Capturing the magic

The new book by Motorsport Images, "Ferrari: From inside and Outside", is an act of love both for Scuderia Ferrari and for Formula 1 itself.

It brings together two of the paddock's most legendary photographers, Ercole Colombo and Rainer Schlegelmich (the two friends attended more than 1300 GPs) who have experienced Ferrari from different perspectives, immortalizing the Prancing Horse with their own unique styles.

Rainer Schlegelmilch captured this astonishing shot of Stefan Johansson's Ferrari during the Monaco GP in 1985. The photographer has been taking photos at Formula One races for more than forty years

“It was a real privilege to be able to work with Ercole on this volume,” explains Schlegermilch, “because together with me he was the author of a process of stylistic innovation that helped make Formula 1 a different category than all the others. I started before him in 1962 – he arrived eight years later – but I think that together we represent a good cross-section of what this sport has been, from the point of view of communication through images. The secret to this? Probably the fact that we experienced it by coming into direct contact with all its protagonists”.

Ercole agrees: "Many times with Rainer we sat down to look at each other's photographs and it's nice that we were offered the opportunity to get together in the pages of this volume".

In this series of photographs, Ercole Colombo is pictured with legends of Formula One, Alain Prost, Nelson Piquet and the late Niki Lauda; Enzo Ferrari plants a kiss on a sheepish Gilles Villeneuve and finally Colombo is again seen with Alain Prost, this time with fellow Ferrari driver Michele Alboreto

The idea was born in 2021, on the sidelines of the "F1 Heroes" exhibition, which showcased some of the shots of Colombo and Schlegelmilch contained in the book of the same name. That exhibition, organized for the occasion of the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, was where Ercole, Rainer and Mike Zoi, patron of Motorsport Images, met and realized that Ercole (who had a direct relationship of trust with Enzo Ferrari) and Rainer had been privileged witnesses to some of the greatest highlights of the Scuderia Ferrari adventure in Formula 1.

To make the work even more prestigious, there are also the testimonies of key individuals involved in the making of the Scuderia’s unique F1 story. Collected by Formula 1 commentator James Allen, the book contains contributions from many Ferrari protagonists, including Piero Ferrari, Luca di Montezemolo, Mauro Forghieri, Jean Todt and Stefano Domenicali.

Rainer Schlegelmilch's spectacular action shots taken trackside in different eras show just how up close and personal the photographer has been able to get

Ercole, who in the first pages presents a photograph taken at Brands Hatch in 1977 in which the royal band seems to be playing for just him, is in no doubt about which images from the book he is most fond of: "Surely two linked to Villeneuve: Enzo's kiss to Gilles and his Ferrari number 27 sideways on a curb of the Buenos Aires track in 1981".

That shot really is special and is probably the photo that circulates the most on the web. “It is natural that this is the case,” comments Colombo. “Because that shot is a manifesto of Formula 1: an extreme sport made by extraordinary people who know how to continually push the limit and know how to combine it with aesthetic beauty and gesture. In addition, the car is a Ferrari number 27, and the driver is Gilles Villeneuve".

Another classic Schlegelmilch trackside shot shows Jacky Ickx in his Ferrari during the 1970 German Grand Prix

That image is now manifested as a photo poster, found within the pages of the book.

‘Ferrari: From inside and Outside’ is a truly unmissable book that not only takes a dip into the history of the Prancing Horse but also helps to understand why this category of motorsport is different from all the others.