Will Lewis Hamilton do better than Prost, Alonso or Vettel at Ferrari?

To win in F1, you need the best car, but also the best driver. With its status as the most successful team in the history of the sport, Ferrari has been able to attract multiple world champions with one goal in mind: to win the championship.

Alain Prost: The 1990 Japanese Grand Prix and the comeback during the 1991 season.

After the 1989 season, marked by Alain Prost’s third world title, but especially by the controversial ending at the Japanese Grand Prix, the Frenchman left McLaren and joined Ferrari in 1990.

The internal war between Senna and Prost had reached a turning point. The two teammates had collided at Suzuka in 1989, with Alain Prost retiring, while the Brazilian was disqualified. It is in this context of revenge between the two men that the 1990 season begins.

During this season, Ayrton Senna, with his McLaren MP4/5B, won six victories, while Prost secured five behind the wheel of his SF-90. The penultimate race takes place once again in Japan. The Brazilian starts on pole position while his rival is second. If the Frenchman doesn’t score any points, Senna will become a double world champion, and the Brazilian is well aware of it.

The Ferrari takes the lead at the lights out, but only eight seconds later, Senna intentionally crashes into Prost and both drivers retire. A spoiled finale in the eyes of the Formula 1 world. Despite this setback, Prost remains with the reds in 1991 and is determined to win his fourth title.

But this season is largely dominated by Senna and McLaren. Prost finishes fifth in the championship with 62 points less than the champion and without a single victory. The triple world champion is frustrated by the performance of his Ferrari and describes it as a “truck”. The Italian team did not appreciate this remark at all and decides to dismiss Alain Prost before the end of the 1991 season.

Fernando Alonso: the two failures in the last round in 2010 and 2012.

The Spaniard joined the Scuderia in 2010, to replace Kimi Räikkönen, after two seasons with Renault and a 2009 year without any success. From his first Grand Prix in red, Alonso won in Bahrain, with Felipe Massa securing a one-two finish for the team.

This 2010 season is marked by a five-way battle for the world championship, Sebastian Vettel, Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, and Fernando Alonso. The five men have shared all the victories this season. Before the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi, the Ferrari driver has an eight-point lead over Webber and a 15-point lead over Vettel. While Vettel wins the race, Alonso gets stuck behind Vitaly Petrov’s Renault and finishes seventh. The Spaniard loses the championship to the German by four points.

After a 2011 season largely dominated by Vettel, who secures his second title, the year 2012 offers a new opportunity for Alonso to become world champion in red. Unfortunately for Ferrari, the F2012 car doesn’t match up to the top teams. Nonetheless, the Spanish driver manages to win three races, in Malaysia, Valencia, and Germany, as well as achieving nine other podium finishes.

But towards the end of the season, Vettel achieves four victories from Singapore to India. He has a 13-point lead over Alonso heading into the final round in Brazil. If the German finishes fourth in the race, he will win a third consecutive championship. The reigning world champion secured fourth place on the grid, while Alonso is eighth.

During the first round, Vettel is hit, spins out and restarts in last position. At that moment, Alonso is the champion. The German driver climbs up through the laps, while Alonso aims for the podium. As the rain intensifies, on the 55th lap, Vettel is stuck for ten seconds at his pit stop, as the intermediate tires were not ready. He comes out in 10th place. Alonso stops two rounds later and is fourth. The title is still in the hands of the Ferrari driver, especially when Felipe Massa lets him pass to take second place.

But in the last ten laps, Vettel manages to clinch a sixth place which allows him to win the battle of double world champions against Alonso, by three points. This failure will be the last straw for the Spaniard, as in 2013 he only wins two races, including the last one of his career in Barcelona. He will leave Ferrari in 2015 to join McLaren, after a 2014 year without any success.

Sebastian Vettel: two crashes that cost him the title

To replace Fernando Alonso, Ferrari decides to recruit Sebastian Vettel. After a 2014 season in which the four-time world champion doesn’t win any race with Red Bull, he realizes his dream of joining the Italian team. Michael (Schumacher, editor’s note) was my hero and Michael spent a large part of his life in red. When I was little, I went to Maranello to see the place and try to see the red car drive. So yes, it has meant something to me for a long time, explained Vettel to Canal+.

For his first year in red, the German won three races before experiencing a year 2016 without any success. 2017 is his first season where he challenges for the title against Lewis Hamilton. Before the 14th of the 20 Grand Prix of the season in Singapore, Vettel is three points behind the Mercedes driver. On a circuit where he has triumphed four times in his career, he takes pole position while Hamilton is fifth.

A few minutes before the start, the rain pours down on the city-state and before the first turn, the two Ferraris sandwich Max Verstappen, before the two Ferraris collide. The German has to retire, while at the same time, Hamilton takes the lead. Towards the end of the season, the British driver continues to widen the gap and clinch his fourth world title.

The following year, the German driver seems even better equipped to compete for the title. At mid-season, he has four victories, while Hamilton only has three and, above all, Vettel wins on the British driver’s home turf at Silverstone. Two weeks later, the Ferrari driver is at home in Hockenheim, where he secures pole position, while car number 44 starts 14th on the grid.

Hamilton is fifth after 14 laps, but he is well behind Vettel who is still leading. 15 laps before the end of the race, a light shower falls on the circuit, the German driver was on worn hard tires and arrives first on the wet part of the track. He skids straight, crashes into the wall and retires. The Mercedes driver wins the race and takes back the lead in the championship.

Just like in 2017, Vettel will never be able to catch up to Hamilton. The Briton wins the title in 2018, the same in 2019 and 2020. Since that home straight, the number 5 driver has been making multiple mistakes. He is easily beaten by Charles Leclerc in 2019 and 2020 and leaves Ferrari to join Aston Martin in 2021.

Will Lewis Hamilton succeed where the other three have failed?

If Lewis Hamilton’s talent is undeniable and the seven-time world champion wants to win a title with Ferrari. The failures of Prost, Alonso, and Vettel, all three great champions in F1, raise questions about the success of the Briton in the red team.

Hamilton will join the Italian team in 2025 and will have, at least, two seasons to become the first Ferrari driver to win the championship since Kimi Räikkönen in 2007.