There’s been just one Ferrari World Champion since the great Michael Schumacher last won the title in 2004. Kimi Raikkonen won the crown in 2007, and since then, the barren years have returned.
Before the arrival of Schumacher in 1996, Ferrari hadn’t seen one of their drivers win a world title since 1979. In all honesty, the team was a shambles. Ferrari signed world champions like Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost, but all to no avail. It wasn’t until the arrival of Schumacher that things started to change. Even then, it was 2000, four years after his arrival, before Schumacher won the world crown. So, is the key to any future success to follow the Schumacher blueprint?
Could an experienced driver like Lewis Hamilton be the answer?
When this season started, the betting to win the 2022 Driver’s Championship was close. Sadly, due to a combination of driver errors, and mistakes by the Ferrari team, Red Bull has dominated, and the betting odds from the bookmakers have reflected this, with Red Bull drivers often odds on to win races. When the betting odds for the 2023 F1 season are released, they will no doubt favor Red Bull again, unless some FIA rule changes hamper Christian Horner’s well-established car and team. Only then would it be wise to start making sports predictions for the new F1 season.
Could Hamilton, a seven times world champion himself, do what Schumacher did and almost single-handedly drag the team up to his standards? It would be a tough call to make on the current Ferrari drivers. But maybe a driver of Hamilton’s ilk is the missing ingredient for the team.
LEWIS HAMILTON IS A SEVEN TIME WORLD CHAMPION!#TurkishGP 🇹🇷 #F1 pic.twitter.com/gOGfeEZxp8
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 15, 2020
Is Hamilton already too old?
Lewis Hamilton is 37 years old. It took Schumacher four years to turn the team around, so would Hamilton still be the same force in four years? That’s assuming he could do the same job as the legendary German. But there is already the fact that Ferrari probably isn’t as far behind these days as they were back in the 90s when Schumacher arrived. It could be that the team is already closer to its rivals, and just a more experienced hand like Hamilton is needed to question the team tactics or the engineers.
Was Schumacher just an anomaly?
What Schumacher did was amazing. He didn’t just drive the Ferrari exceptionally well. He also dragged the rest of the team up to his level. His influence seemed to spread throughout the whole Ferrari family. His record speaks for itself.
#OnThisDay in 2003 Michael Schumacher wins his 6th #F1 title with P8 in Japan. "People wrote Ferrari off but we are still here, we are back" pic.twitter.com/TfideVzjiq
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 12, 2016
Some may see it as an insult to suggest any driver, never mind Lewis Hamilton, could have the same impact on the Scuderia that Schumacher did. It could be that the German was just a one-off, never to be repeated! But it might not require an improvement of the level that Schumacher brought to the team. It could just be that the marginal gains a driver like Hamilton would bring are all that is required.
That’s not comparing the two. Hamilton only has to beat the opposition in front of him. He doesn’t have to be the next Schumacher, and he might not need to be as good to bring the World Championship back to Ferrari for the first time since 2007.
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