Ferrari’s leadership met Pope Benedict XVI on 4 December 2005, with Luca di Montezemolo presenting a charity cheque and a Formula 1 steering wheel from Michael Schumacher’s F2004.
The meeting followed the auction of the 400th Ferrari Enzo, produced for charitable purposes. Ferrari had turned a rare road car into a public gesture, then carried the proceeds into a Vatican audience. It was exactly the kind of ceremony Ferrari tends to understand: formal, symbolic and polished to within an inch of its life.
A steering wheel as a calling card
The F2004 steering wheel added a racing-specific note. Schumacher’s 2004 Ferrari was one of the most dominant cars in Formula 1 history, and the wheel represented the increasingly complex interface between driver and machine. By 2005, an F1 steering wheel was no longer just a device for pointing the car. It was a control centre, a display, a switchboard and a small reminder that modern drivers need thumbs with university degrees.
The Vatican setting created a strange but memorable contrast. Ferrari arrived not as a team chasing lap time, but as an Italian institution presenting charity money and a symbol of technical achievement. The meeting sat comfortably inside the company’s broader public identity, where racing success, national pride and carefully managed image often overlap.
Ferrari beyond the circuit
The event had no championship consequence, which is rather the point. It showed Ferrari using its status beyond the paddock, turning sporting hardware into cultural currency. Few teams could make a steering wheel feel like a diplomatic gift. Ferrari, naturally, could.
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