It would seem incredulous to imagine F1 without Ferrari being the authority, such was their dominance since the turn of the new millennium but their performance in the past couple of years cannot help but raise the above question; Is Ferrari no longer a dominant force? Ferrari is seriously struggling out in the middle and they are finding hard to compete with the new guys (read Brawn and Red Bull) as well as keep pace with their old rivals.
Ferrari previously held the constructors championship way back in 2008 when Kimi Raikkonen and Massa combined to drive the Italian horse to the top of the table. But if one is looking to find when Ferrari won the driver’s championship it was even way back in 2007 when Kimi Raikkonen drove the prancing House for the driver’s driver.
That was the time till when there was the domination of Ferrari on the Formula 1 grid, but after that nothing seems to have gone right for them . The Italian outfit which once dominated the grid, was winning the titles on a regular basis suddenly became a struggling old horse of Formula 1.
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Till 2008 everything was looking on the right track when Ferrari won the constructors championship and the Finn driver Kimi Raikkonen finished in the second place in the driver’s standing. But after that nothing looked right for the 16 times constructor champion. Let’s have a look what happened in the 2009 and 2010 season.
2009 season changes the air in Formula 1
2009 season certainly marked the dawn of a new era in Formula 1, this very year saw the emergence of new force in the Formula 1 grid. This year also mark the end of Ferrari’s dominance in the Formula 1 grid.
Ferrari had a most miserable start to the season and weren’t able to score any points in the first four races of the season. Kimi opened the account of the team in the Bahrain GP when he finished 6th ,this being the worst start made by the Italian team in its history.
However, Ferrari’s form gradually improved as the season progressed as Kimi Räikkönen scored five podiums. The Italian team was totally outpaced by its rivals and new big boys on the grid were the ‘Red Bull’ and ‘Brawn GP’ teams. Ferrari’s form was so miserable that they failed to secure a single pole position in the 2009 season. Even the rookie team, ‘Force India’ managed a pole position in the Belgium GP.
In that year Ferrari not only lost the pace but they also lost Felipe Massa when he had a very heavy accident at Budapest during qualifying. Ferrari replaced him with Luca Badoer and then Giancarlo Fisichella but none of them were able to score points for the prancing horse. The Italian outfit finished the season at fourth place behind Renault.
Some critics after a miserable performance of Ferrari came out with the theory that Ferrari was much more concentrated to develop its 2008 car because of the close battle in the constructors. Because of that reason they didn’t able to develop a competitive car for 2009 season.
2010 season Ferrari improved but not much
In the 2010 Ferrari altered its drivers lineup with Kimi replaced by Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa made a return to Formula 1. With a former World Champion in the team, Ferrari made an impressive start to the season when Ferrari finished 1-2 in the season opener at Bahrain. After that impressive result everyone was hoping that the Ferrari dominance was again on the cards, but that was not the case. Ferrari had an improved season compared with the previous season. Ferrari had a number of podium and 1-2 finishes but still they were far off the pace compared to ‘Red Bull’ and ‘McLaren’. Ferrari finished the season on the third place behind McLaren.
However, Fernando Alonso made a strong with its new team when he finished on second behind Sebastian Vettal. He was the star performer and totally overshadowed his team mate Felipe Massa.
The 2010 season saw Ferrari’s comeback and the people were hoping to see the spectacular Ferrari show in the 2011 season. Fan and the owners were hoping that the prancing horse will come out good for its rivals in the new season.
The 2011 season nothing much yet
Ferrari launched its new competitor the F150 with the great expectations that the new horse will bring back the past glory. The hopes were soon shattered when the ‘Red Bull’ and McLaren totally outpaced the Italian team. Ferrari was not even close to their 2010 performance and was dominated by its rivals in the qualifying and race.
Felipe Massa is not at his best in the new season. The Prancing horse is lying behind its rivals McLaren and Red bull. However, just like the 2010 season Alonso is in good touch even with the not-so-quick Ferrari he is running hard. He finished the Monaco GP at 2nd place behind the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettal.
The legendary prancing horse is yet to show its true potential this season but, one thing is cer
tain they are clearly lacking behind the other teams of the grid and the position they are in its going to really difficult for them to come out of this.
So, to be honest if one looks at the past two years’ results of the Italian outfit they will came to know about the “dominance” of the prancing horse. Have a look at the article on the stats and judge yourself.
