13 points. Very few, if we consider the 17 races in the archive and the 3 left to go, with 75 points up for grabs for the eventual triple winner; many, perhaps too many if we take into account the recent trend of the World Cup. Formula 1 is approaching Abu Dhabi, Sunday scene of the third last race of the 2012 world championship, and on the 13th it sums up the gap in points between championship leader Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso who is chasing him. In details. A miracle, if you take a look at the gap between the teams of the two contenders: Red Bull at 407, Ferrari 316, and the figure says a lot about the merits of the Spaniard from the Prancing Horse. An abyss, if we consider that the Austro-British single-seater is the color photocopy of the faded Red Bull in a technical crisis only two months ago, and that Vettel comes from an astounding poker of victories in the last 4 Grands Prix: Singapore, Japan, Korea, India.
Two more words on the possible developments of the championship, from now to the final checkered flag on November 25th in Brazil. With these technical values confirmed, Vettel has the third consecutive world title in the safe, barring sensational mistakes by him or by the wall, or particularly partial disciplinary measures, or landslides and floods for him alone. If Ferrari brings this blessed and long-awaited technical progress to the track (but one might say this pole vault...), then the values in the field will also be able to rebalance, or even return in favor of the Reds, which has Alonso as an ace in the sleeve in a clear attitude of personal supremacy, not only of driving but also of coldness and versatility, of imagination and often out of the ordinary grit.
The point, however, is another: why have we always talked about a Ferrari forced to push the steps to improve, to pull rabbits out of its hat? In a word: to chase. This year is an extraordinary example of resilience, of gritting your teeth and working as a team, but only because the F2012 was born as a single-seater -in the first race- about one second per lap inferior to its best rivals. And that's nothing new this year: in Maranello, they haven't built a single-seater that immediately wins, or in any case capable of battling it out with a reasonable chance of winning early and on an ongoing basis, since 2008. Never mind the Ferraris of the Age of Gold, those of the 11 titles in six seasons between 1999 and 2004, of the excessive power signed by Schumacher. But in 2008 that Ferrari started the season with Raikkonen very strong, and in the summer the initiative passed into the hands of Felipe Massa who caressed the World Championship up to the last corner of the last GP, in Brazil, only to then lose it in a daring way in favor of Hamilton on McLaren. And that Ferrari was no longer the one of repeated triumphs: Schumacher was no longer there; and so does Jean Todt; and so did technicians Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne. But from the following year, truly competitive Ferraris weren't seen again. And not even the miracles of Alonso not only at the wheel, but also in making the driver of the team, have healed the situation.
This reality clashes with the perfection of the red team in the tactical-strategic field. But the technical issue needs to change course. And the doubts about the efficiency of the Ferrari wind tunnel are not enough, which - it seems - provides data on the map that the track does not always confirm. Nor those on human material: Ferrari does not have the genius Adrian Newey, author of the very strong Red Bulls as well as over the years he gave life to the most successful Williams and McLarens ever. But McLaren doesn't have Newey either, not even Lotus and Mercedes and Sauber: single-seaters which, if we take Alonso's incredible specific weight off the scale, often gave Ferrari 2012 a hard time.
It is a reflection that is certainly already being made in Maranello. There is this World Championship to be held back by the hair, and to do so would truly be a stroke of racing history. But there is also to think about the future. Which is close. Very close.
