Posted on 16th December 2014
The 2014 season has seen the Ferrari team slip one place from third to fourth in the Constructors Championship behind their rivals Williams, Red Bull and Mercedes.
Ferrari came into the 2014 season with what many people were calling the 'strongest' driver line-up on the grid. Fernando Alonso was retained for a fifth season, whilst Kimi Raikkonen rejoined his championship winning team to replace Felipe Massa. The excitement, however, was short-lived.
Ferrari's aerodynamic woes continued throughout the season and the Ferrari power unit was nowhere near as powerful as their Mercedes' rival. Throughout the season, Raikkonen suffered mainly with brake-by-wire issues that certainly didn't help him get to grips with the F14T. The F14T was also designed for Fernando Alonso's style; with the car lacking the sharp front end that Kimi needs to perform on the track and that does need to be remembered especially when looking at Raikkonen's performances this season.
In the season opener in Australia, tricky conditions in qualifying caused Raikkonen to hit the wall, the result was that for the second time in three years, Raikkonen was eliminated in Q2 at Australia. Meanwhile, Alonso managed a very respectable fifth place on the grid in the wet. On race day we saw Raikkonen fight back to seventh place, whilst Alonso came home fourth following Daniel Ricciardo's disqualification from the race.
In the next few races, we saw Alonso and Raikkonen (Alonso especially) getting the most out of the car as they could. Alonso would maintain where he qualified come the end of the race in fourth place, but contact in the opening stages ruined Raikkonen's hopes of a good result and he had to come home a lap down in twelfth place.
However, Raikkonen did out qualify Alonso for the first time in 2014 at Bahrain with a second successive sixth place, whilst Alonso had problems which meant he could only manage 10th. The race saw Raikkonen slip through the field, with Alonso overtaking his team-mate and both cars coming home in an dismal ninth and tenth places. Former Ferrari Team Principal Stefano Domenicali lost his job after this race and was replaced by Marco Mattiacci for the rest of the season.
Raikkonen was then eliminated in Q2 again at China, whilst Alonso managed fifth place behind the two Mercedes and both Red Bulls. He would bring Ferrari their first podium of the year with third place, whilst Kimi finished over 50 seconds behind his team-mate in eighth place.
Alonso was out qualified by Raikkonen at his home Grand Prix in Spain, but managed to lead a Ferrari sixth and seventh place finish once the chequered flag dropped – a big step back from his win there the previous season. The next race in Monaco saw Alonso in front of the all-Ferrari third row, but Raikkonen was hit by Max Chilton and sustained a puncture, dropping him out of the points whilst Alonso just missed out on a podium in fourth place.
In Canada, both Ferrari drivers struggled with Alonso crossing the line in sixth place and Raikkonen last of the men to cross the finish line in tenth place after ex Ferrari driver Massa and former McLaren driver Perez were eliminated following a high-speed accident on the penultimate lap. Alonso would go one better in Austria, but Raikkonen once again rounded out the points scorers in eleventh place on the short Spielberg track.
The wet conditions for qualifying at Silverstone took two of the big teams by surprise, with both Ferrari and Williams misjudging the conditions and failing to get out of Q1. Alonso started in nineteenth place and Raikkonen in twentieth place – only ahead of the two Caterhams.
In the race, Raikkonen was slightly injured in a huge accident on the opening lap, caused by him running out wide through the exit of Aintree, hitting the barrier and passing along the track. The race was stopped on the opening lap for the first time since Monaco 2000. Team mate Alonso recovered to sixth place.
For the third time in 2014, Raikkonen qualified 12th at the next race in Germany. He failed to make it into the points after damaging his car defending from fighting Lewis Hamilton. Alonso finished one place behind Hamilton in fourth place. For the second time in three races, Raikkonen was eliminated in Q1 when Ferrari failed to send him out for a second run.
The Marussia of Jules Bianchi pipping him led to Raikkonen lining up in seventeenth place. The race itself proved to be brilliant for Ferrari, as they came so close to a race win. The Safety Car came out at the wrong time for Nico Rosberg and allowed Alonso to get up front. He came so close to holding on for a win, only for Daniel Ricciardo to pass him in the closing stages. Ferrari wouldn't get a better result all season.
