Scuderia Ferrari (216*)
The first 9 World Championship races outside of Indianapolis had all been won by Alfa Romeo. Enzo Ferrari's marque got off the ground in race 10 with Jose-Froilan Gonzalez' win at Silverstone in 1951, and then Alberto Ascari won the next two in Germany and Italy. Alfa pulled out of motorsport, and the governing body changed the rules of the World Championship to F2 to try to get a challenger for Ferrari for 1952.
The new rules failed. Ascari competed in Indianapolis, missing the Swiss Grand Prix. Piero Taruffi won the race at Bremgarten, before Ascari won the rest (six races in total). He was clearly World Champion. He then won the first three races of 1953 (excluding Indianapolis). His team-mate Mike Hawthorn won the French Grand Prix, before Alberto took the title with a win at Silverstone. Guiseppe Farina won at the Nurburgring, then Ascari won in Bremgarten. Fangio prevented a two-year clean sweep for Ferrari at Monza.
Back to Formula One rules for 1954, but Maserati and Mercedes had outstripped Ferrari and Ascari had left for Lancia. There were wins for Gonzalez at Silverstone and Hawthorn at Pedralbes. 1955 saw more of the same, with Maurice Trintignant's victory at Monaco standing alone. For 1956, they took the Champion Fangio and the Lancia cars. Fangio took over Luigi Musso's car to win in Argentina, Peter Collins won at Spa and Reims before Fangio's wins at Silverstone and the Nurburgring took him within touching distance of the title. Much is made of Collins magnanimity at Monza, but in truth Fangio was the true champion.
Fangio left, leaving the Scuderia winless for 1957. 1958 saw them win two races (Hawthorn at Reims and Collins at Silverstone) but lose two drivers (Musso and Collins), but Hawthorn's consistent finishing got him the title. Tony Brooks took a pair of wins in 1959, but Ferrari's insistance on front-engined cars meant only a boycotted Italian GP win for Phil Hill would be added in 1960.
Changes in the engine size rules for 1961 gave a prepared Ferrari an advantage. Wolfgang "Taffy" Von Trips won at Zandvoort, Phil Hill at Spa before Giancarlo Baghetti won on debut at Reims. Taffy won at Aintree, but was killed in a collision with Jim Clark at Monza. Thus the winner at Monza, Hill, took the title, and Ferrari thus did not compete in the USGP. The garagistes hit back for 1962, with Ferrari falling to 6th in the Constructors Championship. Their next win was in their 100th race as John Surtees took the 1963 German Grand Prix.
It took a year for them to win again, with Surtees winning again at the Nurburgring in 1964. Lorenzo Bandini won the next race for Ferrari at Zeltweg, and Surtees made it three in a row at Monza. Jim Clark's Lotus' unreliability delivered Surtees and Ferrari both Championships. Ferrari were unable to take a win in 1965, and Surtees was to fall out with Ferrari shortly after winning the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix. Thus their second win that year was taken at Monza, by an Italian, Ludovicio Scarfiotti enjoying the best victory of his career. The team lost Bandini to a fatal burns at Monaco the next year, and there were no victories.
1968 saw a French Grand Prix win for Jacky Ickx punctuate a disappointing season of defeats from pole, particularly from Chris Amon. Bizarrely, Ferrari were all but a one-car team for 1969 in an awful year punctuated by Amon's podium in the Netherlands. They were back to multiple cars for 1970, and Ickx took three wins to narrowly fail to beat the late Jochen Rindt to the title. Clay Regazzoni also won his first race at Monza.
1971 started with Ferrari's new occasional American driver Mario Andretti taking his first win at Kyalami. Ickx won at Zandvoort too. 1972 would be more disappointing despite Ickx's win around the Green Hell, but there would not be a podium in 1973. New driver Niki Lauda won his first race for Ferrari in Spain in 1974, and he added that to his Dutch GP win. But it was Ferrari returnee Clay Regazzoni who challenged for the title off the back of a consistent year, and his solitary victory at the Nurburgring. Regazzoni was to win at Monza in 1975, but the title went to his Austrian team-mate, winner of 5 Grands Prix that year.
Lauda started his defence like a train, winning the first two in Interlagos and Kyalami. Regazzoni took the third at Long Beach. Though Lauda's Spanish "win" was to be restored to James Hunt by the end of the year, wins in Zolder and Monte Carlo lead to Ferrari thinking they'd won the first 6. And Hunt's reinstatement to the win in Jarama was softened by the fact he lost a win at Brands Hatch. Lauda's horrific injuries at the Nurburgring ended the Nordschliefe's time in Formula One, but he returned soon and lost the title by a single point.
