Why Italy's minnow F1 team could become its new maestro

For the entirety of the time that they were simultaneously racing in Formula 1, the Ferrari and Minardi teams were almost diametrically opposed. One, a scarlet powerhouse that threw its significant weight around at the front, and the other, a perennial minnow fighting for survival on scraps and, often, a rotating cast of pay-drivers.

Having started the 2020 season with a particularly poor hand, Ferrari has been resigned to mixing among the midfield, with a few token appearances towards the front courtesy of Charles Leclerc. In the constructors' points standings, the team currently sits in sixth - set to be its lowest placing in the title stakes since 1980. However, sixth overall is still heavily contested - particularly, with AlphaTauri: the team that used to race as Minardi during Ferrari's glory years.

Going from the end of its Toro Rosso years to its new AlphaTauri guise, the Faenza team has cemented itself as a firm midfield contender. The early years were tricky - at least, until it had Sebastian Vettel on board, and even after that the team was frequently the bridge between the clutch of the 2010-founded 'new teams' and the established outfits on the grid. But astute technical acquisitions, the lustre of its subsequent flock of drivers and, in recent years, its closer ties to Red Bull and Honda have given AlphaTauri a great basis to work from.

As a result of AlphaTauri's upward mobility and Ferrari's slump, largely enforced by a draggy car and a pegged-back power unit, the two have coalesced among the midfield. Rewind the clock to 20 years ago, when Michael Schumacher was streaking to victories while Marc Gene and Gaston Mazzacane were fighting to stay off the back row of the grid, it's a fight that seemed unimaginable.

That's not to say that there haven't been times where Ferraris and Minardi have had to fight - in fact, there's a few examples where Minardi had shown flashes of brilliance. In the late 1980s and early 90s, Minardi had opportunities on sticky qualifying rubber to make the difference - Pierluigi Martini's sporadic appearances among the front runners on the grid allowed him to fight with Italy's "big team", while Ferrari's poor F92A from 1992 would sometimes emerge in a fight with the Minardis if qualifying was poor.

But there has never been a sustained battle between Italy's two F1 teams. Even as the Toro Rosso car sometimes had cause to battle with a Ferrari over the previous decade, it usually did so because the Ferrari was out of position. However, in one of the strangest years in living memory, the two teams have ended up duking it out for a constructor's championship place.

Although Ferrari currently holds the place, with a 14-point lead over its compatriot team, its biggest results came at the start of the year. Then, Leclerc dragged the SF1000 kicking and screaming to two podium placings, at a time when AlphaTauri was still figuring itself out and was resigned to the minor reaches of the points.

But now, the momentum is probably with AlphaTauri more than it is with Ferrari, and the Red Bull-owned squad has managed its 10th consecutive points finish thanks to Daniil Kvyat's late charge to fourth at Imola.

Even though fourth was the team's second-best finish of the season - the coup de grace being Pierre Gasly's Monza victory, more was possible for AlphaTauri at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Gasly, having qualified in a terrific fourth, was forced to call his raceday early on as his car suffered from a coolant leak.

For years, Ferrari has not been challenged for the honour of "best Italian team", but circumstances have been such that the AlphaTauri team now finds itself with a genuine shot at beating it

Having been fighting with Daniel Ricciardo in the opening stint and, having shown an excellent turn of pace on the medium tyres in practice, Gasly could also have been in the mix for a podium - and his presence in the points would have hacked Ferrari's advantage down further, with Sebastian Vettel not scoring for a third time in the past four races.

Win aside, Gasly has been thoroughly impressive since his mid-season demotion from Red Bull last year. Refusing to let his spirits drop, the Frenchman picked himself up on his return to Faenza and put in a collection of great performances for Toro Rosso last year - including his podium at Interlagos. This year, Gasly has been exquisite and has exorcised the demons of his problematic Red Bull stint by accepting the lead driver mantle at a midfield team with good grace.

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Although linked with a Red Bull return amid this season, Gasly is so revered in the AlphaTauri set up that Franz Tost's team held on tightly to him. Thanks to the budget caps and the impending shared windtunnel time, AlphaTauri is now referred to as Red Bull's "sister team", rather than a junior outfit, and the team will want to hang onto Gasly long-term.

Impressive in the first part of the season, the most impressive thing about Gasly's performances has been his continued progression. His racing chops at the Nurburgring were on show as he battled through the lower reaches of the points, and he followed that up with an excellent fifth at Portimao, despite losing valuable practice time thanks to a colossal engine fire in FP2. Imola perhaps promised even more.

The team's increased closeness to Red Bull in the technical department over the past few seasons has also been a shrewd move and has allowed AlphaTauri to invest its resources in other areas. By taking on 2019-spec Red Bull-designed gearboxes and suspension components, it means that the team can focus its employees on designing other areas of the car around a set of proven components.

That philosophy is one that technical director Jody Egginton has championed since his appointment to the role in 2019, and as a result AlphaTauri has proven to be one of the most efficient teams on the grid.

Meanwhile, Ferrari is currently a one-man band. Leclerc continues to sparkle in sub-par machinery, and has knuckled down to grind out good results in a season that hardly hits the heights of his first within the team. Perhaps a legacy of his early ousting from the team, Vettel has cut a despairing figure within the midfield, having apparently run out of motivation with a difficult-to-drive Ferrari car.

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Although Ferrari has put in the hard yards with its aero program, bringing numerous updates to get the SF1000 into a position into which it can challenge for the bigger points hauls more often, the power unit is still holding it back - and it won't be until 2021 that Ferrari can atone for that.

For now, all it can do is continue to hack away at the car and hope that it can be whipped into shape ready for the arrival of Carlos Sainz Jr next year.

In the interim, and with four races remaining, there's a battle on for sixth overall. Ferrari's hopes of retaining its position hinges on two things: a) its continuing slew of upgrades providing the team with enough performance to keep its head above AlphaTauri, and b) Vettel finding a rich run of form and adding to Leclerc's tally.

But AlphaTauri's gradual gains, along with Gasly's brilliant form and the occasional cameo from Kvyat - who has now surpassed Vettel in the drivers' standings - have contrived to bring Ferrari into its firing range. There's no form guide for Turkey, so it's difficult to determine who's best placed to perform strongly at the Istanbul circuit, but both teams will be equally fired up in the final battle for the joy of sixth in the standings.

Although the FIA prize money, awarded by constructors' championship position, is a hugely vital sub-plot to the Ferrari-AlphaTauri battle, there's more at stake: pride. For years, Ferrari has not been challenged for the honour of "best Italian team", but circumstances have been such that the AlphaTauri team now finds itself with a genuine shot at beating it.

It may only be sixth position but, when fans once more return to F1's grandstands, this could be the difference between Monza's traditional red-wrapped tifosi, or one sporting AlphaTauri's spring-summer catalogue.