Enzo Ferrari: the true story. Driver? Not enough

The bond with Alfa. Ferrari had become more than just a driver for Alfa Romeo which, at the time, was still a small car manufacturer. The races were dominated by Fiat, and Enzo, who in that period had married a woman from Turin, Laura Garello, was instructed to contact a renowned Fiat designer, Luigi Bazzi, and convince him to develop Alfa’s Grand Prix model named the P1. Ferrari succeeded and in the process, gained both respect and esteem. And three months later he passed an even more difficult test: to lure the highly-esteemed technician, Vittorio Jano, away from Fiat. Once again Ferrari succeeded and their bond never faded. In the autumn of 1923, thanks to the young Modenese man, Alfa had the right team to excel. Jano set to work on the creation of the P2, with its straight-8 cylinder supercharged 2-litre engine.

<font size="3">Count Carlo Felice Trossi driving the Alfa Romeo P2, on his way towards victory on the torrid Circuit of Biella. To cool off he had the final section of the bonnet cut</font>

Enzo was now a young but very promising driver. His career looked like it was about to take off but, an unexpected yet deeply-considered doubt began to grow. After three consecutive victories with the RL Targa Florio that he knew very well, Alfa enrolled Enzo, together with Ascari, Campari and Wagner to race at the Grand Prix motor race at Lyon behind the wheel of the new P2 Grand Prix. Enzo was 26 years old, this was a fantastic opportunity to take the final step towards the highest levels of professional driving, but deep down he felt unable to handle the growing power of the big Alfa Romeo.