Carlos Reutemann joined for 1977, and soon played a customary game of "upset the neighbours" by winning the Brazilian GP. Three wins for Lauda in Kyalami, Zandvoort and on his return to Germany through another forest at Hockenheim contributed to his second title, and he went off to Brabham. Reutemann finished "best non-Lotus" in 1978 winning at Jacarepagua, Long Beach, Brands Hatch and Watkins Glen. His team-mate Gilles Villeneuve was to win his first race too, in the first race held on the Ile-Notre-Dame in Montreal, now known as the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Jody Scheckter joined for 1979, but it was Villeneuve who took the wins in Kyalami and Long Beach. Scheckter took a double at Zolder and Monaco, and his greater consistency ensured that Ferrari enjoyed their perfect day. A one-two, Scheckter and Villeneuve and both titles secured, at Monza. It was all well and good, because 1980's Ferrari was a dog, finishing a worst-ever 10th in the Constructors Championship and irritating Scheckter into retirement.
In 1981, Villeneuve was joined by Didier Pironi. The Canadian won in Monaco, then scored a famous last victory at Jarama, using his turbo on the straights to keep the DFV powered cars behind him. It wasn't a good year for the Prancing Horse, but it was progress. 1982 started with massive unreliability, until the British based FOCA teams (except Tyrell) pulled out of the San Marino Grand Prix for political reasons. The double retirements from Renault and Alfa Romeo left Michele Alboreto's Tyrell as Ferrari's only real challenger, and amidst bickering Pironi took the victory from Villeneuve. The Canadian was then killed in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Pironi thus took up the challenge. He was involved in the fatality of Ricardo Paletti in Canada in a crazy, tragic season. He won the Dutch Grand Prix and lead the Championship when he broke his legs in a career-ending accident at Hockenheim. That race was won by the #27 Ferrari of Patrick Tambay. Ferrari were the best team, they won the Constructors' Championship and it was tragedy which prevented them taking the other crown.
1983 saw an emotional win for Tambay at Imola. René Arnoux won at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, as well as at Hockenheim and Zandvoort. Ferrari's points were nearly equally shared between the two, so as Piquet and Prost fought for the Drivers' crown, Ferrari took their last title for 16 years, the Constructors Championship.
Arnoux was joined by an Italian, Michele Alboreto, in 1984. He provided the highlight of the season by winning Zolder's last Championship race. He would win twice in 1985, at Montreal and at the Nurburgring, as he became the closest challenger for Alain Prost's title. 1986 would not see such success, with a double podium for Alboreto and Stefan Johansson in Austria being the best result. Gerhard Berger joined the team in place of Johansson for 1987, winning the last two races as McLaren and Williams retired from both. 1988 saw McLaren take all but one victories, but that was a Ferrari one-two, at Monza with Berger leading Alboreto home.
Nigel Mansell joined the Prancing Horse for 1989, and won the first race at Jacarepagua. However, it was their only finish in the first 6 races. The Englishman took another victory at the Hungaroring, and Berger took the laurels at Estoril, but it was another year of McLaren dominance. However, the ill-feeling at McLaren allowed Ferrari to take World Champion Alain Prost for 1990. A win in Sao Paulo was an effective way for Prost to get under the Paulista Senna's nose, and there was a triple win mid-season in Mexico, at Paul Ricard (Ferrari's 100th win and Prost's 5th on home turf) and at Silverstone. Later, Mansell won in Spain, Prost's Portugal win brought him into the title hunt and, sadly, into Senna's crosshairs. Mansell was replaced for 1991 by Jean Alesi, but Ferrari failed to win a race and Prost didn't wait until after the Australian Grand Prix to retire.
In came Ivan Capelli, but the 1992 car was both unreliable and slow. He was replaced by Berger, but Ferrari continued to be miles behind the top three for 1993. Thus Berger's win at Hockenheim in 1994 came as a great relief to everyone involved at Ferrari, as was Alesi's only F1 win in Canada in 1995.
