Formula 1: Ferrari’s 2021 lineup sets unique trend, first since 2007

By Asher Fair | May 22, 2020

Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, Formula 1 (Photo credit: BERTRAND GUAY/AFP via Getty Images) /

The last time a Ferrari driver won a Formula 1 world championship was in 2007. Fortunately for them, their 2021 lineup is set to feature a trend not seen since 2007.

Four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel recently confirmed the news that many believed was coming sooner rather than later. He will not be back with Ferrari for the 2021 season.

This news comes a few months after the team secured the services of Charles Leclerc for the long-term future. They signed him through the 2024 season just before Christmas of 2019, not even one month after his maiden season with the Scuderia came to an end.

Vettel is set to be in his sixth season with Ferrari, whenever the 2020 season ends up getting underway. He has yet to win a championship driving for the Italian team after winning four consecutive titles at Red Bull Racing from 2010 to 2013, a span during which he earned 34 of his 53 career victories. He has won 14 races in red thus far.

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Carlos Sainz Jr. emerged as the frontrunner to replace the 32-year-old German at Ferrari beginning next year following what is slated to be his second season at McLaren, and that deal has since been confirmed.

So the team are set to move forward with the 22-year-old Monegasque and the 25-year-old Spaniard, creating one of the youngest driver lineups in the history of the Maranello-based team.

But what this pairing also may do, assuming that Lewis Hamilton wins the 2020 world championship as expected — or really that anybody other than Leclerc wins it — is set up Ferrari to see a trend that they haven’t seen since 2007.

2007 also happens to be the last time one of their drivers won a world championship.

Not since the 2007 season have the team entered a year with two drivers who had never previously won a world championship. Their lineup consisted of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa that year.

Of course, it was Raikkonen who went on to win the title 13 years ago.

Every year since then, their lineup has consisted of at least one former world champion. Raikkonen and Massa continued driving for the team in 2008 and 2009 before two-time world champion Alonso replaced Raikkonen in 2010.

Alonso and Massa drove for the team together from 2010 to 2013 before Raikkonen returned as Massa’s replacement ahead of the 2014 season. After 2014, Vettel stepped in as the replacement for Alonso. Leclerc replaced Raikkonen after the 2018 season, but Vettel remained.

Leclerc finished in a career-high fourth place in the driver standings in his first year with Ferrari. In his first year with McLaren, Sainz finished in a career-high sixth, becoming the first non-Mercedes, Ferrari or Red Bull Racing driver to finish in the top six since Valtteri Bottas finished in fifth driving for Williams in 2015.

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Of course, if Charles Leclerc wins the 2020 Formula 1 world championship, Ferrari’s streak of entering a season with at least one former world champion will continue next year. But if not, they are set for their first year without a former world champion in their lineup since 2007. Given that 2007 is the last time one of their drivers won a world title, however, that could be a good sign.

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