"Did you watch the inauguration?"
Me:
"No. I watched the arrival of the king."
When it comes to championships in motorsport, seven seems to be an almost impenetrable ceiling. In NASCAR there have been three 7x Champions: Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, and Jimmie Johnson. In Supercars, only Jamie Whincup stands alone with 7x. In Formula One, there are but two; being Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton. In fact, the only person who seems to have broken through is Giacomo Agostini; who won eight 500cc Motorbike World Championships.
Probably the reason why seven is the normal upper limit, is that not only is everyone always trying to win the championship and so it is already a very hard thing to do but to consistently stand at the very zenith requires someone to not only be in the right place at the right time but for them to be so dominant for so long, that all others appear to fade at the same time. Even if you have a championship with rate of one every two years, that's a thirteen year minimum timeframe. Of course a 7x Champion is only ever going to be a once in a generation thing because they themselves, singularly define that generation.
Okay, the rest of the world might have been looking at Washington and the passing parade of the President of the United States, I and many people like me were watching the formal arrival and announcement of Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari.
However much the people the SpA want to imagine themselves as a business that sells cars, Ferrari is not a car company. Ferrari does not exist to sell motor cars. Scuderia Ferrari exists for the same reason that Manchester United, the New York Yacht Club, or any Tuesday Night Indoor Cricket Team exists - to win trophies. Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Red Bull, Alfa Romeo et. others, exist to sell cars or sugary drinks. They are businesses whose aim is to spin a profit. Scuderia Ferrari in principle, doesn't care about profit. It only exists to make and be champions.
And to that end, the Scuderia is in a bad way. Not since 2007 when Kimi Raikkonen won the championship have Ferrari been on that very top step. In that time they have had Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso, and Kimi Raikkonen all try and fail for them. For 18 years, no new champion has been crowned in a scarlet machine.
We have been here before. From 1979 until 2000, Ferrari went through another period of sadness. Jody Scheckter won the title in 1979 and then for 21 years, in which time they hired Alain Prost and Nigel Mansell, the cabinet remained empty. When Michael Schumacher arrived in 1996, who was at that time a 2x World Champion, the immediate period looked like it was going to be even more false dawns until 2000 when he went on a five year tear.
In 1996, Ferrari knew that Schumacher was good but not even they could have know how good the combination of Schumacher and Ferrari would be. For four seasons Schumacher came close but not close enough. Only one can stand at the very top of the mountain.
This is why the signing of Lewis Hamilton for Ferrari is so massive. Since I was born, five former World Champions have arrived in Modena to drive the scarlet machines with Enzo's prancing horse on them, and not even they could turn around the fortunes of the team which not only knows its reason for existence and its purpose but feels it. Ferrari has been around for so long and sings so sweetly in the symphony of motorsport that many are drawn to it; and like the song of the sirens of Greek mythology, Ferrari has drawn in many and caused the deaths of people's careers. Lewis Hamilton though, might be different.
It could very easily be that Lewis is merely filling out his coffee club card and collecting stamps; however, it could be that the period of Red Bull dominance with Max Verstappen has been enough for Lewis and Ferrari to snap out of the malaise and propel the Scuderia to the top. I do not know if Lewis Hamilton is as good or better than Michael Schumacher, for when they competed head to head Schumacher was well into the twilight of his career and ironically helping to build the organisation which would give Hamilton the Silver Arrows that he needed to claim six championships. If Hamilton is better than Schumacher then at least in 2025, he will prove it by knocking Verstappen off the top.
On that note, Hamilton would prove that he is better than Schumacher by virtue of finally breaking through that imaginary ceiling of seven championships. I hope so. I would not normally be a Hamilton fan and I would not normally be a Ferrari fan, and while from the outside this might look like I am jumping on a bandwagon, this is different. Hamilton's arrival at Ferrari holds the potential to finally correct the mistake that the FIA made in 2021 and if that happens at Ferrari, then not only will the loyal tifosi be singing all of Italy will be dancing.
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