#just because two drivers crashed after winning the year before doesn't mean there's some kind of “curse or anything

[abnormalbubblegumman]

At last. Race weekend

[leqclerc]

honestly carlos also isn’t that impressive when you look at the calibre of drivers ferrari have hired in let’s say the past 2 decades… seb, alonso, kimi, micheal, barrichello are all either world champions or (for barrichello) finished at least 2nd in the wdc (and here we can include charles also!) so if we’re just looking at wdc positions carlos is the weakest ferrari driver in 20 years. it’s ferrari… the standards are different

anyw this is a bit divisive so i understand if udw to reply!

Hello 👋🏻😊

No worries! I see what you're saying. I think the thing with Ferrari is though... I mean, obviously they will always be a legendary marque with plenty of historical successes, and as much as one can pretend that doesn't move them, you can't deny the appeal of wanting to be part of that, wanting to experience a slice of that and be immortalized in the history books yourself. I also think there's a bit of a "I can fix her" aspect at play here, this tantalizing idea that you can be the one to restore Ferrari to end the title drought and bring the trophy back to Maranello, to do the one thing so many others failed to do.

Which kind of brings me to my next point which is that... legendary status aside, I think their stock has kind of fallen in the last few years. Particularly in that 2020-21 period where they came crashing down and then had to rebuild and they already knew they wouldn't be anywhere close to being championship contenders.

I mean every year we see the stats and the "it's been X years since Ferrari's last championship" stuff going around. The 2010s and early 2020s just haven't been a great time for the team. They've had some highs but generally they're probably remembered for the lows (unfortunately.) They've had two (three, if you count 2022) failed title bids that fizzled out before the end of the season. There's been a lot of staff turnover (including TPs), lots of chaos behind the scenes with people trying to do things their way in hopes of breaking the cycle (Binotto.) It's like it's always close but no cigar, if that makes sense.

So at the time they were looking for a replacement for Seb, let's say early 2020 (unbeknownst to us at the time, because the narrative was that they intended to stick with him and then Covid complicated things...) I think they 1. just were not an attractive option for drivers of a similar caliber/world champions. Max wasn't going to move after getting stuck in at Red Bull and Mercedes were having their heyday so Lewis wasn't about to walk either. The only other WDC on the grid at the time was Kimi iirc, whom they had just recently let go to bring in Charles. And 2. I think they were trying to sort of shake things up and almost forge a new identity. They took a chance on Charles, doing something they traditionally wouldn't have resorted to, bringing in a wet behind the ears driver in just his second year of F1. Of course he was their academy driver, he did sim work for them, test-drove their cars and was generally familiar with the people and the environment and factory and everything so it's not like they plucked him out of nowhere, but still, it was unlike them, and many pointed out that they were flipping the script with this move.

Again hearkening back to a point I made previously, on paper Carlos seems like a pretty solid driver and more or less along the lines of what they needed at that time. He generally had a good time at McLaren, he was beating Lando (a rookie but still) and was being praised for his professionalism and team player attitude (little did we know.)

I think the only other name that was mentioned as having credible talks with them at the time was Daniel, who maybe would've been more in line with what we came to expect from their signings (so a driver with more experience and actual race wins under his belt. Not WDC though.)

There was also very much this perception that they were going to go all in and build the team around Charles as their no. 1, so they didn't really need a senior driver he could learn from anymore (they already had that in Seb) but rather someone to back him up. (Obviously things uh. Didn't quite pan out that way but.)

I remember there was a stat going around about how Charles and Carlos were Ferrari's youngest driver pairing since like 1968, which is kind of insane. So I think they also kind of used that to launch their new era where they kind of tried to re-brand themselves as this team that's betting on young, fresh talent.

Now they seem to be on the up again with the development direction, new TP and a surprise juggernaut lineup for 25-26 so there's this sense (and hope) that they're heading towards building something akin to the dominant, iconic team of the early 2000s.

All in all it was a decently long partnership, especially considering the state of modern F1 and the near-constant silly season and people getting short-term contracts, lots of academy drivers waiting in the wings and stuff. Carlos himself was a serial team-hopper so to speak before getting the Ferrari seat, the longest he's been with one team so far in his career I believe? Will this lineup be considered a standout Ferrari lineup some 10, 15 years down the line? Probably not, especially sandwiched in between two WDC drivers and falling in this no man's land period with no titles and few wins (as of right now, who knows what happens this season). But all in all I think Carlos's four season stint with Ferrari is pretty much an accurate reflection of where they were at that moment in time.