Few would write off the Italian team fighting back in 2006 and regaining the titles that they lost last season.

An ever-present since the first GP back in 1950, Ferrari is as much an F1 racing institution as it is a world institution.

Their F1 story started at Silverstone in 1951 when Froilan Gonzalez recorded their first GP win.

The following year the legendary Alberto Ascari won the first of his two consecutive drivers' titles in a Ferrari.

The 1952 and 1953 seasons were two of their most successful ever with seven wins coming in each.

Though the 1950's and 1960's success came at regular intervals with a number of the great Champions such as Fangio, Hawthorn Phil Hill and John Surtees.

In addition, the team secured constructors' titles in 1961 and 1964.

However, the apogee of their power would come in the 1970's, winning the constructors' championship four times, including a hat-trick through 1975, 1976 and 1977.

Niki Lauda took the drivers' title in '75 and '77 and but for a horrendous accident at Nurburgring in which he almost lost his life, the little Austrian would have prevailed in 1976 as well.

Ferrari finished the decade in style with Jody Scheckter winning the 1979 drivers' championship and helping them to the constructors' title the same year.

After that however, the team struggled, with just three titles (constructors' in 1982, '83 and '99), as rivals McLaren and Williams established themselves.

They also suffered terrible misfortune, the tragic death of Gilles Villeneuve in 1982 probably denied him and the team the title and Alain Prost was denied the drivers' crown in 1990 after Ayrton Senna took him out of the final race at Suzuka.

In fact Ferrari's win at Jerez in September 1990 turned out to be their last GP win until July 1994 as they struggled with an uncompetitive and unreliable car.

However, the arrival of Jean Todt as team boss and designer John Barnard began a slow revival in the team's fortune.

The signing of Michael Schumacher from Benetton before the start of the 1996 season brought them success on a more regular basis.

In 1999, having taken the title to the wire for the third successive season, Ferrari were rewarded with the constructors' title.

But when Schumacher crashed out of the British GP (subsequently missing the next six races), it was left to Eddie Irvine to take up the fight.

The Ulsterman gave it his best shot, but it was not to be.

For 2000 Rubens Barrichello joined Michael Schumacher as Ferrari tried to end a 21- year drought.

Following a tremendous start to the season when the German won three successive GPs, McLaren began to gain the upper hand.

However, a string of great performances at the end of the season saw Schumacher claim his third (and Ferrari's 10th) drivers' title.

2001 was another triumph for the Scuderia.

Williams were fast and McLaren were consistent, but neither were fast and consistent and Ferrari eventually won both drivers' and constructors' titles at a canter.

In 2002 Schumacher's dominance reached epic proportions.

Barrichello took all the bad luck as Schumacher went on to finish every race of 17 on the podium, winning 11 times.

Ferrari won 15 out of 17 races, narrowly failing to beat McLaren's 15-from-16 win percentage of 1988.

Though the F2002 was a truly remarkable race car, the team personnel were criticised for their blinkered view of the sport by imposing team orders at only the sixth race of the year in Austria when Rubens Barrichello was asked to give up the win.

At Indianapolis, Schumacher eased up just short of the line and accidentally handed him a race win back, which prompted renewed criticism.

Team orders were gone for 2003, but that did little to stop Schumacher from winning his sixth title.

He claimed six wins, while team-mate Barrichello won a further two, handing Ferrari their fifth successive teams' title.

Remarkably, 2004 proved to be an even more comfortable stroll for the team as Schumacher notched 13 wins, including the first five of the campaign, and by the halfway stage the incredible German had yet another title in the bag.

A few races later Ferrari also successfully defended the constructors' crown - aided by two Barrichello victories.

But nothing lasts forever and in 2006 Ferrari and Schumacher's success story came to a crashing end as they lost both titles to Renault.

The defeat, though, wasn't Schumacher's fault and it was only partly Ferrari's.

The general consensus in the paddock was that the blame rested squarely with Bridgestone - the tyre manufacturer struggling to come up with a product hardy enough to last qualifying's three laps as well as Sunday's entire grand-prix distance. And last the required distance with speed.

As a result was the F2005 seldom kept pace with the Renaults and McLarens and while new champion Fernando Alonso and runner-up Kimi Raikkonen claimed seven wins apiece, Schumacher managed just one.

And that came at the controversial United States GP which took place sans the Michelin runners who were withdrawn on safety grounds.

It was also Ferrari's sole victory of the year.

But as quickly and dramatically as the Italian team's performances nosedived, few would bet against them rebounding.

And with the changes to tyre regulations expected to favour Bridgestone in 2006, Schumacher, his new team-mate Felipe Massa and the legendary Prancing Horse have every reason to believe success is only a chequered flag away.