In came Michael Schumacher from Benetton, bringing with him the design team which won him the World Title at Enstone. It is scarcely creditable that the 1996 car allowed Schumi to win in Barcelona, Spa and Monza. The car for 1997 was a better challenger to Williams, with Schumi winning in Monaco, Montreal, Magny-Cours, Spa and Suzuka. That Suzuka win gave him a chance at the title, one which he was not to take, attempting to take out Champion Jacques Villeneuve when the Canadian overtook him and being thrown out of the season. 1998 was similar - six wins (including a one-two at Monza) but ultimately not good enough to challenge Mika Hakkinen in his superior McLaren.
Eddie Irvine won his first Grand Prix in Melbourne in 1999. Schumacher won in Imola and Monaco, and was in a decent position behind Hakkinen in the Championship when he broke his legs in a crash at Stowe in Silverstone. Irvine initially rose to the challenge, winning in Austria and benefitting from Mika Salo moving aside for him at Hockenheim. Their form dropped off, though, and it needed Schumacher's return in Malaysia to reinvigorate the team. A second clear on pole, Schumi moved over for Irvine to give him a Championship lead. They were disqualified, reinstated on appeal, but Irvine could not beat Hakkinen in Japan. Nonetheless, Ferrari took the Constructors Championship.
Irvine was replaced by Rubens Barrichello. Schumacher won the first three of 2000, and the last four. Inbetween McLaren fought back, and Barrichello won in Germany, in addition to Schumi's two wins. But with victory in Suzuka, Ferrari finally had their Drivers' Champion. There would be nine more wins for Schumi in a comfortable 2001, and eleven wins in a controversial but dominant 2002 to add to Barrichello's four.
2003 was the year Ferrari needed to fight for the title. A bad start was rectified by consecutive wins for Schumi in Imola, Barcelona and Speilberg. Williams' fightback was interrupted by Schumacher's win in Canada, while Barrichello was to win in Britain. Bridgestone's woes in the heatwave summer of 2003 were rectified by their joy in the cool of Monza and the wet of Indianapolis, and Barrichello's win at Suzuka was enough to deny Kimi Raikkonen any chance of beating Schumacher to the title.
Schumacher then won 12 of the first 13 races of 2004, and there would be a record 13th at Suzuka. Barrichello had won at Monza and Shanghai too. A change in the tyre rules for 2005 caught out Bridgestone and the Michelin teams took advantage. Only once was it an advantage to be on the Bridgestone, in Indianapolis where Michelin withdrew due to safety fears and Ferrari took an untroubled one-two. Out went Barrichello for 2006 and in came countryman Felipe Massa.
2006 was the end of the old era. Schumacher won in Imola and at the Nurburgring, and from another one-two at Indianapolis put the pressure on Fernando Alonso's Championship lead. He won at Magny-Cours and at Hockenheim, but he lost ground in Istanbul as Massa took the win. He won and announced his (partial) retirement in Monza and then won a brilliant 91st win in China. Reliability denied him the title from there. In came Kimi Raikkonen.
Ferrari's last drivers title to date is considered somewhat a gift from a squabbling McLaren team. Going into the last two races, Alonso and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and Raikkonen had all secured 4 wins to Massa's 3. However, Ferrari were Constructors Champions as McLaren had been thrown out for espionage. Hamilton had a huge Drivers' Championship lead, but retired in Shanghai and was dropped to the back in Sao Paulo. Raikkonen won those two races and the title. By one point. From both McLaren drivers.
Raikkonen won twice in 2008, but it was Massa's year in most of the dry races. Victories in Bahrain, Istanbul, Magny-Cours and Valencia gave the Brazilian the advantage. He took advantage of a controversial penalty for Hamilton to win in Spa. But his challenge was hit most of all by the deliberate crash of Nelson Piquet Junior in Singapore, denying him a win, and he was to lose the Championship despite winning at Interlagos, as Hamilton took 5th on the last corner of the last lap.
2009's rule changes caught out Ferrari, whose year was made worse by Massa's head injuries sustained in a collision with a loose spring from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn in qualifying in Hungary. Raikkonen underlined his expertise in the Belgian forests with a win at Spa. He went off to rallying as for 2010 he was replaced by Fernando Alonso, who won in Sakhir, Hockenheim, Monza, Singapore and Yeongam to be favourite for the title in the last race. He lost it to a tactical blunder. 2011 has seen Ferrari gradually catch up to Red Bull, until 60 years after Jose-Froilan Gonzalez won Ferrari's first race, Alonso won the 216th at the same venue.
Thats the end of the series, thanks for reading them!
