Ferrari stick to equality. Good for them
Ferrari's drivers will compete as equals in 2010
Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali has confirmed the team’s 2010 F1 driver line-up of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will compete as equals.
Ferrari embraced driver equality after Michael Schumacher left the team in 2006. It’s great to see that their change of driver line-up hasn’t led to a change in policy.
Although most teams claim to practice equality in their driver line-up it rarely prevents heated arguments among F1 fans as to what really goes on – particularly when conversation turns to Alonso and Lewis Hamilton at McLaren in 2007.
But after a decade of Ferrari being a one-man team, it’s good to see they haven’t lapsed into their bad habit.
And it’s to Alonso’s credit that he hasn’t used his position as one of F1′s most coveted drivers to force them to bring in a weak number two driver – especially in the wake of the Singapore scandal.
Domenicali pointed out that at different stages in the last two championships Massa was called upon to help Kimi Raikkonen (notably at Interlagos in 2007) and vice-versa (for example at Shanghai last year). On both those occasions only one of Ferrari’s drivers was still able to win the championship.
A drivers’ championship title is less deserved if it is won by a driver whose team mate isn’t given the chance to put up a fair fight.
If Alonso or Massa wins next year’s championship, they will know it was even more deserved for being won against a competitive rival who had the same equipment.
Not all of Ferrari’s champions have been able to say the same thing.
Read more: Alonso finally confirmed as Massa’s team mate at Ferrari for 2010
sumedh said on 4th October 2009, 10:12
I think the main reason Alonso ended his partnership with Mclaren was not because Lewis was given number 1 status but because he threatened to blackmail his own team, which no team in Formula 1 is ever going to agree to.
Alonso should be OK with equal driver policy as long as the other driver is worthy of being an equal of Alonso in terms of ability. Point to be noted. I second Jonathan above who said “Barrichello was #2 on the track because he was #2 in ability.”
Barrichello was no match to Schumacher and there’s no shame in that, not many drivers were. That Ferrari did not employ a strong second driver is a testament to Michael’s brilliant team building skills around himself, which every driver is allowed to do.
I personally believe that each team should have a no.1, no.2 driver policy, not at the start but mid-way through the season atleast. The potential for intra-team trouble is too much otherwise.