Iconic Italian F1 team Ferrari became the first constructor to hit 10,000 points in the history of the Formula One (F1) World Championship.
A third-place finish for Charles Leclerc and a sixth-place finish for number-two driver Sainz, who is reportedly Williams-bound next season, helped Ferrari to this impressive landmark at the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix.
Ferrari have been comfortably the most productive F1 team in the history of the motorsport. The second-best team to amass F1 World Championship points is Red Bull, who have amassed 7,656 points to date. This is quite the achievement when you consider the team has only been operational in F1 since 2005. In contrast, Ferrari emerged onto the F1 scene 55 years prior to this.
Red Bull remain the team to beat this season, despite losing their untouchable tag in recent race weeks. Winning a constructors’ championship seems wholly unrealistic for Ferrari this season. After the Belgian Grand Prix, Ferrari find themselves 63 points behind Red Bull, who lead second-placed McLaren by 42 points.
Ferrari’s odds of winning the constructors’ title at this stage are priced at between 35/1 and 40/1 across most bookmakers. This means sportsbook traders believe they have the same chance of winning a straight-up inside bet on a roulette wheel as landing the 2024 constructors’ championship. The probability of winning a straight-up bet on a European roulette wheel is 37/1, although this increases to 38/1 on an American roulette wheel. The addition of ‘double-zero’ roulette gameplay gives the house a slightly bigger edge but it’s still a popular addition to the libraries of online casinos which increasingly look to offer a variety of table game options for their players.
The finest moments for Team Ferrari since 1955
Wind the clock back to August 1988 and the passing of Enzo Ferrari. It sent shockwaves through the entire team and the rest of the F1 scene. However, what would happen in just the second race after his passing was pure F1 romance. At their home Italian Grand Prix at Monza, Ferrari managed a surprise one-two finish. Ayrton Senna led for most of the race, but a fuel issue saw Ferrari’s Gerhard Berger reel in the McLaren and eventually overtake him. Better still, Berger’s teammate, Michele Alboreto, managed to stay the course and finish a close second to the Austrian.
The only moment which comes close to the emotion of Monza 1988 is Michael Schumacher’s maiden world championship success. The German didn’t find it easy in the opening years at Maranello, with the legendary driver taking a world title at the fifth time of asking in 2000. Ferrari celebrated back-to-back constructors’ championships on the same day, with Schumacher clinching the world title with a race to spare at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Aside from Ferrari’s one-two at Monza 1988 and Michael Schumacher’s first world title, there’s been several other notable achievements for the Ferrari team to cherish through the decades. Gilles Villeneuve may lay claim to securing the most impressive and unlikely race win for Ferrari at Jarama in 1981.
Villeneuve only started seventh on the grid but made a hugely impressive start off the starting line to move into third behind Williams’ drivers, Carlos Reutemann and Alan Jones. The Canadian eventually slotted into second behind Jones to pile the pressure on and when Jones came off the track, Villeneuve was there to take full advantage and move into the lead. In fact, it was a lead he would never relinquish, but his back was to the wall throughout. He was no more than one-and-a-half seconds ahead throughout and only narrowly fended off a move from Jacques Laffite in the closing stages to take the chequered flag.
It would also be remiss not to mention Ferrari’s first race in the world of F1 at the 1951 British Grand Prix. Jose Froilan Gonzalez qualified on pole for Ferrari, breaking the lap record along the way. It was Gonzalez’ second race in Ferrari red, but the Argentine showed immense composure to take the win and become part of the Scuderia’s rich history.