The first 9 World Championship races outside of Indianapolis had all been won by Alfa Romeo. Enzo Ferrari's marque got off the ground in race 10 with Jose-Froilan Gonzalez' win at Silverstone in 1951, and then Alberto Ascari won the next two in Germany and Italy. Alfa pulled out of motorsport, and the governing body changed the rules of the World Championship to F2 to try to get a challenger for Ferrari for 1952.
The new rules failed. Ascari competed in Indianapolis, missing the Swiss Grand Prix. Piero Taruffi won the race at Bremgarten, before Ascari won the rest (six races in total). He was clearly World Champion. He then won the first three races of 1953 (excluding Indianapolis). His team-mate Mike Hawthorn won the French Grand Prix, before Alberto took the title with a win at Silverstone. Guiseppe Farina won at the Nurburgring, then Ascari won in Bremgarten. Fangio prevented a two-year clean sweep for Ferrari at Monza.
Back to Formula One rules for 1954, but Maserati and Mercedes had outstripped Ferrari and Ascari had left for Lancia. There were wins for Gonzalez at Silverstone and Hawthorn at Pedralbes. 1955 saw more of the same, with Maurice Trintignant's victory at Monaco standing alone. For 1956, they took the Champion Fangio and the Lancia cars. Fangio took over Luigi Musso's car to win in Argentina, Peter Collins won at Spa and Reims before Fangio's wins at Silverstone and the Nurburgring took him within touching distance of the title. Much is made of Collins magnanimity at Monza, but in truth Fangio was the true champion.
Fangio left, leaving the Scuderia winless for 1957. 1958 saw them win two races (Hawthorn at Reims and Collins at Silverstone) but lose two drivers (Musso and Collins), but Hawthorn's consistent finishing got him the title. Tony Brooks took a pair of wins in 1959, but Ferrari's insistance on front-engined cars meant only a boycotted Italian GP win for Phil Hill would be added in 1960.
Changes in the engine size rules for 1961 gave a prepared Ferrari an advantage. Wolfgang "Taffy" Von Trips won at Zandvoort, Phil Hill at Spa before Giancarlo Baghetti won on debut at Reims. Taffy won at Aintree, but was killed in a collision with Jim Clark at Monza. Thus the winner at Monza, Hill, took the title, and Ferrari thus did not compete in the USGP. The garagistes hit back for 1962, with Ferrari falling to 6th in the Constructors Championship. Their next win was in their 100th race as John Surtees took the 1963 German Grand Prix.
It took a year for them to win again, with Surtees winning again at the Nurburgring in 1964. Lorenzo Bandini won the next race for Ferrari at Zeltweg, and Surtees made it three in a row at Monza. Jim Clark's Lotus' unreliability delivered Surtees and Ferrari both Championships. Ferrari were unable to take a win in 1965, and Surtees was to fall out with Ferrari shortly after winning the 1966 Belgian Grand Prix. Thus their second win that year was taken at Monza, by an Italian, Ludovicio Scarfiotti enjoying the best victory of his career. The team lost Bandini to a fatal burns at Monaco the next year, and there were no victories.
1968 saw a French Grand Prix win for Jacky Ickx punctuate a disappointing season of defeats from pole, particularly from Chris Amon. Bizarrely, Ferrari were all but a one-car team for 1969 in an awful year punctuated by Amon's podium in the Netherlands. They were back to multiple cars for 1970, and Ickx took three wins to narrowly fail to beat the late Jochen Rindt to the title. Clay Regazzoni also won his first race at Monza.
1971 started with Ferrari's new occasional American driver Mario Andretti taking his first win at Kyalami. Ickx won at Zandvoort too. 1972 would be more disappointing despite Ickx's win around the Green Hell, but there would not be a podium in 1973. New driver Niki Lauda won his first race for Ferrari in Spain in 1974, and he added that to his Dutch GP win. But it was Ferrari returnee Clay Regazzoni who challenged for the title off the back of a consistent year, and his solitary victory at the Nurburgring. Regazzoni was to win at Monza in 1975, but the title went to his Austrian team-mate, winner of 5 Grands Prix that year.
Lauda started his defence like a train, winning the first two in Interlagos and Kyalami. Regazzoni took the third at Long Beach. Though Lauda's Spanish "win" was to be restored to James Hunt by the end of the year, wins in Zolder and Monte Carlo lead to Ferrari thinking they'd won the first 6. And Hunt's reinstatement to the win in Jarama was softened by the fact he lost a win at Brands Hatch. Lauda's horrific injuries at the Nurburgring ended the Nordschliefe's time in Formula One, but he returned soon and lost the title by a single point.
