Piero Ferrari gives the good and bad points of the film “Ferrari” by Michael Mann

In France, fans must be champing at the bit. In fact, the film Ferrari "To Michael Mann will only be released on Amazon Prime Video during the year 2024, while the feature film starring Adam Driver and Penelope Cruz has been on big screens in the United States and Great Britain since Christmas.

For now, we can only content ourselves with opinions from the foreign press and above all, anecdotes reported by Piero Ferrari, the son of Enzo Ferrari. The vice-president of the Italian manufacturer gave his opinion regarding several scenes in the film. It seems that this work takes some distance from reality!

First of all, the film focuses on the “Commendatore”’s obsession with motor racing, apparently ready to do anything to satisfy his ambitions for victory. To which Piero Ferrari adds nuance. “He wasn’t like that. He wanted to win yes. This was always his goal, in all the challenges he posed. But he did not want to win at all costs, especially not by placing the lives of his pilots in danger.

In reality, following a serious accident like that of the Mille Miglia (see below) and that of Lorenzo Bandini (at the 1967 Monaco GP. Editor’s note), (Enzo Ferrari) came home and said “It’s enough, we can’t continue like this, we have to stop racing.” »

ALSO READ > VIDEO – Leclerc on track with the 312 Ferrari 1 F1967 “Spaghetti”

Then, the following Monday, he would come into the office, look at his workers, his mechanics, and ask, “Well, what are we going to do now?” We must move forward and ensure that such tragedies do not happen again. » This is how he found the courage to continue. »

Then, Piero Ferrari is depicted as a child looking for the autograph of Alfonso de Portago, the Spanish driver who died during the 1957 Mille Miglia and whose death constitutes one of the central points of the plot.

“It’s a poetic bias of the film, because at that time, people didn’t really ask for autographs. At least, that wasn’t my case, nor that of my friends! But it’s a fun touch because the passion was actually focused on the pilots. But there was not yet this autograph hunt. »

In the film, Enzo Ferrari follows every section of the tedious Mille Miglia event. However, this was not the case in reality according to his son. “He always went to Bologna to watch the race and very often went to the start located in Brescia. But never in Rome! That's what I remember. »

Piero Ferrari recognizes, however, that the film correctly depicts the schedule of his glorious father. “Yes, he spent most of his time at the factory, close to the cars, the engines, discussing technical details. I remember that every year in May he asked which engine to take to Monza for testing. He made changes to projects, but only on a general level, not on details. That was the job of engineers. And he could be very fussy about it. »

In the film, Enzo Ferrari only gives his trust to a group of close friends, hand-picked. This is also true to reality according to Piero Ferrari. “There were people that Enzo trusted completely and others that he asked the heads of different departments in the company to keep an eye on.