How Did Enzo Ferrari Die? He Kept His Illness Secret From The Public

Lea Veloso
·4 min read
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With the new film starring Adam Driver hitting theaters, many film buffs and Formula 1 fans might be wondering how Enzo Ferrari died.

Enzo Ferrari was born on February 20, 1898 in Modena, Italy to successful carpenters. After being inspired to race from a young age, he joined Alfa Romeo as a driver where he won his first race at Ravenna in 1923. He shifted his focus on building cars after his 13 wins.

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Ferrari subsequently founded Scuderia Ferrari in 1929, where his car Alfa Type 158, won two world championships. He soon left Alfa Romeo and created the 125 S shortly after World War II which won multiple Grand Prix. His dominance in the sport led him with the name “Il Drake” and he enjoyed a career with many victories. However, behind the scenes was plagued with several controversies. He was indicted for manslaughter, and acquitted after the Spanish driver Alfonso de Portago ran off the road in 1958 and killed several civilian spectators. He also dealt with the early death of his son Dino and infidelity cases.

Enzo Ferrari by Brock Yates

$24.99

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“It’s true that I have never met any man whom I thought altogether resembled me — but only because my faults are so enormous,” he wrote in his autobiography. “I have yet to meet anyone quite so stubborn as myself and animated by this overpowering passion that leaves me no time for thought or anything else. I have in fact no interest in life outside racing cars,” he wrote. “I have never gone on a real trip, never taken a holiday. The best holiday for me is spent in my workshops when nearly everybody else is on vacation.”

His story serves as the basis for the biopic Ferrari. “During the summer of 1957, bankruptcy looms over the company that Enzo Ferrari and his wife built 10 years earlier. He decides to roll the dice and wager it all on the iconic Mille Miglia, a treacherous 1,000-mile race across Italy,” as the synopsis of the film goes.

“The decision I made that Adam should be Enzo came from having drinks at Chateau Marmont in Sunset Boulevard,” Mann tells the Inside Total Film podcast. “There was something about how he’s lived life. He has a raw ambition, an artistic ambition, and real ferocity behind that drive to really do this work, do it really well, and really get it. You see it all over, it’s a transformational performance in how he moves, how he walks, the weight, how he breathes.”

So how did Enzo Ferrari die? Read more to find out.

1. How did Enzo Ferrari die?

How did Enzo Ferrari die? According to The Los Angeles Times at the time of his death, no cause of death was given but he was known to have been suffering from a kidney disease.

Ferrari’s website stated that his kidney failure led him to have long dialysis sessions at his house in Modena. He passed away on August 14, 1988, at 7 a.m. and ordered that his death would be announced at 8 a.m. the following day which would have been past the time of his funeral.

In 1969, he told 50 percent of his company to Fiat, which was controlled by the Agnelli family, for $11 million. The remaining 10 percent share was inherited by his only surviving son, Piero, who was born to Enzo’s mistress, Lina Lardi, in 1945. In 2015, Ferrari went public and Piero’s stake was valued at around $2 billion. In 2023, he’s estimated to be worth around $7.2 billion.

“The size of the company now is very different, it would be difficult for him to imagine, but the DNA of Ferrari from my father’s time is still there, every employee is proud to work for Ferrari,” Piero told The Guardian in 2020. “I hope there will be another 1,000 to come. I will not be there to see it but I hope my grandchildren will. There has never been the question of do we race next year or not? Never. We are competing in F1 we have always been there. It is not a question. It is a fact. We are in F1 and we will continue.”

Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine by Brock Yates

Enzo Ferrari by Brock Yates

$24.99

Buy Now

As the book that inspired the film, Enzo Ferrari is the impressively researched, fully detailed biography of one of the most powerful men of the twentieth century. Brock Yates penetrated Ferrari’s inner circle and reveals everything, from his early days in the town of Modena to his bizarre relationship with his illegitimate son; from his fanatic passion for speed to his brilliant marketing of the famous Ferrari image; from his manipulative but enormously effective management tactics to his own frustrated dreams. Fast, fun, and scandalous, Enzo Ferrari more than lives up to its remarkable subject.

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