Villeneuve scored 6 of those 8 points, while reigning World Championship Scheckter scored the other 2, but also racked up an embarrassing DNQ at Montreal. The problem was an inability to master ground-effects. This was a period in F1 when revolutionary innovations tended to be wildly successful, such as the Tyrrell 6-wheeler, the Brabham fan-car, and Lotus' ground-effects. Other teams had to shape up or else. In 1980, the lack of good ground-effects was a massive disadvantage.

1986 also belongs in this category because, although the F1/86 was good enough to be 4th in the constructor's title, Ferrari only scored 37 points to Williams' 141, McLaren's 96 and Lotus' 58. Alboreto's average qualifying position was only 9.6, while Stefan Johansson's was 11.3. The 1986 car was also plagued by mechanical problems, affecting everything from the brakes to the handling, from the electrics to the engine and the turbo, from the transmission to broken rear wings, and even from wheel bearings to fuel pumps. As a complete package, the F1/86 was totally off the rails, and did not win a race.

If the 1991 cars were dogs, and the 1992 and 1993 cars were the dogs' breakfasts. Whereas in 1980 Ferrari had failed to come to grips with ground-effects, in these two years the team failed to come to terms with the new electronic devices such as traction control and active suspension. The result was that both the F92A and the F93A were ill-handling beasts to drive, with engines that also kept blowing up. Little wonder, then, that although in both years Ferrari was again 4th in the constructors' championship, in 1992 they only scored 21 points to Williams' 164, McLaren's 99 and Benetton's 91, while in 1993 they scored 28 points to Williams' 168, McLaren's 84 and Benetton's 72.

Next: If it Looks Good, It Goes Fast