Champions who missed the Ferrari date

Image Courtesy: Go GP Series

Graham Hill had a story of his own, he joined the racing fraternity via the mechanical side, and had to work his way to becoming a driver. Hill hardly knew to drive a road car, and didn’t have the finances to pursue his racing ambitions, which ironically emerged within himself after he put a Formula 3 to its paces around the Brands Hatch circuit in 1953. Hill joined a racing school as a Mechanic, and soon became an instructor and that’s where he met Colin Chapman and hence joined the Team Lotus as a mechanic, but was awarded an occasional race drive. That wasn’t his ambition, and to quench his thirst, he joined BRM.

His determination and hard work paid off as the team started to punch above its weight, and Hill started to win races, and eventually a Championship. This propelled his way to the league of the mighty drivers, and his quick wit along with his antics was loved by one and all. His playboy lifestyle was perhaps the antidote to Jim Clark’s low key lifestyle. His fitting reply to all his critics was at the 1968 season when the devastated Lotus team was looking for a reason to stay motivated, and that’s when Hill rose up to the challenge to clinch his second World Title. Perhaps Ferrari should have tried their luck to lure Hill into their family, but going by the history books, just an simple offer could have done the job, and Hill could have been Ferrari’s solution.

Possibly one of the worst years of Ferrari followed from the year 1967 with Lorenzo Bandini crashed, and succumed to his injuries at the Monaco Grand Prix when he was trapped under his burning car. The year deteriorated in the worst possible way when Mike Parkes suffered career ending injuries at the Belgian Grand Prix, and the team’s other driver Ludovico Scarfiotti temporarily retired from racing after witnessing the crash.

Ferrari continued with Chris Amon for the 1968 season who led several races, but victory wasn’t a possible affair for him, although his teammate Jacky Ickx was more consistent and finished in Top 4 in 5 races. Ferrari sold its road car division to Fiat over the summer of 1968, and the team competed in the 1969 season which was when the transition was happening and Ferrari was restructuring its team to return to its former glory.

The year 1970 was better with an all new Engine, and the return of Jacky Ickx who went onto finish the Championship in a respectable second place, although the victory was in sight until the very end. Ferrari struggled to perform for the next few years, as further transition took place, with a lad named Luca di Montezemolo taking over as team principal in the year 1974 and the gusty Niki Lauda joined the team in the same year.

Around this time, new champions were crowned as Denny Hulme, Jochen Rindt, and Emerson Fittipaldi won the championships until the year 1974. It has to be noted that Graham Hill was still racing at this point of time, and although wasn’t exactly the same driver as he was before his major accident in the year 1969, Hill went onto break few more records, with the notable being the ‘Triple Crown’ of Motorsport. Hill started his own team in the year 1973, as there wasn’t a concrete offer from any of the works team.

Maybe Ferrari could have roped in Graham Hill as a driver cum Technical advisor to further help the team to regain its lost glory?