Formula 1: Ferrari make alarming admission as 2020 season nears

Ferrari have already admitted that they likely won’t be able to challenge Mercedes for the Formula 1 world championship for several more seasons.

For more than a decade, Ferrari, the most successful team in Formula 1 history with 15 world driver championships and 16 world constructor titles, have been aiming to end their title droughts.

The Italian team have gone without winning anything along the lines of a world championship since the 2008 season, when it was McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton who beat Ferrari’s Felipe Massa to the driver title on the final lap of the season finale.

But Ferrari were still able to secure the constructor title with second place Massa and third place Kimi Raikkonen. They haven’t won a driver championship, however, since Raikkonen won his first and only title the previous year.

More from Formula One

Their 11-year constructor championship drought is their longest since 15 seasons passed between their 1983 title and their first of six consecutive titles in 1999, and their 12-year driver championship drought is their longest since 19 seasons passed between Jody Scheckter’s 1979 title and Michael Schumacher’s first of five consecutive titles for the team in 2000.

Every year, especially over the course of the last few seasons, the question is asked whether or not this can be Ferrari’s year, especially amid the dominance that Mercedes have shown since the V6 turbo hybrid era began in 2014, winning 89 of the 121 races that have been contested during this span.

Ferrari had a great shot to end both of their droughts in 2017, leading the driver and constructor standings for much of the season, and they had an equal if not better shot again in 2018, but a plethora of mistakes led to them throwing their chances away and handing both titles to Mercedes in both seasons.

Mercedes went on to dominate the 2019 season, becoming the only team in Formula 1 history aside of Ferrari to win six consecutive constructor titles and becoming the first team in Formula 1 history to win six consecutive driver titles.

So, once again, the obligatory question for the 2020 season is this: is this finally Ferrari’s year?

According to team principal Mattia Binotto, no, it’s not. And 2021 or 2022 likely won’t be either.

Here is what Binotto had to say, according to Motorsport Italy.

"“To open a winning cycle and to be in front of Mercedes in a stable way, it will still take a few years. But I know that as Ferrari we always have a moral obligation to try every year”."

While there will surely be accusations of sandbagging like there usually are whenever this kind of claim is made by anybody competing for the top spot in Formula 1, all you really need to do is look at how the last few years have gone for Ferrari to know that they really do have only a small chance to dethrone Mercedes, and this claim could very well be 100% legitimate.

At this point, the only sandbagging would pretty much have to come from the Silver Arrows.

Next. Top 10 Formula 1 drivers of all-time. dark

Will the 2020 Formula 1 season be yet another season in which Ferrari fall short of becoming world champions for the first time as a team since the 2008 season and for the first time with a driver since the 2007 season?

Home/Formula One