Top Formula 1 legends failed at Ferrari before signing Lewis Hamilton

The last time Ferrari won the world championship was in 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen. The Italian team has a long history of championship drought since their debut in 1950. Only Michael Schumacher made them consistent by winning 5 consecutive world titles for the team. They have signed the 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton to end their championship drought. In the past, Ferrari signed many great Formula 1 drivers to end their championship drought but everyone failed.

F1 Legends failed at Ferrari

Nigel Mansell (1989)

The British Formula 1 driver was the last driver handpicked by Enzo Ferrari before he died in 1988. Enzo called Mansell “One of the greatest in my career.” The Italians called him ‘il leone’ (The Lion) because of his aggressive and fearless driving skills. 

1989 was the first season with Non-Turbo engines and semi-automatic gearboxes. Mansell became the first F1 driver to win a race with a semi-automatic gearbox at the 1989 Brazilian Grand Prix his first race with the Italian team. But for the rest of the year, he struggled with his gearbox and various issues in his car. He was there for the 1989 and 1990 seasons but couldn’t win the title for the team.

Alain Prost (1990-1991)

One of the Greatest drivers of all time Alain Prost came to Ferrari after fighting with Ayrton Senna and the McLaren management. He was the first Ferrari driver signed after the death of Enzo Ferrari. Prost came to Ferrari as a world champion beating his arch-rival Senna at Mclaren.

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Ferrari was the only team that challenged Honda and Senna in the 1990 F1 season. The title fight went to the final race in Japan with Prost trailing Senna by 9 points. But a collision between him and Senna ended his race and thus the French driver lost his world championship. In 1991 he faced reliability issues and couldn’t win the title so he moved to the Williams team.

Fernando Alonso (2010-2014)

The two-time world champion Fernando Alonso was brought in from Renault in 2010. In his first year, he challenged Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Mark Webber for the world title. He was on the verge of winning the world title after heading into the final race at Abu Dhabi leading by 8 points. 

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But he lost the championship to Sebastian Vettel after starting 4th and finishing 7th. In 2011 he had many reliability issues nothing new for Ferrari. In 2012 he led the title fight up to the middle of the year and again faced issues in his car that made it uncompetitive. In 2013 Alonso again finished second in the driver's championship and the Spaniard's final season with Ferrari was in 2014 when he fell to sixth place.

Sebastian Vettel (2015-2020)

To counter Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari brought Sebastian Vettel who has the same kind of Aura as Hamilton. He joined the team in 2015 after Alono’s exit. The four-time world champion steadied the Ferrari ship against the tough Mercedes drivers by bringing consistent points and podium finishes. 

From 2017 he challenged Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes for the championship. He too faced issues in his car and the Maranello team let him down many times with their strategy even after qualifying the fastest. In 2018 he lost the title lead after his mistake in Germany and never recovered.

In the 2019 season, Ferrari brought Charles Leclerc and vettel lost his importance in the team. His last win came at the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix and by the end of the 2020 season, he left the team and was replaced by Carlos Sainz.

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