#Ferrari #great #seducer
Lewis Hamilton will land at the age of 40 in Maranello. He will not be the oldest champion, but he will be the most successful, with seven world titles behind him, trying to achieve the eighth, which would be the greatest of all. A double blow to Mercedes, returning the one received years ago with the signing of Schumacher for the ‘silver arrows’ to see if he could achieve eighth there.
Now I have the opportunity to fulfill another childhood dream: driving red in a Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton
Now Ferrari is left with another great, another giant that has not been able to say “no” to the charm of Maranello and to the salary that is never low (there is talk of astronomical figures, freedom to expand your brand and activities, etc.), fame and history, the only team that has always been in F1, where the titles are worth double, some say, the only one with fans all over the world, “the Scudería” in capital letters that does not need to have a leading car to remain a ‘premium’ destination. It is one of the few destinations to which A champion arrives with a humble gesture, to lend his shoulder and with millions of fans behind him so that…the Cavallino wins. Does Lewis fit that profile?.
Not all the champions who arrived made it, like Alonso or Vettel, and many were those who were fired like Fangio, Surtees or Prost of the great Italian magnet, but everyone enjoyed it because it is still one of the most powerful global brands.
The race started Juan Manuel Fangio, especially skilled at moving between teams (he won titles with four different teams), getting out of a Mercedes injured by the Le Mans tragedy, to stop at Maranello and win the fourth crown of the five he won, a record until 2003. He only managed three victories out of his 24 in F1, and he went to Maserati because It didn’t occur to him that Ferrari was ahead of his drivers and he collided head-on with Enzo Ferrari.
Another champion of the most sui generis It was John Surtees, the first and only motorcycle and F1 champion. Enzo already tried it in 1961 but he had so many drivers on the payroll (at that time there were not just two racing and for many years they shared a machine), that John said no. ‘You can’t say no. We never ask a driver to race for us twice,’ was the response.
But they called him again at the end of 1962 and 1964 was a historic year for the racing world: the son of the Wind” He is crowned and adds to his record of three world titles in the 350 category and four in the 500 category, all of them achieved between 1956 and 1960 with MV Agusta, the Formula 1 title with Ferrari. Like Fangio, it didn’t go well for the italian teamwho had many competitions to attend to, few developments, intermediate positions and ended up tired.
Alain Prost managed to be world champion four times, 1985, 1986, 1989 and 1993) and Ferrari arrived as three-time champion to lose sight of Senna. There he added 5 of his 51 victories in F1 and fulfilled his dream although it did not crown him with the title, in the umpteenth fight for Ayrton in the repetition of the Japan event a year before, and he also signed a tremendous exit, fired for saying that he was driving “a truck” in 1991 and without racing, with a contract, in 1992 although Ferrari paid him his salary. You can now be a four-time champion, you cannot disrespect the shield.
Michael Schumacher It was the first that cost the then capo Agnelli a real fortune: “He has not come precisely for a piece of bread” was the mythical phrase of the Avvocato. But the investment was more than repaid: from 1996 to 2007 he achieved 72 victories out of the 91 in his career there, five more world championships than the two he brought from Benetton, without speaking Italian in public but loved by the team to the core for his work and talent, which made him the most important driver in Ferrari history. There he took his entire ‘troupe’, the Byrnes and Brown in the technical section, and did not take Briatore because Todt was already righting the Italian ship. He remains an icon of the Cavallino and the last champion to win again in red.
Fernando Alonso He arrived like Michael, with two titles under his arm and the brilliant aura of the German. He achieved 11 victories and the 2010 title, the first year, he had to fall into the lap of not having that damned Abu Dhabi and the wrong decisions of the wall. He still fought it in 2012 with a car much inferior to Red Bull, but he also fell in the last round in Brazil. He won the hearts of the tifosi, who still remember him, at the level of Gilles Villeneuve. It was seen that in the hybrid era it was too much for Maranello and with the certainty that “they won’t win in five years.” And they go for 10.
Sebastian Vettel He is the last one until Hamilton, and in 2015 he doubled Fernando’s bet, four titles on the table, but he did not achieve the fifth either, with a powerful car for example in 2017, but less consistency from Fernando and a powerful rival like few others, the Mercedes of Hamilton, which he only temporarily stood up to. All in all, he added 14 victories.
