Ferrari have been a shadow of their old glorious selves in the last decade with their last title coming in 2008. After being title-less for 15 years, F1 expert Peter Windsor recently revealed in a Q&A session on his YouTube channel, how Ferrari could have avoided this title drought if they had made a correct decision eight years ago.
Talking about a question regarding Verstappen being a Ferrari driver, Windsor said that it would have been interesting to see the Dutchman drive for the Italian team. Windsor then explains that it might have been a reality if Ferrari managed to recruit Adrian Newey eight years ago when links between the two had emerged.
Christian Horner says Ferrari had offered Newey a luxurious lifestyle in Monaco and the chance to build a road car to sign him
Mateschitz persuaded Newey to stay as per Horner: “if you want to do a road car, we’ll do a road car, he said.”
“Well, how I said, well I have no… pic.twitter.com/hmDZQuRmEJ
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) November 10, 2023
Windsor said, “If Ferrari had hired Adrian Newey six, seven or eight years ago and paid him two billion for all I care, they would have more than recouped all that money because they would have won four or five world titles.”
Windsor describes this decision as stupid because Newey would have surely brought in some championships to Maranello. He further explains that bringing in Newey would have surely attracted the likes of Verstappen to move in from Red Bull. Having a driver like Verstappen in the ranks would have also increased the chances of winning more and more titles.
Adrian Newey twice came close to joining Ferrari #F1 https://t.co/VVgVYl4ADe
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 9, 2023
Ferrari bringing in Newey and subsequently Verstappen to revive the team, wouldn’t have been an unfamiliar thing. The Scuderia had done quite a similar thing before during the mid 90s, recruiting big names like Jean Todt and Michael Schumacher, who brought them back to glory days.
Windsor points out why Sergio Perez isn’t the second best driver
Windsor also spoke about the huge difference in performance between Verstappen and Sergio Perez, and also claimed that the Mexican driver isn’t the second best driver on the grid after Verstappen even if the standings say so. Windsor claimed that there have been various other drivers who have had a much more consistent and strong season in much slower cars.
The F1 expert used the examples of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc and said, “Lewis is doing very well over the length of the season with a car that has as many shortcomings as the Mercedes. Charles Leclerc has also done quite well with Ferrari.”
Therefore, if these drivers had a car which could compete with the Red Bull, it is highly unlikely that Perez would have finished P2 in the championship standings. With teams like Ferrari and McLaren slowly progressing up the field and catching up with the Milton Keynes outfit, there may be doubts about Perez’s place in Red Bull.
