Fernando Alonso has taken a dig at Ferrari, saying they were never championship material in recent years.
The current Alpine driver once wore the famous red overalls. Although he came close, he couldn’t deliver the world championship. Ferrari’s signing of another icon in Sebastian Vettel also yielded the same result.
The Tifosi have waited many years to be champions of F1 again. Unfortunately, Red Bull and then Mercedes dominated the past decade. Ferrari was in the upper part of the table, but were never serious title contenders.
The two-time world champion and current Alpine driver thinks that Ferrari has been so shattered by their failures that they have lowered their expectations. He reckoned that was the reason they turned to young drivers to drive for them.
Alonso took a dig at Ferrari in the process, saying that both him and Vettel drove for lost causes.
“In my time and Sebastian’s time, Ferrari was not ready to be world champion,” he said, as quoted by grandpx.news.
“We both tried it and came close to winning, but we didn’t make it.
“Now they’ve changed the way they plan and the expectations are no longer so high. You can see that in their choice of young drivers. Now they’re thinking more about the long term and building up young drivers than the short term,” the 40-year-old concluded.
Signs of life
Ferrari fans will have forgotten that horror season last year, where the team hit rock-bottom. They finished an embarrassing sixth in the Constructors’ Championship, and were riddled with politics and controversies off the track.
The toxic atmosphere at Ferrari culminated with the shock departure of Vettel to Aston Martin. It came as a massive surprise to everyone, including the four-time world champion himself.
Since then, Ferrari added Carlos Sainz to their ranks to partner Charles Leclerc. The team is having a good season, and are battling McLaren for P3 in the Constructors’ Championship. They have stated their intent to challenge for the title next season.
Time will tell how that will pan out.
Read more: Ferrari defends Leclerc tyre strategy – “The track changed so we had to intervene”