Ferrari; the team with a Brazilian “wing man”
Ferrari is one of the most controversial teams in the history of the sport or possibly, the history of every sport. Ferrari has been a part of Formula 1 since the past 60 years and is by far, the most dominant team statistically. Ferrari has won 16 constructors’
titles while 5 of them came in during the years’ 2000-2004 with the help of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.
The team of Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello was the most dominant team by far in the history of Formula 1 as Michael won 5 consecutive drivers’ titles and with the help of Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari was able to secure the constructors’ titles
along with it each year. Rubens Barrichello is without a shadow of a doubt, a great driver and he definitely had the ability to win the Formula 1 championship as well but the Brazilian driver decided not to as he helped his German teammate and 7 time world
champion Michael Schumacher.
Michael Schumacher is the man who gave Ferrari the name and fame it has right now since it was because of him that the team was forced to ask Rubens Barrichello to work as a wing man for the German driver. Rubens Barrichello at first was not aware that his
team was undermining him. Rubens worked with the team unaware for almost 2 years after which he realized that Michael was being preferred over him.
Maybe he was aware of it even before but either way, he stayed with the team for another 3 years. One has to admit that it was quite foolish of the Brazilian driver as he wasted his vital career in his peak time just to help Michael Schumacher win his 5
titles in the sport.
Rubens Barrichello used to finish right behind Michael race after race and as a result finished in 2nd place in the drivers’ standings twice. Rubens had enough of the team when they asked him to let Michael through even though Rubens was winning
in various occasions.
After ruining his career with a team like Ferrari, Felipe Massa replaced him and coincidentally he was also a Brazilian.
Felipe Massa had a good start with the team and it seemed that Ferrari was trying to help both of its drivers back then but it did not take long before Ferrari blew it once again. Felipe Massa was asked to help his teammate Michael Schumacher when Michael
was struggling to fight against the Spaniard beast Fernando Alonso. Michael struggled for two years behind him and it seemed that even with Felipe’s help, Michael was unable to defeat Fernando and lost the championship twice in a row to him.
Michael finally decided to retire from the sport and therefore, the team decided to replace him with Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi Raikkonen was definitely now looking as good as Michael but fortunately, luck was by his side and even though he had a one tenth chance
of winning the championship in the grand finale at Brazil in 2007, he barely won the championship as Lewis Hamilton, the championship leader back then had to retire because of a mechanical problem.
Kimi continued to race with the team for the following two years but obviously; he was not consistent enough and therefore was forced to leave the team in 2010 after his contract expired.
However, it seemed that Ferrari was finally supporting a Brazilian driver in 2008 when Felipe Massa nearly won the championship in his home grand prix. But it seemed that Brazilian drivers are cursed in Ferrari and therefore, Felipe lost the championship
in the final lap as Lewis snatched the 5th place to hold on to his championship lead and eventually win the title.
Felipe had a dreadful, life threatening accident in 2009 but was unable to race for the rest of the 2009 season.
In 2010, Felipe Massa returned to the sport and it seemed that he still had that spark even after a life threatening crash. However, as the season progressed, Felipe was back to where he started helping his teammate Fernando Alonso this time. With no prominent
place for the Brazilian driver in the Brazilian Grand Prix, it seems that the Brazilian curse in Ferrari will never end.
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