Tuscan Grand Prix: Ferrari to race in one-off livery in F1 race at Mugello

Ferrari are sixth in this season's Constructors' Championship

Ferrari’s cars will race in a special one-off livery at this weekend’s Tuscan Grand Prix, the team’s 1,000th Formula 1 world championship race.

The cars will be dark red, which the team say is a reproduction of the first Ferrari F1 car, the 125 F1 from 1950.

Drivers Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel will wear race suits in the same colour, while fans will be allowed to attend for the first time this year.

Mercedes will paint the safety car in red as a tribute to Ferrari’s standing.

In addition, Mick Schumacher, the son of Michael Schumacher, Ferrari’s and F1’s most successful driver, will do a demonstration run on race morning in his father’s final championship-winning car, the F2004.

The race’s official title also reflects Ferrari’s historic achievement.

Piero Ferrari, the company’s vice-president and the son of founder Enzo Ferrari, said the team’s 1,000th Grand Prix was “a very important milestone which had to be marked in a special way”.

He added: “It’s a tribute to our origins: to our starting point for the amazing Ferrari story, characterised by an endless desire to compete, alongside the will to build road cars that are exceptional in terms of technology and design.

“Ferrari is unique in the world, because the company has the soul of a car manufacturer and of a racing team, an inseparable link that is never questioned.”

Ferrari are having one of the worst seasons in their history, with a car that has lost engine performance as a result of a series of rule clarifications over the winter and a secret agreement with governing body the FIA, which believed the Ferrari engine was not running legally at all times last year but could not prove it.

Their best qualifying position at the last two races, at the historic Spa-Francorchamps and Monza tracks, was 13th, by Leclerc.

But the drivers are hopeful that the different characteristics of Mugello, which Ferrari own and is hosting its first Grand Prix, will be more favourable to them.

The 3.26-mile circuit is situated in the Tuscan hills, not far from Florence, and is renowned for its challenging nature and flowing, high-speed corners. The most famous of these are the two Arrabbiata - or ‘spicy’ - right-handers in the middle of the lap.

Vettel, a four-time champion who is leaving the team at the end of the season, said: “It’s a great honour to be driving a Ferrari in what is the 1,000th Grand Prix for this, the longest-serving of all F1 teams.

“It will be even more of a pleasure to celebrate the anniversary at Mugello and also because for the first time this season, a few spectators will be allowed into the grandstands.

“It is a very nice and super-technical track with changes of gradient and very demanding corners.

“The track should better suit our car, so let’s hope we can deliver something to please the tifosi, both at home and at the circuit.”

Mugello is allowing 2,880 spectators into the track each day from Friday onwards and all will be required to socially distance.