05/09/2019
NEWS STORY
Thousands of fans packed the Piazza Duomo in Milan last night for the "90 Years of Emotion" event, organised by the ACI (Italian Automobile Club) to celebrate the 90th edition of the Italian Grand Prix, with Scuderia Ferrari the guest of honour, in the year it celebrates its 90th anniversary.
Ferrari past, present and future was on parade in a completely packed out Piazza Duomo, the team's amazing history having made it one of the principal ambassadors of motorsport around the world.
There was much to keep the crowd entertained, with special guests, a static car display and a parade, as well as drivers from the glorious past to the current line-up of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, the latter having just won last Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. Also present were the youngsters from the Ferrari Driver Academy.
Representing the ACI was its president, Angelo Sticchi Damiani, who has worked on promoting motor sport in Italy for many years, while AC Milano and SIAS (Società Incremento Automobilismo e Sport), long-time organisers of the Italian Grand Prix were represented by Geronimo La Russa and Giuseppe Redaelli respectively.
The event in the heart of Milan celebrated the 89 editions of the Italian GP held to date. The race has been held since well before the Formula 1 World Championship was established and the news that the Italian Grand Prix will continue at Monza until at least 2024 was met with great enthusiasm from the crowd.
Scuderia Ferrari was out in force, painting Milan red. Up on stage management from the past, including Luca di Montezemolo and Cesare Fiorio, Jean Todt, Stefano Domenicali and Maurizio Arrivabene, as well as Vice President, Piero Ferrari, the CEO, Louis Camilleri along with the current management and also a gang of former mechanics from the old days, some of them actually taken on by Enzo Ferrari himself.
A whole host of drivers from the past and present also took part. Among the many, Mario Andretti who famously took pole at Monza with Ferrari in 1982, along with Alain Prost, Jean Alesi, Gerhard Berger, Rene Arnoux, Eddie Irvine, Luca Badoer, Ivan Capelli, Giancarlo Fisichella, Kimi Raikkonen, Antonio Giovinazzi and Felipe Massa.
In addition, youngsters from the Ferrari Driver Academy were on hand, representing the future in the shape of Giuliano Alesi, Callum Ilott, Mick Schumacher, Marcus Armstrong, Robert Shwartzman, Enzo Fittipaldi and then the aforementioned current F1 line-up of Vettel and Leclerc.
On stage at the Piazza Duomo were some iconic cars from the Maranello marque, including the 1967 312 F1 as raced by Chris Amon, Clay Regazzoni's 312 B3/74, Gilles Villeneuve's 126 CK, the first turbocharged Ferrari to win a Grand Prix in Monaco in 1981, the Indycar prototype from 1986, the F2002, and of course, the SF90, fresh from its win in Belgium.
A great hit with the crowd in the Piazza Duomo was a parade of unforgettable cars. Among the jewels, the Alfa Romeo 8C driven in 1934 by Tazio Nuvolari, with Leclerc as a passenger, the 750 Monza with Vettel on board and the 312 T in which Niki Lauda won the 1975 world championship.
Apart from the racing cars, four beautiful road-going Ferraris were also there: the Monza SP1 and SP2 as well as an F8 Tributo and 488 Pista Spider.
Check out our gallery, here.