The summer break was a great chance for Ferrari to improve, but no. In Belgium, the Mercedes clash did not help the Prancing Horse. Raikkonen came home in fourth place, whilst Alonso came home in seventh place. Ferrari's home race at Italy was next and they were left red faced, as Raikkonen again failed to make it out of Q2. The race was disastrous for the Tifosi, with Kimi only managing to finish in ninth place and Alonso retiring with an ERS failure. This was the end of Luca Di Montezemolo, who announced he was resigning as chairman following the team's continuous poor form.
In the latter stages of the season, it was announced that Fernando Alonso would be leaving the Ferrari team but did not at this stage announce where he would be driving next season. Then before the Japanese Grand Prix, it was announced that Sebastian Vettel would be leaving Red Bull and joining Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari for 2015 in a move that completely shocked the paddock and fans alike.
The next race in Singapore saw Alonso come home fourth and Raikkonen eighth, whilst the tragic race in Japan saw Ferrari score no points at all. Alonso retired early on with an electronics glitch, whilst Kimi struggled with the wet and finished in twelfth place. Both cars qualified in the top 10 at the next race in Russia, with Alonso managing to finish in sixth place and Raikkonen finishing in ninth place on the high-speed Sochi circuit.
The drivers qualified in those positions for the next race in Austin, with Alonso finishing once again in sixth place and Raikkonen dropping down to thirteenth place. Despite Brazil being a power circuit, the race at Sao Paulo proved quite successful for Ferrari, who brought home a decent points hall with sixth and seventh places.
Alonso's last race at Ferrari was at season finale in Abu Dhabi, where double points were on offer. Ferrari qualified in ninth and tenth places but were promoted two places when the Red Bulls were disqualified for using illegal front wings. Raikkonen lined up ahead of Alonso, but they swapped places during the race and scored six points by finishing in ninth and tenth places.
The poor form of this season saw Ferrari change team principal again, with Marco Mattiacci being replaced by Maurizio Arrivabene post season.
In what looks like another disappointing year for Ferrari, can the once great team go back to their dominant winning ways in 2015 which labelled them as the greatest team to ever grace the sport of Formula 1?
Fernando Alonso – 161 points / 6th in the Driver's championship
The 2014 season as saw Fernando Alonso outperform his team mate Kimi Raikkonen in the Drivers Championship by 106 points which was a bit of a shock given that Ferrari was supposed to have the 'strongest' driver line up on the grid.
Even though Alonso has quite comfortably managed to beat Raikkonen in qualifying this season by 16 times to 3 times, he has finished more races and laps than Raikkonen which was a huge surprise, showing in the process that consistency and also experience is the key to beating your team-mate on a regular basis, even if Raikkonen has struggled along the way with extracting pace from the car all season.
At the opening few races of the season, Alonso gained two fourth place finishes in Australia and Malaysia, a third place finish in China, a ninth place finish in Bahrain, a podium finish at his home race in Spain and a credible sixth place finish in Monaco. Before the summer break, despite struggling with extracting performance from the car, Alonso achieved a fourth place finish in Canada, two sixth places finish in Austria and Germany, a credible fifth place in Silverstone after a disappointing qualifying, a fifth place finish in Germany and was on the podium in second place in Hungary,
After the summer break, Alonso continued to outperform the car and also his team mate too even though speculation surrounding his future at Ferrari and even Formula One was increasing with him being linked back to the McLaren team once again. Alonso finished seventh in Belgium, retired in Italy with an ERS failure and also retired in Japan. In the last three races of the season, he finished sixth in Sochi, Austin and Brazil and finished his final race as a Ferrari driver in Abu Dhabi with a ninth place finish.
Once again this season, Alonso has excelled in a poor car. The Spaniard has put in many impressive performances this season in a low powered car and has blown his world champion team-mate Raikkonen out of the window with his domination of the Finn. As we know Alonso will be joining McLaren for 2015 with the prospect of achieving success with Honda power, but Ferrari have certainly let him down badly in their five seasons together.
More often than not, he has out-performed a slow car to results that were beyond the cars capabilities and Alonso has had to once again do this in 2014 with Ferrari's F14 T.
Alonso's and Ferrari's best performance of the season came at the Hungarian GP compared to Raikkonen's fourth place finish in Belgium. However, Alonso took advantage of the situation with the Mercedes drivers as best as he could and finished in second place, four places in front of his team mate.
But despite only two podiums this season, he finished fourth in the drivers' championship which shows to me once again that consistency has always been a strong point of Alonso's, and he was once again proving that he can out-perform a highly regarded team-mate and get strong results in poor cars.
