F1 Ferrari

It’s hard to put into words what Ferrari is in terms of Formula One. Over the years, Ferrari has been both splattered in plaudits; at times one has run out of superlatives to describe the Scuderia’s efforts in the sport. Other times, it feels like Ferrari has dragged the name of Formula One through the mud, stopping at nothing to win that next race, that next championship. Always fast, always controversial, but still to this day by far the most popular team in the sport.

In a way, Formula One IS Ferrari. You ask somebody who isn’t a fan of the sport to name a team, they could probably name Ferrari. And in a way, Ferrari is Formula One. Many young kids have grown up wanting to own a Ferrari supercar, after seeing the heroes of the race track hustle the glorious scarlet cars to success after success. You only have to look at some of the names that have driven for Ferrari in the past to know they are something special.

Ascari, Fangio, Hawthorn, Hill, Surtees, Lauda, Scheckter, Schumacher, Raikkonen. Names that roll of the tong as easily as those guys made it look on their way to victory.

Now Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso add their name to the impressive rostrum of Ferrari drivers, aiming to repeat the success of their peers. Every drive aims to drive for the “Red team”. Indeed, if it wasn’t for a cruel blow of fate in 1994, it’s believed that even Ayrton Senna aimed to drive for them after he’d finished with Williams.

Ferrari is not only the oldest team currently competing in the sport after competing for the first time in 1948, but the most successful team too, with 15 driver’s championships and 16 constructor’s championships, an unprecedented amount in this, one of the most competitive sports in the world, not just in the world of motorsport.

Never rule out Ferrari

It was not easy all the time though, for the Italian squad, based in Maranello. The team has had to go through some real hardships. Despite all the records the team has smashed over the decades, it also has the highest death rate in the sport. Many great drivers have sadly been killed driving for the team. The founder of the great squad, Enzo Ferrari, apparently was a ruthless, sometimes cold man, who never cared for driver relationships. He saw the name Ferrari as more important than the drivers who sometimes even made the ultimate sacrifice for him.

Despite this manner though, it is said that even he failed to be touched by the death of the popular Canadian driver, Gilles Villeneuve in 1982, the last driver to this day to be killed whilst racing for Ferrari. Hopefully that record will remain that way.

Previous to this though, in 1979, Ferrari began a long and painful barren spell. Jody Scheckter won the championship, but in doing so, became the last driver for 21 years to succeed at the squad. Many greats came and went, but none won the championship in the last few year of founder Enzo’s life, who
died in 1988.

Ferrari’s Success

Ferrari only recently came into their own in the 21st century, when a young Michael Schumacher left Benetton to join the uncompetitive Italian squad in 1996. In just 4 years, he turned around a struggling mid-field team to championship winners, building a super team around him of Jean Todt, Ross Brawn, Rory Bryne and numerous others. At the turn of the decade, Formula One became the Michael Schumacher show, winning race after race, smashing records for the most wins in a single season, winning the title just after half way through the season. It was metronomic. It was a pace the rivals couldn’t keep up with, panting breathless behind trying to even get so much as a look in. This dominance had a negative effect on the sport though, as many grew tired of the endless winning of Schumacher and Ferrari. Titles came in ’00, ’01, ’02, ’03, and ’04.

The run came to an end in 2005 though, after a raft of rule changes meant Ferrari and Schumacher were uncompetitive all year, only taking one victory the whole season, in that year’s American Grand Prix when only 6 cars raced. Renault’s Fernando Alonso dutifully took the title.

The two were to lock horns in a thrilling 2006 season, an almighty scrap between the youth of Alonso and the experience of Schumacher. The title ebbed and flowed between the two, Alonso looking like he’d walk it in the first half of the season, whilst Schumacher was caught up in yet another controversy at Monaco where he was seen to have deliberately crashed his car at slow speed in qualifying to stop his great rival from taking pole position.

The second half of the season was firmly Schumacher’s however, and after brilliant wins in China and Italy, he held a slender advantage over Alonso. It was at this point he announced his retirement from the sport at the end of the year, trying to win the title in his beloved Ferrari, One. More. Time.

It wasn’t to be. Whilst leading comfortably in Suzuka with just one race to go after that race, his engine blew, another cruel blow of fate, ironic that Ferrari’s infamous trait whilst Schumacher was there was always reliability. The championship was over, baring a miracle in Brazil, and that miracle never came.

Ferrari next won through Schumacher’s replacement, Kimi Raikkonen in 2007. The Finn won at a last race title decider against all the odds after the other two title challenges, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, struggled. He would win it by just one point.

Ferrari did win the constructor’s title in 2008, but not the driver’s title. Again, in a last race championship decider, Felipe Massa won the race, but his rival, Lewis Hamilton, just hung on in a crucial last lap, last corner overtake to win the title by one point.

Ferrari Improving

2009 was Ferrari’s worst year in decades. They suffered their worst start to the season since 1992, and more bad news was to come as Felipe Massa was injured in a horrific accident during qualifying for the Hungarian GP, which put him out for the rest of the year. Schumacher was initially due to be Massa’s stand in, but injury forced him out too. Things only picked up in the last part of the season with Raikkonen taking Ferrari’s only win of the season in Belgium. There were no pole positions for the Italian outfit though, the first time in many years, and by the end of the championship, they were a long way drift of winner’s Brawn and Jenson Button.

2010 has so far proved to be a mixed year for the squad, with only two wins marked up by Fernando Alonso at this point, albeit one in slightly controversial circumstances. But then again, that’s Ferrari.

Ferrari are the come back kids. Rule them out at this point at your peril. They are just hanging on in the title, but if anyone can win this title again, it’s Fernando Alonso.