Calling in Aurelio Lampredi to replace Gioacchino Colombo as technical director, Enzo Ferrari directed that the company work in stages to grow and develop an entirely new large-displacement V12 engine for racing.

This 4.5-litre (4493.73 cc/274 in3) engine produced roughly the same power as its 4.1-litre predecessor, but its tractability earned Ascari second place in that debut race.

A series of modifications through the 1951 season allowed Ferrari to finally put Alfa Romeo behind it in a Formula One race, with José Froilán González' victory at Silverstone on July 14 becoming the constructor's first World Championship win.

Ascari's wins at the Nürburgring and Monza and strong finishes throughout the season cemented the company's position as a Formula One contender.

Surtees won the second race, the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix, a track that favoured power with its long straights, but the 1964 champion departed after a row with manager Eugenio Dragoni.

Mike Parkes replaced Surtees, who went to Cooper which used Maserati engines, to finish second in the driver championship with a further win.

[9][10][11] The 640 was powered by Ferrari's Tipo 035/5, a 3.5 litre 65° V12 engine which initially produced 600 bhp (447 kW; 608 PS), but eventually outputted up to 660 bhp (492 kW; 669 PS) by the season end, roughly the same amount of power as the engine it replaced, the Tipo 033A V6 turbo, though without the turbo's fuel consumption worries.

[14][15][16] This quickly and heavily evolved, when a new engine, named Tipo 043 debuted at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix qualifying sessions, and was first raced in Hockenheim.

[18][19] By the end of the 1994 season, Ferrari's Tipo 043 V12 was putting out around 850 hp (634 kW)[16] @ 15,800 rpm, which is to date the most-powerful naturally-aspirated V12 engine ever used in Formula One.