Can Hamilton succeed at Ferrari where both Alonso and Vettel failed?

With the exception of Max Verstappen, once Lewis Hamilton makes his F1 debut with Ferrari at the Australian Grand Prix, all of the pre-eminent drivers of the post-Michael Schumacher era will have driven for the Scuderia. 

Between Fernando Alonso’s first title in 2005 and Hamilton’s last, to date in 2020, Alonso, Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel won all but three of the drivers’ championships on offer, with only Kimi Raikkonen (2007), Jenson Button (2009) and Nico Rosberg (2016) defeating the trio. 

Even then, at least one of the trio finished runner-up, with Alonso and Hamilton tied for second in 2007, Vettel taking silver in ’09 and Hamilton being pipped by Mercedes frenemy Rosberg in ’16. 

For most of Hamilton’s career, there have been strong rumours linking him with a move to Maranello, although he always rebuffed the idea, insisting that staying with Mercedes and becoming a brand ambassador appealed to him. 

When he signed a two-year contract extension in summer 2023, it appeared the door marked ‘Ferrari’ was closed for good, but he ultimately triggered a break clause to leave after the 2024 season, bringing to an end the most successful driver-team partnership in F1 history. 

Hamilton claimed 84 grand prix wins and six world titles at Mercedes, but there was one prize that alluded him. 

Hamilton remains committed to winning that record-breaking eighth world championship he feels was stolen from him in the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and has said he will not retire until he solely holds the record he currently shares with Schumacher.

For him to do that, and also potentially be the driver to end the Scuderia’s long wait for a drivers’ crown stretching back to Raikkonen’s title, Hamilton must succeed where both Alonso and Vettel failed. 

Both Alonso and Vettel had insurmountable problems in their unsuccessful quests, ones that appear to be cleared for Hamilton. 

Article continues below. 

Where Fernando Alonso failed at Ferrari

Alonso’s relationship with Ferrari kicked off in the best possible fashion, claiming victory in a one-two finish with Felipe Massa at the 2010 Bahrain GP on his debut for the team.

He became the seventh driver to achieve that feat, although his form in the remainder of the first half of the 19-race calendar was patchy, only taking podiums in Spain and Canada, even starting from the pit lane in Monaco after an FP3 crash that ruled him out of qualifying.

Alonso’s fortunes began to turn after victory in Germany – given the assist by Ferrari in the infamous “Fernando is faster than you” race – as he and the team rallied to build momentum in the title run in. 

After Germany, he would win four of the last nine races, but in the Abu Dhabi finale, where he entered some 15 points clear of Vettel, Ferrari dropped a clanger with strategy, preferring to cover off Mark Webber, not realising the true threat for the title was Vettel. 

Alonso would trail home seventh having been stuck behind Vitaly Petrov’s Renault as Vettel won to steal the title by four points – and so began his era.

Over the next three Vettel title-winning seasons, he would win 29 races to Alonso’s six as Ferrari’s equipment proved sub-par. 

It was only through his stunning skill that he dragged the 2012 car to within four points of denying Vettel his hat-trick in one of the all-time great seasons from a driver, but ultimately, Alonso could only drag the car to certain heights as its weaknesses proved too great to overcome.

Now, under Frederic Vasseur’s leadership, the affable Frenchman has transformed Ferrari into a race-sharp operation, culling the mistakes that blighted his predecessor Mattia Binotto’s time in charge. 

The one ingredient lacking in the Ferrari mix is the title-winning nouse Hamilton will bring with him from Mercedes. That final sprinkling of know-how could be pivotal. 

How Sebastian Vettel failed at Ferrari

Unfortunately for Vettel, his stint at Ferrari between 2015 and 2020 was doomed before it started.

He was signed by the veteran president and chairman Luca di Montezemelo, but the Italian would quit in September 2014, even before the news of Vettel’s signing broke during the Japanese GP weekend in the first week of October. 

Vettel was viewed as the man who could restore Ferrari to the glory days of the Schumacher era, but the new Scuderia management of FIAT Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne and his right-hand man, Maurizio Arrivabene viewed Vettel as simply an employee and basically told him not to go above his station.

At times during the Schumacher dynasty, he would often run races from the cockpit, a notion of which Vettel was swiftly disabused of when he turned up in Italy.

Elsewhere, Vettel himself was not quite the same driver as in the Red Bull days with clumsy mistakes such as the 2017 Singapore GP start-line crash and that fateful skating off the track at Hockenheim whilst leading the 2018 German GP de-railing his two legitimate shots at the title. 

By 2019, he was a shadow of his former self, with Ferrari essentially replacing him two seasons before it actually did by promoting Leclerc after just one season. 

This is not a combination of factors threatening Hamilton at Ferrari.

He was essentially head-hunted by now Ferrari chairman John Elkann and has a long relationship with Vasseur – the two having worked together at ART Grand Prix when Hamilton won the 2006 GP2 title.

Hamilton is wanted by Ferrari, and as showed, in glimpses during his final season at Mercedes, when the car can perform, he is still capable of winning races and recovering through the field – his final lap overtake to put some manners on George Russell in Abu Dhabi being exhibit A.

The Charles Leclerc question

One thing that Hamilton will face at Ferrari that neither Alonso nor Vettel did, is a team-mate who will actually challenge him: Leclerc.

Alonso was paired with Felipe Massa during his title-near misses, but the relationship between the two could be described as ‘frosty’ at best, with Massa’s confidence never truly recovering after being ordered to move aside in Germany, a year to the day after he sustained those life-threatening head injuries in qualifying for the 2009 Hungarian GP. 

As for Vettel, his Ferrari spell pre-Leclerc’s arrival was spent with a Raikkonen well past his sell-by date and only in the seat because Ferrari couldn’t shift him to put someone better in. 

Being paired with a mediocre team-mate is bound, perhaps unwittingly, to affect a driver whose performance levels may dip rather than continuously being pushed to extract every last drop of performance that is demanded to achieve success in the white-hot environment at the top of elite sport.

This is somewhere Leclerc will challenge Hamilton. 

He is coming off the back of his best season in F1 in 2024, with three grand prix wins, and 10 further podiums as he recorded a career-high 356 points, finishing just 18 points behind Lando Norris.

Ferrari is also firmly Leclerc’s team, so Hamilton will have to win over the team, and the only way to do that is by out-performing the established driver.

What also works in Hamilton’s favour is the fact that he and Leclerc get on well and have a good personal as well as professional relationship – a far cry from the animosity of Alonso and Massa.

At one time or another, all of Hamilton, Vettel, and Alonso have aimed sly digs in the rough direction of the others to win races and titles at ease whilst they themselves couldn’t fight for the title. 

Both Alonso and Vettel craved title success with Ferrari, but in the end, using lessons learnt from their failures, it might be Hamilton who walks away with the last laugh – and the hearts of the Tifosi.