Some say that the great F1 teams of McLaren and Williams are in the doldrums! It has been a long time since they won a Grand Prix – For McLaren it was with Jenson Button at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix and for Williams it was with Pastor Maldonado at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.
While Ferrari may have kept winning races, let us not forget that they haven’t won a driver’s title since 2007 and a manufacturers title since 2008. For the last eight years it has been between Red Bull Racing and Mercedes.
Head back to 2007 and it was Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen who won the driver’s title by one point at the final race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Räikkönen entered the race in third position in the drivers’ standings, but emerged as champion after the chequered flag. His teammate, Felipe Massa finished the race in second ahead of McLaren driver Fernando Alonso.
Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) had held a four-point advantage over Fernando Alonso, and a seven-point lead over Räikkönen heading into the race. However, Hamilton’s race was compromised by a gearbox problem early in the race. He recovered to finish seventh but lost the championship to Räikkönen by a single point.
This was also the season of the espionage controversy involving Ferrari and McLaren, which led to McLaren being excluded from the Constructors’ Championship. As a result, Ferrari clinched the championship at the Belgian Grand Prix. They also won the 2008 constructors title, the last time Ferrari have done so.
As for Kimi, he returns to the Sauber team for 2019. The team he first began his F1 career with back in 2001 before joining McLaren and then later Ferrari.
Happy Birthday Kimi!
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