders. As a matter of fact, we are in Fiorano, in the rustic building on the edge of the track where the Ferraris test. The manufacturer from Modena, tall, imposing, with very dark lenses, hides his 75th birthday well. He spends twelve hours of the day working, some in the office in Modena, others in the Maranello factories, and ends the day here, on the edge of the track.
"There in Maranello there is the past, the cars already built, he says; here we think about the machines of the future".
You have the feeling of being the most prestigious manufacturer of racing and grand touring cars in the world. What emotions do you feel at this thought? Enzo Ferrari smiles with his lips pulled under his long pointed nose, and doesn't respond.
"I have the impression that, all things considered, he is a disappointed man, even if he doesn't give up a thousandth of his power. All the adventures, great and almost always exciting, are behind him, and he is not a man to look back on. look at them; despite the disappointments and the pain, he still has his eyes fixed forward. I have never felt any real, great satisfaction. Everything I have had, I have paid at a high price, sooner or later. When I felt a I was already wondering how much it would cost me”.
When did he feel the invincible attraction of the automobile?
"I could say forever, but my first competitive exploits began when I was 21 years old. We were a bit crazy then, and we put a lot of imagination into that motor racing which was based almost exclusively on the individual skills of the driver. In those days, whoever held the steering wheel of a racing car was also a talented mechanic, a courageous test driver. Today there is very little sport left in racing, which has become a spectacle rather than a test of excellence. In those days, the technical and sporting content was predominant in running, today the focus is on the spectacular aspect".
When he ran, and took part in an infinite number of competitions, from the Mille Miglia to the Coppa Acerbo, to the Coppa Florio, did he ever feel what is called the fear of dying?
"Only once, I think, and it was in 1921, in the tests for the Italian Grand Prix on the Brescia circuit. Suddenly, near Montichiari, a herd of cows crossed my road; I had time to feel a violent shiver down my spine, and I found myself upside down in a ditch. However, in those terrible moments, you don't have time to be afraid; the emotion, even the terror, are unleashed later, when you start to think about the past risk. But as long as running represents an irreplaceable outlet, the danger is not assessed. In a pilot, this evaluation takes on singular dimensions. I saw many friends die while racing, but I too, like everyone else, thought that it couldn't happen to me and this stemmed, in my opinion, from the desire to find a justification for the risk inherent in racing. But when you start to evaluate the danger, the race becomes anguish, and then you have to find the strength to abandon".
When did you stop running?
"In 1932, when my son Dino was born. It was a decisive event, because I began to realize that there was something else to think about, and from that moment the races became a succession of anguish".
And how did you get the idea to build cars?
"My passion for motors was transferred into the desire to modify cars, create new ones, but above all to inspire a technical and sporting enterprise that could serve young people ignited by the same passion for the activity that I had had to interrupt".
Which driver, his opponent in the race, or personal friend, do you admire the most?
"All the drivers who raced for my team deserve affection, respect, gratitude, but the one who left an indelible mark is still Tazio Nuvolari, who became a legend for his audacity in his race conduct and his contempt for danger. I believe he always ran with the courage of desperation, that he sought death on the track to escape the excruciating memory of his two sons lost at a very young age. I understood it, and I understood it even more when I too felt the same pain as him".
Was he very close to his son?
"With superhuman strength. Then, beyond the love of a father, the vision of the future stirred in me, the certainty that Dino would continue my work with the same passion".
When Dino passed away in 1956, didn't you think about abandoning everything, that it was no longer worth continuing?
"I had moments of profound confusion, as if I no longer knew what to do. Someone tried to lead me to the consolations of faith, but that escape into religion wasn't enough for me. Then I understood that work was the only salvation for me, the anchor I had to hold on to so as not to get lost".
Does he consider himself a religious man?
"Not in the usual sense of the word. In the religion that I was taught at school there seems to be a lot of confusion, that just God who rewards and punishes leaves me perplexed, I find that it is all a construction of us men. Furthermore, it seems very difficult to me to establish whether one is religious or not. One evening, while my son Dino and I were traveling in the mountains, we stopped for a while. It was a very clear night, with all the stars in relief in the dark sky. I thought: is there really an entity that has harmonized this universe? But I couldn't get beyond this question. I continue to search, even in the many readings I do, but without finding an answer".
He was a loving and attentive father, does he think he was also a good son for his mother?
"My mother died six years ago, at 94, lucid and thoughtful until the last moment. I believe I was for her, even on the last day, her great pride, but also her daily torment. I loved her deeply, but my temperament made me unpredictable".
You, a man of adventure, determined to face mortal risks, to throw yourself into undertakings that are not always successful, how do you judge yourself in your relationships with other men, with your collaborators, with your family members?
"I leave the judgment to others, and I think it's not very positive. I am considered a difficult man, and I think I am".
In what sense?
"I am not a man of lukewarm loves, I go all one way or all the other. And up to this point, the problem is that I combine this passion of mine with an unscrupulousness of expression that is not normally used. However, despite recognizing this negative aspect, I do not correct myself, nor do I try to do so, it seems to me to be the chrism of the sincerity of my thoughts. Why should I respond kindly to a person if I feel like sending him to the gallows? I feel like I would be lying to myself. Also, think about my age; if I have always done it even when it was harmful to me, why should I give up saying what I think right now?"
Probably, he never measured his words, and always had the courage to recognize it. Just read the pages in his book. The reins of success, dedicated to Juan Manuel Fangio, who he esteemed as a driver, to realize with how many and even brutal frankness he expressed his judgments, his opinions of him. At this point the discussion returns to the drivers, who are somewhat of the fulcrum on which Ferrari's social-sporting-advertising glory rests. In his opinion, which pilot embodies the ideal?
"The ideal pilot doesn't exist, just as the ideal woman doesn't exist, he replies. Everyone has qualities and flaws; today's pilots have very different characteristics from those that distinguished the pilots of my youth. I ask for millions like movie stars for every race, they show up on the track like actors putting on a show; this is no longer competing".
That impression of a disappointed man felt at the beginning of the conversation becomes clearer, I feel that he believes in few things, one of which is work. He says:
"Yes, that's all I have left. Reading can't occupy me for too many hours, so I go to the office in Modena, to the factory in Maranello, here on the track, where I stay until late in the evening. If I gave up this too I would feel unemployed, unable to fill the hours of my days".
The storm that was already grumbling breaks out furiously, slamming doors and window shutters, entering the room with streams of water and hail. Enzo Ferrari runs to call someone to stop, at least at home, that deluge which fortunately does not last long. Twenty minutes, and the sun is already clear again playing among the thinning clouds. As a technician, how do you judge the realization of his ideas by his collaborators?
"I am not a technician, I attended schools up to the level of what is currently defined as compulsory school. They gave me an honorary degree from the University of Bologna, but this does not allow me to define myself as a technician; I am a provocateur of technical discussions and diatribes, convinced that progress comes from disagreements, which are almost always heated".
Does he consider himself satisfied with what he has achieved?
"I don't know what to answer. Even today, when barricades are erected for bread in Italian cities, I wonder…".
He interrupts the sentence, then continues:
"I wouldn't want a political interpretation to be given to these words of mine, it's just a human observation, a question to ourselves to know what we've done with our life's work if events like the one in Naples still happen. I speak for myself, but the discussion could apply to everyone".
Do you discuss these issues with others?
"No, I'm a lonely man, and I like being alone".