Carlos Reutemann joined for 1977, and soon played a customary game of "upset the neighbours" by winning the Brazilian GP. Three wins for Lauda in Kyalami, Zandvoort and on his return to Germany through another forest at Hockenheim contributed to his second title, and he went off to Brabham. Reutemann finished "best non-Lotus" in 1978 winning at Jacarepagua, Long Beach, Brands Hatch and Watkins Glen. His team-mate Gilles Villeneuve was to win his first race too, in the first race held on the Ile-Notre-Dame in Montreal, now known as the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Jody Scheckter joined for 1979, but it was Villeneuve who took the wins in Kyalami and Long Beach. Scheckter took a double at Zolder and Monaco, and his greater consistency ensured that Ferrari enjoyed their perfect day. A one-two, Scheckter and Villeneuve and both titles secured, at Monza. It was all well and good, because 1980's Ferrari was a dog, finishing a worst-ever 10th in the Constructors Championship and irritating Scheckter into retirement.
In 1981, Villeneuve was joined by Didier Pironi. The Canadian won in Monaco, then scored a famous last victory at Jarama, using his turbo on the straights to keep the DFV powered cars behind him. It wasn't a good year for the Prancing Horse, but it was progress. 1982 started with massive unreliability, until the British based FOCA teams (except Tyrell) pulled out of the San Marino Grand Prix for political reasons. The double retirements from Renault and Alfa Romeo left Michele Alboreto's Tyrell as Ferrari's only real challenger, and amidst bickering Pironi took the victory from Villeneuve. The Canadian was then killed in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Pironi thus took up the challenge. He was involved in the fatality of Ricardo Paletti in Canada in a crazy, tragic season. He won the Dutch Grand Prix and lead the Championship when he broke his legs in a career-ending accident at Hockenheim. That race was won by the #27 Ferrari of Patrick Tambay. Ferrari were the best team, they won the Constructors' Championship and it was tragedy which prevented them taking the other crown.
1983 saw an emotional win for Tambay at Imola. René Arnoux won at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, as well as at Hockenheim and Zandvoort. Ferrari's points were nearly equally shared between the two, so as Piquet and Prost fought for the Drivers' crown, Ferrari took their last title for 16 years, the Constructors Championship.
Arnoux was joined by an Italian, Michele Alboreto, in 1984. He provided the highlight of the season by winning Zolder's last Championship race. He would win twice in 1985, at Montreal and at the Nurburgring, as he became the closest challenger for Alain Prost's title. 1986 would not see such success, with a double podium for Alboreto and Stefan Johansson in Austria being the best result. Gerhard Berger joined the team in place of Johansson for 1987, winning the last two races as McLaren and Williams retired from both. 1988 saw McLaren take all but one victories, but that was a Ferrari one-two, at Monza with Berger leading Alboreto home.
Nigel Mansell joined the Prancing Horse for 1989, and won the first race at Jacarepagua. However, it was their only finish in the first 6 races. The Englishman took another victory at the Hungaroring, and Berger took the laurels at Estoril, but it was another year of McLaren dominance. However, the ill-feeling at McLaren allowed Ferrari to take World Champion Alain Prost for 1990. A win in Sao Paulo was an effective way for Prost to get under the Paulista Senna's nose, and there was a triple win mid-season in Mexico, at Paul Ricard (Ferrari's 100th win and Prost's 5th on home turf) and at Silverstone. Later, Mansell won in Spain, Prost's Portugal win brought him into the title hunt and, sadly, into Senna's crosshairs. Mansell was replaced for 1991 by Jean Alesi, but Ferrari failed to win a race and Prost didn't wait until after the Australian Grand Prix to retire.
In came Ivan Capelli, but the 1992 car was both unreliable and slow. He was replaced by Berger, but Ferrari continued to be miles behind the top three for 1993. Thus Berger's win at Hockenheim in 1994 came as a great relief to everyone involved at Ferrari, as was Alesi's only F1 win in Canada in 1995.