It may not have been the season Alonso wanted, but he once again extracted the maximum he could from a car that was not competitive all year long, finished in the best possible position in the championship he could and ended his five year service with Ferrari beating his team mate throughout on a regular basis.
Kimi Raikkonen – 55 points / 12th in the Driver's Championship
The 2014 season saw Kimi Raikkonen being outperformed by his team mate Fernando Alonso in the Drivers Championship by 106 points which was a bit of a shock given that Ferrari was supposed to have the 'strongest' driver line up on the grid this year.
Even though Alonso has quite comfortably managed to beat Raikkonen in qualifying this season by 16 times to 3 times, he has also finished more races and laps than Raikkonen which was a huge surprise and also highlighted the fact that Raikkonen has struggled along the way with extracting pace from the car all year.
At the opening few races of the season, Raikkonen gained two seventh place finishes in Australia and Spain, two twelfth place finishes in Malaysia and Monaco, a tenth place finish in Bahrain and an eighth place finish in China. Before the summer break, despite struggling with extracting performance from the car, Raikkonen achieved two tenth place finishes in Canada and Austria, retired in Silverstone after a disappointing qualifying, finished out of the points in eleventh in Germany and had a sixth place finish in Hungary.
After the summer break, Raikkonen continued to struggle with the car even though speculation surrounding his future at Ferrari and even Formula One was increasing with him being reported to have lost motivation. He was interviewed in Hungary by Sky F1 on his future. Raikkonen duly replied in his simple way: “You guys [journalists] think you know everything.â€
He also stated that Ferrari will be the last team he will race for in Formula 1, but never made a comment on what year he would retire, and with the Finn's contract with the Scuderia expiring at the end of 2015, and with such drivers like Jules Bianchi coming up through the Ferrari development driver ranks, Raikkonen's seat at Ferrari may not be as safe as he first thought but it was confirmed by the Ferrari team that he would be retained for next season to partner Sebastian Vettel.
In Belgium, Raikkonen finished the race in a credible fourth place showing that he is capable of delivering in the race albeit two places behind his team mate. In next race in Italy, Raikkonen finished in ninth place where his team mate retired with ERS failure.
He then took an eighth place finish in Singapore, a twelfth place finish in Japan and an ninth place finish in Russia. In the final three races of the season, Raikkonen finished in thirteenth place in Austin, a seventh place finish in Brazil and a tenth place finish at the final race in Abu Dhabi.
What can you say about Kimi Raikkonen's season? The man that many thought could brush aside Fernando Alonso and take Ferrari to championship glory like he did in 2007, Never finished higher than fourth in a race compared to Alonso who scored two podiums (the highest being a second place), it has been a poor return to Ferrari for Raikkonen.
Many expected his move from Lotus to provide Ferrari with the strongest line up on the grid, but nothing came of it. The lack of front end grip in the F14T has meant Kimi has struggled time and time again to get the car to behave how he wants. Next season, he will be partnered by Sebastian Vettel. Both like the same style of car and both are looking to regain their form from past seasons. It will be an important year for Raikkonen next season and he will need to show that he can beat Vettel as much as possible regularly.
In conclusion, the Ferrari team have had a terrible season. For the first time since 1993, they have failed to win a race. Since 2010, Ferrari has been unable to provide a car good enough to challenge for the world championship consistently. 2011 never really came together, 2012 was a one-off title challenge, 2013′s early season hopes soon dashed away and 2014 has seen them continue this run of form.
Without a win since May 2013 at the Spanish Grand Prix, Ferrari has endured a tough time with the new 2014 regulation changes. Fernando Alonso has picked up the teams only podium finishes of the season at the Chinese and Hungarian GP's, completely out-performing team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. Being out-raced by a team-mate at every race is something Raikkonen will not have been used to. But Alonso has stamped down his authority at Ferrari despite him leaving the team for McLaren next season.
Just two podium finishes from two drivers who were expected to lead the 'Prancing Horse' to title glory once again, was not what anyone had in mind. Also, what many believe to be the two most consistent drivers have failed to deliver in what is ultimately a mid-field car at best.
But Alonso showed why he is considered by many as the best driver on the current grid and showing once again that he can get himself into strong points finishes with an uncompetitive car that we all thought would be impossible to reach.
Heading into 2015, Ferrari has now lost their star driver and two team principals. I do believe that Vettel and Raikkonen have their work cut out rebuilding this team but it can't get much worse next season, can it?
Sarah Jones
