Fernando Alonso thinks that Ferrari has lowered their expectations after both himself and Sebastian Vettel failed to win the title with them.
Fernando Alonso raced for Ferrari from 2010-2014. The Spaniard came close to winning the title in 2012 but ended up falling short. The same could be said about four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who was with the team from 2015-2020.
Vettel, like Alonso, could not deliver the title to the Maranello based team. The 40-year-old Alpine driver, however, feels that Ferrari was not ready to be World Champions back then.
“In my time and Sebastian’s time, they were not ready to be world champion,” he told F1 insider. “We both tried it and came close to winning, but we didn’t make it.”
Fernando Alonso in the red car finished just 3 points behind Sebastian Vettel, who was driving for Red Bull in the 2012 Championship. Vettel, however, never came too close to defeat the Mercedes of Hamilton in his time in Modena.
The German driver came 2nd in the Championship in 2017 and 2018 but failed to terminate Mercedes’ hegemony. His last two years with the team were extremely difficult, with several technical difficulties and internal problems.
Ferrari longer care about the short term, says Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso believes that Ferrari no longer cares about the short term success and are focused more on long term prosperity for the team. “Now they’ve changed the way they plan and the expectations are no longer so high. You can see that in their choice of young drivers.”
“Now they’re thinking more about the long term and building up young drivers than the short term,” he added. After Sebastian Vettel’s departure, the Maranello based outfit brought in former McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr to partner Charles Leclerc.
The 27-year-old Madrid born driver has impressed fans and pundits worldwide with his performances this season. After a very underwhelming 6th place finish in the Constructor’s Championship in 2020.
Ferrari seems to have made improvements this year. The team are currently fighting for P3 in the Championship. They’ve been on the podium four times this season, with Sainz getting 3 of them. The road to redemption for the legendary team is underway after what has been a challenging few years.
