It has been 18 long years since any Ferrari driver was crowned champion of the world. The most recent man to claim the top prize in Formula One was the Iceman himself Kimi Raikkonen. Back in 2007, the Finnish sensation pulled off the comeback of all comebacks, taking full advantage of rookie Lewis Hamilton’s woes in China and Brazil to win back-to-back races and claim the world title.
Fast forward to 2025, and many feel that the Scuderia have perhaps the best lineup on the entire grid this season. The aforementioned Hamilton – on the hunt for a record-breaking eighth world title – has partnered up with the blisteringly quick Charles Leclerc in a combination that has sparked excitement throughout the paddock. And it isn’t just there where there’s eagerness, as online sports betting sites are also excited to see what performances the duo can muster up. The latest of Bovada’s sports betting odds currently make Ferrari a +1600 second favorite for the constructor’s championship behind McLaren.
However, when it comes to the driver’s honor, the Scuderia’s leading lights are lagging by the wayside. Both drivers are currently listed at +4000 to take home the biggest prize in the game, somewhat behind favorite Lando Norris and reigning champion Max Verstappen – who has been in their spotlight for years, as a 2022 tweet shows.
❤️ if Max Verstappen -275 won you 💰!#CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/xm5Wsn7T7x
— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) June 19, 2022
Considering recent history, perhaps that should be no surprise. No Ferrari driver has come close to winning the driver’s title for some time now. Here are their closest efforts.
Fernando Alonso
Back in 2010, Fernando Alonso made the move to Ferrari as a replacement for 2007 champ Raikkonen. He certainly had big shoes to fill, but he wasn’t really given the tools to get the job done. That year’s Prancing Horse was a distant third fastest car on the grid behind the leading Red Bulls and McLarens. Even so, the maverick Spaniard set about the task at hand.
Victory on debut in Bahrain was as unexpected as it was impressive, but following that, Alonso had to scratch and claw his way to results. He wouldn’t pick up a win again until the second half of the season, only standing on the podium once. But throughout that second half of the campaign, the former two-time world champion came roaring back.
Victory in Germany followed by back-to-back successes in Italy and Singapore brought him right back into contention. Another win in South Korea catapulted him to the top of the championship standings, while a third-place finish in the penultimate race of the weekend left the title in his hands. Unfortunately, things would go badly wrong in the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
Alonso got stuck behind the slow Renault of Vitaly Petrov, who held him up right up until the finish. The Spaniard finished down in seventh place, opening the door for Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel to sneak through by winning the race and ultimately the championship.
Two years later, Vettel and Alonso did battle once again. And once again, Alonso’s Ferrari was far slower than Vettel’s Red Bull. Even so, he managed to take the fight down to the final race of the season with three race victories and a mighty ten podiums. But unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, and Vettel would take the title by a razor-thin margin in Brazil.
Sebastian Vettel
As luck would have it, when Fernando Alonso left Ferrari in 2015, he was replaced by the man who pipped him to those two titles, Vettel. However, by this point, the dynamic in the sport had completely shifted. The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were suddenly some one-second per lap faster than the rest of the grid, and the rest were playing catch up.
The German four-time world champion did his best to take the fight to the Silver Arrows in his maiden campaign, winning three races. But he was still a distant third in the championship. By 2017, though, the Scuderia had closed the gap, and they were finally ready to mount a title challenge.
Vettel led the charge and came flying out of the blocks, winning two of the first three races and proving that he finally had the car he needed to add to his haul of world titles. Unfortunately for him though, Lewis Hamilton wouldn’t be intimidated.
The Brit stayed right there with him throughout the season and the pair traded victories in a mightily close title race. The pivotal moment in the campaign came in Singapore, as pole-sitter Vettel collided with teammate Raikkonen and brash upstart Max Verstappen, with all three drivers retiring from the race. Hamilton went on to win, and he wouldn’t look back, claiming the title by 46 points.
The following year, Vettel was on the hunt once more. He had the fastest car at the start of the campaign, and he pressed home his advantage to win the first two races of the season. Once again though, Hamilton stayed right there with him, until a career-defining moment allowed the Brit to pull away.
At that year’s German Grand Prix, Vettel would crash under the safety car when leading his home race. Hamilton would go on to take full advantage, winning the race, before dominating the second half of the campaign to claim yet another title.
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