A HISTORY OF FERRARI IN FORMULA ONE BY KYOSHO ­ THE 1990'S
By David Cook

This is the fifth and next-to-last installment in our series spotlighting the Kyosho 1/64th scale Ferrari F1 cars. The uncanny accuracy and attention to detail on these models make them worthy of our attention.

The beginning of the 1990's were much like most of the 1980's for Ferrari ­ a dismal series of under-performing cars and drivers ­ a team down on its luck. By the end of the decade, however, all the parts were in place for a super team that would eventually dominate F1 like nothing seen since the beginning of the modern era.

The first model presented here is the 1992 F92AT (automatic transmission). This car featured a "bi-plane" two-part under tray in a search for more down force. The rules mandated a flat bottom but above this Ferrari designed a second curved piece. The rest of the car was pretty conventional and no wins were recorded that season. Chief stockholder Fiat had become very upset at the team's lack of results, so in another management shakeup, Jean Todt was made sporting director in 1993. Todt had recently led Peugeot to a world rally championship as well as two LeMans victories.

By 1995 Ferrari was making some progress and finally managed to give poor Jean Alesi his one and only victory in the improved 412T2 model (4 valves per 12 cylinders, type 2).

The real news at this point was that under Todt's leadership the team had taken a more organized approach to design and race preparation. With these elements and lots of cash they were able to entice current world champion driver Michael Schumacher to sign a long-term contract. At that point in his career, with 2 world championships under his belt, Schumacher relished the challenge of taking Ferrari to the top level.

For 1996, Schumacher immediately showed his worth by winning three races in the F310 (3-liter, 10-cylinder) shown here. The talented German finished third in the driver's championship and led Ferrari to second in the constructor's title that season.

Ferrari continued to improve and contended for wins and the championship through the end of the decade without actually gaining the top prize. For 1998, Schumacher won six races in the F300 model pictured here and finished second in the driver's championship. Ferrari again finished second in the constructors. In 1999, Ferrari finally won the constructors championship despite Schumacher missing much of the season due to an injury. His teammate Eddie Irvine finished second in the driver's championship that year.

By this time, Ferrari and Schumacher had assembled most of the key players that had taken him to two world championships with the Benneton team in 1994 and 1995. This combination of top personnel and heavy sponsorship dollars from Philip Morris (Marlboro) and others would set the stage for Ferrari to dominate the first half of the next decade as we shall see in the next and final installment of our series.

1996 F310

1996 F310

1996 F310

1998 F300

1998 F300

1998 F300

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