3 F1 drivers who ruined their legacy by joining Ferrari

Ferrari is the most iconic team in F1. The Italian brand is synonymous with the sport and it would not take a whole lot of persuasion to sign a driver for the team.

Ferrari has been sensational in F1. It is the most successful brand in the sport and boasts the most titles and the most wins as well. Even if there are people in the world who would not know what Formula 1 is, they would have heard about Ferrari. Throughout the history of the sport, the Italian team has been a destination for top drivers and world champions.

Having said that, over the last 50 years, if we remove the era of dominance that the team had under Michael Schumacher, success has been hard to come by for Ferrari. The rampant politics at the team is a major concern and it often gets highlighted as one of the reasons behind the team's struggles.

There have been quite a few F1 legends on the grid who ended up joining the Italian team and ruining their careers with a title-less run.

In this piece, we will be taking a look at three such talents who joined Ferrari and ended up ruining their legacy.

Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari 2015-20)

Sebastian Vettel was the most successful driver on the grid when he joined Ferrari in 2015. He was a four-time world champion already and was regarded by many as the best in F1.

However, it all came crashing down for Vettel. The internal politics and the erroneous ways of doing things meant that the team could never possibly give the German a car capable of fighting for the title. He was in contention against Lewis Hamilton in 2017 until midway through the season before the call dropped off considerably.

The 2018 F1 season was plagued with far too much backroom politics that left him unable to do his job to the best he was capable of. In the end, the partnership ended in 2020 with Vettel losing a lot of the fame and credibility he'd gained at Red Bull.

Fernando Alonso (Ferrari 2010-14)

Fernando Alonso joined the Italian team in 2010 and this was one of the many poor career choices that the Spaniard made in his career.

Alonso was already a two-time world champion and had shown an ability to be the leader of the pack when Michael Schumacher retired. He had, however, not been in a title fight since the 2007 F1 season debacle where he fell out with McLaren.

Alonso joined Ferrari intending to replicate what the great Schumacher had done, which was build a championship-winning juggernaut. He came close in 2010 and 2012, only to lose out in the last race of the season.

By 2014, it had been five years at the team for the Spaniard, and still no hope for a title. As a result, he decided to call time on his stint with the Italian team and moved to McLaren Honda.

Alain Prost (Ferrari 1990-91)

Alain Prost did not have a prolonged stay in Ferrari but this was arguably one of the more intense partnerships for the team. Prost joined the team on the back of a title win in 1989 against Ayrton Senna. The win was contentious and the two drivers were hostile towards each other.

While the French driver had won titles with McLaren, he knew his future at the British team was over when Ron Dennis shifted alliances towards Senna. Prost moved to Ferrari in 1990, a team that had not won a title in a while.

To the surprise of many, the car was quite good and Prost was able to challenge for the title. The 1991 F1 season was the one where it first became clear to the French driver that things were not working fine.

Prost was quite vocal about Ferrari falling back in the pecking order as McLaren continued to surge. In the end, the excessive criticism from Prost led to the ire of the Italian team as he was fired mid-season for his comments about the car.

For a multiple world champion to be fired from a team came as a massive surprise, but that's how Prost's stint at Ferrari ended.