Back in 2007, all eyes were on the championship battle between Fernando Alonso and the rookie sensation, Lewis Hamilton. Suddenly, at the season finale at Interlagos, Kimi Raikkonen snatched the title right from under their noses.
At that time, Raikkonen was in his first season with Scuderia Ferrari and was essentially Michael Schumacher’s successor. So when the Finn crossed the finish line to seize the title, millions of Italians were ecstatic.
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Suffice to say, thousands flocked to the streets in Maranello to celebrate the F1 World Championship’s return to Italy.
Kimi Raikkonen has a fairly long legacy at Ferrari
Admittedly, this has been Ferrari’s last drivers’ title since then. This is because the next year coincided with the rise of Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull, and Mercedes respectively.
Even when the Italian marquee recruited the likes of Fernando Alonso, and later on Sebastian Vettel, they never quite went all the way.
The Ferrari era lasted from 2000 until 2004 with Michael Schumacher behind the wheel. After missing out in 2005 and 2006, Kimi Raikkonen helped the Tifosi believe again when he took the 2007 title.
Sadly, that appears to be the extent of the Prancing Stallion’s success, and they are currently a pale shadow of its former self.
On Sunday, the Ferrari team suffered one of the worst forms of humiliation ever as neither car made it to the chequered flag at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. Sebastian Vettel retired from the race with burning brakes, while Charles Leclerc crashed and brought out the safety car.
It wasn’t a total loss for Italy, because Pierre Gasly took an unexpected win for the Italian team, AlphaTauri. Ironically, the former Toro Rosso team’s first victory came at Monza itself.
At that time, the driver was Sebastian Vettel himself, and he did it in the wet conditions at the Temple of Speed.
