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Despite not having won a single championship since 2008, Ferrari remains the most successful team in the history of F1. It has come close to winning one multiple times since then, but one thing or another has prevented the Italian team from returning to its winning ways. One of the team's biggest shortcomings in the last decade and a half has been its strategy department.
Long gone are the days of the Brawn-Schumacher combo, when one could be certain that even tense moments would go Ferrari's way on most days. This has been replaced by a more frantic approach when things get stressful as was witnessed at the Monaco GP. In the last decade, the Maranello-based team has gained the reputation of being a team that cannot hold its own in tense situations, and more often than not, loses out.
In this piece, we will take a look at some of these incidents from the past where Ferrari's strategic blunders ruined the race, and perhaps even the championship, for its drivers.
Ferrari's top 5 strategic disasters
#5 Kimi Raikkonen (Malaysian GP 2009)
The 2009 F1 season was a disaster for Ferrari. After almost clinching both titles in the 2008 season, the team was unable to produce a car capable of fighting at the front in the new regulations.
When the F1 circus reached Malaysia in 2009 and there was anticipation of a downpour, Ferrari saw an opportunity to salvage a strong result out of a season that did not promise much.
As the weather changed and clouds gathered around the circuit, it appeared as though rain was imminent. In a move that could, at best, be described as 'jumping the gun,' Kimi Raikkonen was called into the pits and fitted with a brand new set of full wet tires before a single drop of rain had fallen on the track.
Confused at what was going on, the Finn was told that a typical Malaysian torrential downpour was expected. The downpour did come and it was torrential as well, however, it was a few laps too late. In the meantime, Raikkonen had already worn out the tread of the wet tires by driving them on a dry track.
He fell to the bottom of the grid as a result of this, and that's where he ended his race. In the larger scheme of things, this was a massive gamble that seemed to lack any semblance of logic in its execution.
#4 Kimi Raikkonen (British GP 2008)
The 2008 British GP is remembered for being one of the best wet weather drivers in the history of the sport. Lewis Hamilton dominated the race and was in a league of his own as compared to the rest of the field. However, the fate of the race could have been different had Kimi Raikkonen not been severely handicapped in that race.
In the early exchanges, when the track had begun to dry out, Raikkonen was catching up to Lewis Hamilton at a rapid rate and by the time the two drivers pitted on lap 21), the gap was less than a second. It was at this stage that the race completely turned on its head. The seven-time world champion's worn-out intermediates were replaced by McLaren and a set of new ones' were fitted.
Ferrari gambled on the track drying out, letting Raikkonen continue on a set of worn-out intermediates. As soon as the two drivers came out of the pits, McLaren was vindicated because the rain had intensified and instead of the track drying out, the conditions got worse. Hamilton, on a fresh set of intermediates, relished the conditions while Raikkonen, on a worn-out set, was severely handicapped. The Ferrari driver was as much as eight seconds slower than Hamilton per lap and was effectively out of contention. In a race where Raikkonen could have won, he finished the race outside the podium positions and a lap down on the leader.
#3 Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen (Japanese GP 2007)
In retrospect, the strategic disaster by Ferrari at the Japanese GP in 2007 could have cost the team the championship. The Japanese GP greeted everyone with what were torrential conditions. The race was supposed to start behind the safety car and every team was supposed to be fitted with the extreme wet tires during the safety car restart (as directed by the FIA). Somehow, unaware of this directive, Ferrari opted to put both of its drivers on wet instead of full wet tires.
After much deliberation with the race control, Ferrari had to concede its stand and pitted both the Ferrari drivers to change tires to extreme wets. As a result, both drivers, who were third and fourth in the race at the time, were now at the tail end of the grid.
Kimi Raikkonen had a fantastic recovery driver through the field to finish the race in P3. However, things could have turned out much worse.
Raikkonen eventually won the title by just a single point. If he had been unable to score that point, this is the race where he would have effectively lost the championship.
#2 Michael Schumacher (Hungarian GP 2006)
The end of the Schumacher-Ferrari partnership also featured one such instance that, in effect, was responsible for costing Michael Schumacher the eighth title. The Hungarian GP 2006 would go down as one of the most eventful races of the season.
It was a race that no one wanted to win. It featured a crash from the lead for Kimi Raikkonen. It featured a loose wheel nut induced retirement for Fernando Alonso. It featured the first of many wet weather wins for Jenson Button and also featured a Michael Schumacher retirement later in the race.
Michael Schumacher was in contention to win the race but a late-race decision to continue with the intermediate tires instead of switching to dry tires worked against him. The decision left Schumacher significantly compromised and vulnerable in the second position. Later in the race, a wheel-to-wheel collision with Nick Heidfeld while fighting for third position left the world champion with a damaged suspension and out of the race.
The strategic gamble of sticking with the intermediates on a dry track not only cost Schumacher the win, but also cost him the opportunity to significantly close down the gap to Fernando Alonso in the championship.
#1 Fernando Alonso (Abu Dhabi GP 2010)
The most infamous instance of Ferrari significantly compromising the race of its drivers was in the 2010 Abu Dhabi GP. Fernando Alonso went into the race as the championship leader and the runaway favorite. Mark Webber was second in the standings while Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel had an outside shot at the championship. For Alonso, the stipulation was quite simple. He was eight points ahead of Mark Webber and fifteen ahead of Sebastian Vettel. All he had to do in the race was ensure that he did not concede that many points to either of the drivers.
But, in a strategic decision taken by Ferrari, the team thought it best to cover Mark Webber's early stop in the race. While it ensured that he had Webber covered, the second part of the puzzle, defending the 15-point advantage over Vettel, was compromised. Alonso was stuck behind Renault's Vitaly Petrov throughout the race as the Russian made the most of his better straight-line speed to keep the Spaniard behind him for the entire race. Despite multiple desperate attempts by Alonso, there was no way through for the Ferrari driver as he ended up finishing the race in seventh position and pretty much gifting the title to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.
It will be interesting to see whether Ferrari can withstand the stress of the championship battle this season or whether it crumbles again?
