Last Updated on January 4 2026, 10:35 pm

It seems a well trodden path for ex-F1 world champions. The call from Ferrari when they have conquered the sport of Formula One. Since the reign of their greatest ever driver, Michael Schumacher ended in 2006, there have been no less than four world champions who have joined the Scuderia in an effort to improve their fortunes.

Ferrari are now in their longest ever spell without a constructors’ championship, but still short of the 21 long years between Jodie Scheckter (1979) and Michael Schumacher winning driver titles. They have until the end of 2028 to stop this run, but will there latest world champion recruit be the one who stops the rot?

The first word champion since Schumacher to join the team was Fernando Alonso (2010-2014). His 2010 campaign should have been a shoe in given he was leading Sebastian Vettel by 15 points going into the season finale in Abu Dhabi. Yet another strategic error from the Scuderia saw him Pitt too early and spend the remainder of the race stuck in P7 behind Vital Petrov.

 

 

 

Ferrari’s F1 world champion recruits

Next to join the party was the returning Kimi Raikkonen in 2014, yet his five year spell with the Italian squad never really saw him in contention for the championship. Raikkonen would partner with Vettel from 2015, who came off the back of four consecutive driver titles at Red Bull Racing.

2015 and 2016 were poor years for the Scuderia who saw Mercedes dominate the sport. However, in 2017 Ferrari had the stronger car on slower circuits and Sebastian was again a title threat. After 13 races he was just 3 points behind Lewis Hamilton, but a clumsy shunt at a restart in Singapore signalled the end to that challenge. 

 In 2017, the Ferrari was a strong car on the slower circuits and Vettel was a title threat. After 13 races, he was just three points behind Hamilton but things started to unravel when he caused the start shunt in Singapore. The 2017 Mercedes was not as dominant as its predecessors and this was a year Ferrari and Vettel missed an opportunity.

Yet it was 2018 that proved to be the one that got away from Vettel and the Scuderia, but the German driver started making a lot of mistakes. In Baku a huge lock up compromised his race and at Paul Ricard he rear ended Valterri Bottas at the start. As the rain came in at his home race in Hockeheim, Vettel inexplicably slid off into the barrier.

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Vettel’s driving demise

While leading, at Monza Vettel spun while battling with Hamilton on the first lap and in Austin he clumsily collided with Daniel Ricciardo. At the Japanese race in the autumn, Max Verstappen became the next victim of Vettel’s bumper car ride. All these errors contributed to Ferrari and Sebastian failing to win a title that could easily have been theirs.

Then in 2019, Vettel received new team mate in the form of Charles Leclerc and the German now reflects it was then he knew the writing was on the wall. Speaking to Beyond the Grid podcast, Sebastian Vettel says: “Winning the 2010 title, I was at my peak. Then I lived more years of high level. 2015 was also a very positive season. The same goes for 2017 and 2018. Then, however, in 2019 and also during the following year, I was already in decline. Now I can say, I no longer had that decisive push.”

Vettel reveals his motivation for competing in F1 was merely to win. “I wanted the biggest trophy, I dreamed of the moment on the podium when I appeared as a winner. I was chasing that thought of Monday morning: ‘I won the race and I feel great’. This feeling never lasts long enough and forces you to win again”. 

In 2019 this proved to be in contrast to the mindset of his new team mate, ten years his junior. Arriving at Ferrari after a season with Sauber and at just 22 years of age, Charles Leclerc was bright eyed and bushy tailed. “Charles really had a lot of energy. When we came fifth and sixth, he was excited about those results, because he was living a different phase of his career.

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Sebastian’s new ecological passion

“It was his first time in a competitive car. At that moment I began to feel some more difficulties,” Vettel admits. The delayed start to the 2020 season also gave Sebastian a view of life beyond the perpetual week in and out with his racing team.

“During the pandemic break, I experienced a fantastic break because I had a lot of fun with my family. As my children grew up, I began to realise the world’s problems and how much they affected me. So I started thinking about it. At that point I was no longer at the top.”

In 2020, Ferrari announced they would not be extending Sebastian Vettel’s contract and announced the arrival for the following season of Carlos Sainz Jnr to partner Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver had now racked up two Grand Prix victories along with eight podiums and was presented as Ferrari’s favoured son.

Vettel meanwhile loped off to Aston Martin to partner the team bosses son, Lance Stroll, but it was not the bow out to a Stella F1 career the German hoped for. He claimed a second place in Baku for the Silverstone based team in 2021, but soon found himself in hot water over his new found ecological passion.

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Vettel loses the argument with Canadian government

The vast tar sands of Alberta, west of Quebec where Vettel is participating in this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, are mined for their oil reserves. The extraction process has contaminated the surrounding environment and endangered wildlife, as well as displaced the area’s indigenous communities.

Prior to the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix Vettel became embroiled in a spat with the local government over the alleged ecological disaster that was taking place in the vast sand plains of Alberta. There oil was being mined but the extraction process was said to be contaminating the surrounding environment, endangering wildlife and displacing indigenous people.

Alberta’s energy minister responded furiously on social media stating: “I have seen a lot of hypocrisy over the years, but this one takes the cake,” Sonya Savage posted whilst observing the title sponsor of the Aston Martin team was oil giant Saudi based Aramco. “A race car driver sponsored by Aston Martin, with financing from Saudi Aramco, complaining about the oil sands.

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Is Hamilton going the same way?

“Saudi Aramco has the largest daily oil production of all companies in the world. It is reputed to be the single largest contributor to global carbon emissions, of any company, since 1965.”

Just three race weekends later Vettel would announce his retirement from Formula One. Vettel’s comments are fascinating in terms of facing a young gun for whom a P5 was an exiting result in terms of potentially where Lewis Hamilton’s mindset is as he nears the end of his career.

Hamilton too has lived for winning as exemplified by his seven driver titles, but his last four years in the sport has seen him claim just two race victories. In 2025 lewis suffered the ignominy of his first ever season without managing even a Grand Prix podium. 

 

 

 

Aston Martin’s head start for 2026

For the next three weeks until the cars hit the Circuit de Catalunya for pre-season testing, the Formula One news will be dominated by speculation over which team has aced the all new engine and chassis design regulations.

Mercedes is persistently everyone’s favourite to build the most competitive power unit, but much of that opinion is based on their efforts last time an new era of F1 power was ushered in. The Brackley/Brixworth combination went on to dominate the sport, with the Mercedes team winning a record eight consecutive constructor championships together with seven consecutive driver titles.

Yet Mercedes this time around are restricted like all the manufacturers in terms of the amount they can spend on research and development unlike in 2014 when they outspent the field. Further, other resource restrictions are in place which also level the playing field like bench testing time allowed.