But you can imagine one Ferrari Of F1 not colored red? Difficult, almost impossible. Throughout history the Prancing Horse single-seaters have always had variations on the color theme, not least the touch of blue in Miami. But there’s no compromise on red. Yet in the last few hours the idea of seeing a darker, even black Ferrari from next year has taken hold, precisely with the arrival of the market coup, Lewis Hamilton.
The 7-time Formula 1 world champion did not shy away from the question of whether this scenario is possible. But above all, what is behind this idea? What are the reasons? Let’s find out together.
Hamilton at Ferrari, the red becomes black? Lewis’ battles have something to do with it
Hamilton and Ferrari they shook the world of F1 earlier this year announcing their 2025 wedding. The British driver has won six of seven World Championships with Mercedes. Hamilton’s relationship with the Mercedes has extended well beyond the track, with the German team having in recent years supported the 39-year-old’s various social campaigns for greater diversity, inclusiveness in F1 and the motor racing sector.
In recent years, riding the movement Black Lives Matter Mercedes to meet its standard bearer has married the association of Sir Lewis called ”Mission 44” aimed at helping young people build a more just and inclusive future by adopting a predominantly black livery espousing the anti-racism message carried forward by Hamilton. After returning to the traditional silver shade in 2022, Mercedes again fielded a black car last season while this year it has a mix of both black and silver.
From the moment Hamilton will set foot in Maranello next year, someone thought that there too Ferrari can embrace Lewis’ battles and why not, according to this current, think about “darkening” the liveries of its single-seaters. After all, even road Ferraris aren’t all red…
Black Ferrari for Hamilton: the web rises up, Lewis responds
Obviously the provocation, because that’s what it is, quickly made the rounds on the web, triggering several annoyed comments from purist fans of the Ferrari. Furthermore, since Hamilton is not loved by the entire world, this joke has done nothing but exacerbate the division within Ferrari fans over the opportunity to take a 40-year-old albeit super famous in Maranello.
To try to clarify the issue, the words of Lewis Hamilton himself who, when prodded on the subject, said without problems: “I haven’t driven a black car in a while, so I probably won’t push for something like this too soon, but no. We’ve definitely talked about impact work, and John and the team do a lot of philanthropic work, so we’ll be working closely with Mission 44 and the impact stuff that they’re making. I think inside the sport we need to continue to do more, but outside we will do quite a lot together, so it’s really exciting.”
Black Ferrari, the precedent with Michael Schumacher ’97
A black Ferrari? Yes, there was. And Michael Schumacher drove it. Incredible but true. As mentioned in the beginning, the color of the Ferrari F1 has always been red except in the early days of motorsport, when the teams were identified with the national colours, and therefore the Maranello single-seaters were blue which confused them with the French ones. Hence the use of red which has always been the color of Ferrari.
But there is an exception. Not in the official race though. On 23 December 1997, two days before Christmas, the Prancing Horse team organized a test in a very cold Fiorano to test the F300 which should have erased the disappointment of the defeat in the World Championship in the last race against Jacques Villeneuve’s Williams in the cursed one Jerez Sunday.
The rush to allow Schumacher to test the new single-seater led to a pure carbon fiber single-seater being put on the track, therefore black in colour, without sponsors and with only the prancing horse. That was the only time a black Ferrari was seen except for occasions of mourning, such as after 9/11 and the attack in New York when Ferrari showed up at the following Italian GP in Monza with a all black nose and the rest of the red livery.
