From Juan Manuel Fangio to Lewis Hamilton: Ferrari, a fatal attraction for world champions

Lewis Hamilton will fulfill his childhood dream: racing for Ferrari. The multiple world champion has made this bold move to add excitement to a winter break that was at risk of being super boring.

To see Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari, fans will have to wait until next year. Meanwhile, it is worth remembering that the Briton is just the latest King of Formula 1 to be signed by the Maranello team.

The combination of Ferrari and world champions repeats cyclically, although not too often. The Ferrari red fatally attracts legends like Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher and the thrill of racing for one of the teams that has entered Formula 1 history.

However, not everything that glitters is gold (or in this case, red). Watch out, Hamilton: being tied to Ferrari can be a double-edged sword. Of the super champions who landed in Maranello, only a few managed to bring home the title.

It all began with Juan Manuel Fangio: five world championships won with four different teams. The Argentine arrived in Maranello in 1956, already with three titles under his belt (Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes). His marriage with Ferrari lasted only that season, just long enough to win another championship, and then El Chueco returned to Maserati to win another.

Between Mario Andretti and Ferrari, there is only a brief encounter – if we can call it that. The Italo-American driver arrived in Maranello in 1971, winning his first race with the Prancing Horse in the South African GP. After winning the title in ’78, Andretti returned to Ferrari four years later and found a very competitive car. He took pole position at Monza and finished third in the race. He ended his F1 career with a retirement at the Las Vegas GP.

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The story of Alain Prost and Ferrari is instead a love story gone wrong. Hired in 1990 after winning three titles with McLaren, the Frenchman narrowly misses the championship. In return, he finishes second in the championship, behind his perennial rival Ayrton Senna: their rivalry is the leitmotif of that season. 1991 is disappointing for The Professor. Nigel Mansell leaves the team due to poor relations with him, and he is replaced by Jean Alesi.

Between an uncompetitive car and tensions with the then team manager Cesare Fiorio, Alain Prost’s bond with the Italian team begins to wear thin. The climax is reached when the Frenchman describes Ferrari as “a truck.” Following this statement, he is fired.

The Prancing Horse rises again with Michael Schumacher, who brings the Red Team back to victory in one of the most dominant periods in Formula 1 history. The German, at the time a two-time world champion with Benetton, firmly believes in Jean Todt’s project (who risked dismissal in 1996) and seals a bond that lasts five seasons: from 2000 to 2004, Schumi wins as many world titles.

The last driver’s world championship for Ferrari dates back to 2007 with Kimi Räikkönen. Since then, Maranello has been literally waiting for a miracle. The signing of two champions like Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel fails, sometimes not due to the drivers themselves.

The Spaniard, with two titles won with Renault, arrives in Maranello in 2010, welcomed as a hero. Nando sniffed the championship three times (2011, 2012, 2013), finishing second behind the rising star Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. 2014 is bad for Ferrari: the car is not competitive, and Alonso begins to feel it. Victory is nowhere to be seen. Even podiums are scarce. Something changes in the team, but also externally: the press and the fans turn against him, and the Spaniard realizes he cannot continue like this. Fernando leaves the team with bitterness and regret that he still carries today.

Sebastian Vettel, too, is welcomed to Ferrari as a hero: another German who could bring the Prancing Horse back to past glories. Good old Sebastian, coming from four championships with Red Bull, tries, but year after year, it becomes impossible to compete with the dominance of the Mercedes team (and a certain rivalry between him and Lewis Hamilton turns into a solid friendship). As happened with Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel also realizes that the bond with Ferrari is breaking.

In 2019, he shares the garage with the young prospect Charles Leclerc, and relations between the two are not always idyllic. Often the Monegasque overshadows the four-time world champion. The following year, the divorce comes like a bolt from the blue: Sebastian Vettel announces his farewell to Ferrari in May 2020, just at the beginning of the season. To this is added a car that is not competitive at all, perhaps the worst ever made by the Prancing Horse. Seb leaves the team with a bit of bitterness but aware that he made the right choice.

Juan Manuel Fangio, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, F1