The Ferrari Boys: Divided They Fall?

With the changes in F1 specs for 2009, every race fan who is not totally committed to a particular team must hope they are going to see a more open contest for the driver’s championship.

2008 produced seven race winners, which was a refreshing widening of the field. Let's take a quick look at how many F1 winners there have been in recent years.


2007: Four race winners

It was a Ferrari/McLaren duopoly. Crucially and famously, McLaren's drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton were at war.


2006: Five race winners

A Ferrari/Renault season, Jenson Button sneaked under the wire for the only light Honda ever seen in the darkness.


2005: Six race winners

This was a straight fight between Renault and McLaren, with Michael Schumacher scoring just one win for Ferrari.


2004: Five race winners

That is a misleading figure, because Schumacher won 13 out of 18 races. Rubens Barrichello added two to the Ferrari swag, while Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams), Jarno Trulli (Renault), and Kimi Raikkonen (McLaren) scored one each.

This year, it is reasonable to assume that McLaren and Ferrari will again be strong. We optimists might also have high hopes of BMW-Sauber, Renault, Toyota, and Red Bull to grab a few wins.

In my view, Ferrari has unquestionably the strongest driver lineup, which makes them my favorite to win the constructor’s title. The drivers' title is another matter.

Schumacher never had a teammate at Ferrari. He had a supporting driver who could step forward if the maestro retired from a race, but he was very clearly no more than an understudy.

Today, the situation at Scuderia Ferrari is very different.

Felipe Massa has established his reputation of one of F1's best drivers, and he missed out on the 2008 championship by an unlucky whisker.

When Raikkonen went to Ferrari he was considered to be a driver who could win the championship if given the right machinery, and he duly delivered, albeit in a scrappy and disappointing manner.

F1's aristocrats have two drivers capable of mounting a credible challenge for the title. Ferrari’s management are not fools, and they will certainly realize there is a risk of each driver taking points away from the other.

At the same time, they must also know that nothing motivates a driver more than a hot teammate. There can be no excuses when another guy in the same car is scoring well.

So how can Ferrari play the coming season? I don't think there is any way they can start it with a clear No. 1 driver. All they can do is wait and see if one driver establishes a clear points lead over the other, and then appeal for a sense of team purpose.

The omens for that are not good, as last year Raikkonen would not concede until it was mathematically impossible for him to win the title. Similarly, there is no reason to suppose Massa would abandon his dream unless it became unattainable.

The drivers who could benefit most from a squabble within Ferrari are Hamilton and Alonso, both of whom are unchallenged team favorites. Over at BMW-Sauber there is a similar situation to the one at Ferrari, with both Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica likely to consider themselves worthy title challengers, and with no love lost between them.

Lewis and Fernando each have to beat the other teams, and not look over his shoulder at an enemy within. If there is a more level playing field in 2009, and if therefore wins are harder to score, that could be a crucial advantage.

Given that Lewis will have the advantage of the big-budget McLaren, he is my pick to benefit from the Ferrari duo sharing wins, and again emerge as champion.