Champions who missed the Ferrari date

Image Courtesy: Formula 1.com

The late 1970s weren’t a lovable chapter of Ferrari, Niki Lauda returned from his career threatening injuries and dominated the 1977 World Championship, and he had to overcome several odds including that of the political scenario within the team, as his teammate was more favored, and his relations within the team wasn’t at its best. They managed to produce bankable cars in the following years, as the team had to cope up with the rising technological innovations that its peers were bringing out to the track.

The team lost the 1978 World Championship to Lotus and its Ground Effect cars, and the following year was an most underrated year of all time for Ferrari. Jody Scheckter battled extremely hard and fair to clinch the driver’s championship. We have to feel for Jody Scheckter who hasn’t got his due recognition in that year. The team lost ground in the following year, with the 1981 season being the distinct improvement over its predecessor for Ferrari, but the real domination occurred in the 1982 season when the team learnt its lessons with the new chassis and new power plant from its previous year.

However, the internal turmoil proved to be too fatal for the team, and the team lost its two drivers, but fortunately though, they won the Constructors Championship. The following year, the team retained the constructors championship, but neither of its drivers were able to challenge for the Drivers Championship. The team wasn’t able to challenge either the McLaren or Williams from the 1984 season, although they managed to get into the Top 4 places until the 1999 season when the era of Schumacher begun.

This particular tenure belonged to the drivers like Mario Andretti, Alan Jones, Keke Rosberg and Nelson Piquet. Mario Andretti drove for Ferrari, and again made a brief return in 1982. Alan Jones was involved in a gusty battle with his teammate over the course of 1981 season, and then retired from Formula 1 before making a brief return in 1983 and 1985 seasons, and eventually returned to Formula 1 for a full time in the following season. However, his limited appearances with Arrows and Team Haas racing wasn’t up to the mark, although he was on running for a podium whenever the car permitted. Keke Rosberg won the World Championship in 1982 while driving for Williams, and for the last season of his career, switched to McLaren. Both these drivers were in the peak of their career, and they dictated their career terms.

Perhaps Alan Jones could have made a switch to Ferrari if there was an opportunity?

Actually there was two chances for Alan Jones to drive those prancing horses. In 1978, Ferrari wanted an American driver, and contacted Mario Andretti who rejected the offer to sign up for Lotus. Alan Jones was given a contract, but then Ferrari abandoned the contract in favor of Gilles Villeneuve which proved to be a blessing in disguise for Jones as he went onto win the World Championship. Again in 1982, Enzo Ferrari wanted Alan Jones to replace the injured Pironi, but this time, Alan Jones had rejected the offer which went to Mario Andretti.

Next up was Keke Rosberg who could have never seen a Ferrari move, as he considered a team that could give him a chance to fight for the Championship, and Ferrari wasn’t an obvious choice in this short tenure. To add more spice to this story, it was revealed that Keke wanted his son to stay at Mercedes rather than opt for Ferrari, and play a second fiddle to Alonso.

The last of the drivers in the era that ended with Senna, and could have driven for Ferrari was Nelson Piquet Sr. As Piquet himself admitted in his recent interviews, he never recovered from the Imola crash in 1987, and later went towards the opportunities that fetched him money. Add to this fact, Piquet’s controversial interview on ‘Playboy’ fetched him no prizes either.

Images Courtesy: F1 Fanatic

Among the modern day Champions who never raced for Ferrari include the likes of Jacques Villeneuve, Mika Häkkinen, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and the modern phenomenon Sebastian Vettel. There wasn’t a real chance for Jacques Villeneuve or Mika Hakkinen to join Ferrari, and it was for obvious reasons. Jacques Villeneuve was widely expected by the public to follow his father’s footsteps, but the only time he drove a Ferrari was at the Fiorano test track in 2012 where he drove the Ferrari 312 T4 driven by his father in the 1979 season.

Jenson Button has long had the desire to join the prancing horses, and the Italian team too expressed their desire on Jenson Button on a positive way, especially after the 2009 season. But it has to be noted that there were countless opportunities for Ferrari to sign Button, and nothing progressed so far in these years, and it would be highly unlikely to see this Brit at the Ferrari.Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel have equal chances for a Ferrari drive in the near future. In all likelihood, with Mercedes shaping up pretty well, and with the immense Technical resources on their table, Hamilton could see out his career at Mercedes.

Could Vettel be the potential candidate to replace Alonso/Raikkonen for the year 2015?

With their depleting technical staff, Red Bull will have a hard task of keeping their position at the top, and it has to be seen if Adrian Newey can keep the team at its pinnacle or if they bow out to their mighty challengers. If Newey can keep the team on top, Vettel could stay with the team, and in those circumstances, we could see the emergence of Hulkenberg and Bianchi to partner either of Raikkonen or Alonso for the 2015 season.