In came Michael Schumacher from Benetton, bringing with him the design team which won him the World Title at Enstone. It is scarcely creditable that the 1996 car allowed Schumi to win in Barcelona, Spa and Monza. The car for 1997 was a better challenger to Williams, with Schumi winning in Monaco, Montreal, Magny-Cours, Spa and Suzuka. That Suzuka win gave him a chance at the title, one which he was not to take, attempting to take out Champion Jacques Villeneuve when the Canadian overtook him and being thrown out of the season. 1998 was similar - six wins (including a one-two at Monza) but ultimately not good enough to challenge Mika Hakkinen in his superior McLaren.
Eddie Irvine won his first Grand Prix in Melbourne in 1999. Schumacher won in Imola and Monaco, and was in a decent position behind Hakkinen in the Championship when he broke his legs in a crash at Stowe in Silverstone. Irvine initially rose to the challenge, winning in Austria and benefitting from Mika Salo moving aside for him at Hockenheim. Their form dropped off, though, and it needed Schumacher's return in Malaysia to reinvigorate the team. A second clear on pole, Schumi moved over for Irvine to give him a Championship lead. They were disqualified, reinstated on appeal, but Irvine could not beat Hakkinen in Japan. Nonetheless, Ferrari took the Constructors Championship.
Irvine was replaced by Rubens Barrichello. Schumacher won the first three of 2000, and the last four. Inbetween McLaren fought back, and Barrichello won in Germany, in addition to Schumi's two wins. But with victory in Suzuka, Ferrari finally had their Drivers' Champion. There would be nine more wins for Schumi in a comfortable 2001, and eleven wins in a controversial but dominant 2002 to add to Barrichello's four.
2003 was the year Ferrari needed to fight for the title. A bad start was rectified by consecutive wins for Schumi in Imola, Barcelona and Speilberg. Williams' fightback was interrupted by Schumacher's win in Canada, while Barrichello was to win in Britain. Bridgestone's woes in the heatwave summer of 2003 were rectified by their joy in the cool of Monza and the wet of Indianapolis, and Barrichello's win at Suzuka was enough to deny Kimi Raikkonen any chance of beating Schumacher to the title.
Schumacher then won 12 of the first 13 races of 2004, and there would be a record 13th at Suzuka. Barrichello had won at Monza and Shanghai too. A change in the tyre rules for 2005 caught out Bridgestone and the Michelin teams took advantage. Only once was it an advantage to be on the Bridgestone, in Indianapolis where Michelin withdrew due to safety fears and Ferrari took an untroubled one-two. Out went Barrichello for 2006 and in came countryman Felipe Massa.
2006 was the end of the old era. Schumacher won in Imola and at the Nurburgring, and from another one-two at Indianapolis put the pressure on Fernando Alonso's Championship lead. He won at Magny-Cours and at Hockenheim, but he lost ground in Istanbul as Massa took the win. He won and announced his (partial) retirement in Monza and then won a brilliant 91st win in China. Reliability denied him the title from there. In came Kimi Raikkonen.
Ferrari's last drivers title to date is considered somewhat a gift from a squabbling McLaren team. Going into the last two races, Alonso and Lewis Hamilton of McLaren and Raikkonen had all secured 4 wins to Massa's 3. However, Ferrari were Constructors Champions as McLaren had been thrown out for espionage. Hamilton had a huge Drivers' Championship lead, but retired in Shanghai and was dropped to the back in Sao Paulo. Raikkonen won those two races and the title. By one point. From both McLaren drivers.
Raikkonen won twice in 2008, but it was Massa's year in most of the dry races. Victories in Bahrain, Istanbul, Magny-Cours and Valencia gave the Brazilian the advantage. He took advantage of a controversial penalty for Hamilton to win in Spa. But his challenge was hit most of all by the deliberate crash of Nelson Piquet Junior in Singapore, denying him a win, and he was to lose the Championship despite winning at Interlagos, as Hamilton took 5th on the last corner of the last lap.
2009's rule changes caught out Ferrari, whose year was made worse by Massa's head injuries sustained in a collision with a loose spring from Rubens Barrichello's Brawn in qualifying in Hungary. Raikkonen underlined his expertise in the Belgian forests with a win at Spa. He went off to rallying as for 2010 he was replaced by Fernando Alonso, who won in Sakhir, Hockenheim, Monza, Singapore and Yeongam to be favourite for the title in the last race. He lost it to a tactical blunder. 2011 has seen Ferrari gradually catch up to Red Bull, until 60 years after Jose-Froilan Gonzalez won Ferrari's first race, Alonso won the 216th at the same venue.
Thats the end of the series, thanks for reading them!
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