Scuderia Ferrari

Who drives for Ferrari in Formula 1?

After years of a situation where there is one top driver and one second violin, Ferrari chooses in 2019 to put top talent, Charles Leclerc, next to the four-time world champion, Sebastian Vettel. It works, because Leclerc beats Vettel in his first season in a Ferrari and shows what Ferrari might have missed last season.

Leclerc has also received a new contract from Mattia Binotto, linking the talented Monegask to the Italian race stable until 2024. The Italians are not handing out such contracts quickly and that just means the future that Ferrari sees with the talent.

This will put pressure on the position of the experienced Vettel. The German came to Ferrari in 2015 to bring the race stable back to glory days, but now the team chooses a different route. Will Vettel be able to strike back in 2020 or will the German go down in battle with his teammate?

The constant factor in Formula 1

With sixteen manufacturer titles and fifteen driver titles, Ferrari is the most successful team in Formula 1. It can't be otherwise, if you're the only team that has been at the start time since 1950. Big names like Lotus, Jaguar and many others fell or stopped, while Ferrari kept going. Good results or not, the Italians continued to appear at the start.

Racers such as Niki Lauda, Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio managed to grab titles with Ferrari and contribute to the record collection of Formula 1 championships won. And although other teams sometimes unexpectedly push Ferrari back into the rankings, so far the Italians have always managed to get back on top.

The golden years

The eighties and nineties are clearly not the period of Ferrari. McLaren and Williams alternate winning titles and in 1995 it was Michael Schumacher who took the title with Benetton. That success makes Ferrari decide to put a mega sum on the table to take over the German (and with him a large part of Benetton) for the 1996 season. A golden move, but one with a difficult start.

Regulatory changes mean that the Italians, even with Schumi behind the wheel, have to settle for second place. One year later the drama gets even worse, when Jacques Villeneuve takes the title and Schumacher is disqualified. The German gets into trouble with the FIA and sees his results disappear into the wastebasket. Not that it matters much to Schumi; the title was lost anyway.

Only in 2000 the tide turns for Schumacher and Ferrari when Schumacher forms the driving duo with Rubens Barrichello. Five years in a row it is Schumi who can call himself champion and also five times Ferrari who takes the constructor's title. After five years of dominance, Ferrari drops further back on the grid and Michael Schumacher also takes the lead. In 2006 the German drives his last season at Ferrari and starts working as an advisor.

Ferrari F1 in 2020

In 2017 and 2018 the chance for the title was really missed by the team supported by the tifosi, but in 2019 the Italians just weren't fast enough. With Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel it may have the fastest lineup of the top teams, but the question is whether this will not cause major problems in 2020.

With a new contract for Leclerc the team seems to be clearly opting for the Monegask and the future. However, Vettel will still be driving for the team in 2020 and will want to do everything in its power to prove itself once again. However, a battle like this rarely ends well and the question is whether the team from Maranello will fight with the competition or especially with themselves.

With which engine does Ferrari drive?

Like Renault, Mercedes and Honda, Ferrari is an engine manufacturer in Formula 1. Besides supplying an engine to its own factory team (the Ferrari 064, with Shell as fuel supplier), Haas and Sauber also use a power source of the Italians. Previously, Red Bull (one year), Toro Rosso and Force India also drove a Ferrari engine in Formula 1.