Winner of the last two editions, the Prancing Horse entered the 24 Hours of Le Mans with confidence. But the lacklustre qualifying result came as a surprise.
A slowdown at Ferrari? Last year, the Italian marque's two official cars occupied third and fourth positions on the grid at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Twelve months on, the results of timed testing are less flattering. The n°50 will start from 7th place for the 93rd edition this Saturday at 4pm. The n°51 missed qualifying in the second Hyperpole session and will start from 11th position. As for the "private" Ferrari n°83, it will only be in 13th place.
Is it serious, Doctor? In the Le Mans paddock, the drivers in red don't seem to be shaking too much. When we tried to get the most out of our cars, we got this result," says Alessandro Pier Guidi, current co-leader of the World Endurance Championship (WEC) with team-mates James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi. But we're only talking about qualifying for a 24-hour race here."
He reassures us: "There are different conditions in the race. During the Hyperpole (short session determining the first positions on the grid, editor's note), we weren't the fastest. But that doesn't mean that during the night or at other times, we won't find more performance."
The team also dealt with an unforeseen event. Nicklas Nielsen was due to contest the first part of the Hyperpole session. The Dane was unwell and had to withdraw at the last minute, handing over to Miguel Molina. The Spaniard did very well, qualifying his car for the second part. "It's the first time I've done this since 2023," he told us in the paddock on Friday.
Weak signals... positive
Last year, AF Corse's yellow 499P only qualified in a "modest" 12th place. However, the n°83 drove brilliantly, taking the lead after just over two hours of racing.
Another encouraging statistic is the top speed on the Hunaudières straight. The best mark of the week belonged to Antonio Fuoco's Ferrari n°50 at 347.8 km/h, during the third free practice session. Even more convincingly, the two factory 499Ps were the only cars to exceed an average top speed of 341 km/h on their five best VMaxes, proving that it wasn't just a question of aspiration.
Going (very) fast in a straight line means more lift and coast, and therefore energy savings. Or to get rid of traffic more easily. It also saves time in areas where tires are under less strain, setting off a virtuous circle.
Pneumatic management
One of the keys to the weekend could well be tyre management. Michelin, the official supplier of the Hypercar category, will have an allocation of 56 tires for the entire race. It's going to be critical," says Antonio Giovinazzi, winner two years ago of the N°51 car. Especially if the temperature is high, as was the case during qualifying. In 2023 or 2024, we had rain and snow.
colder conditions.
Crews will be able to choose between three mixes. The hard compound may never take to the track, and most of the race should be run on medium. The softest compound could be used at night: A priori, it will be possible to use soft tyres from midnight until the morning," says Giovinazzi. But nothing is certain. We'll see. In recent months, the 499P and the AF Corse team have made significant progress in the optimal use of tires.
"No shit"
Some of our rivals don't believe that the 499P's level has dropped either. Ferrari is laughing at us," reacted Sébastien Bourdais, even though he was much better qualified in his Cadillac (2nd on the starting grid). When you see what Yifei Ye (driver on the #83 AF Corse) did on Wednesday on the ungummed track, with a first lap of 3:23.9, at some point you've got to be serious!"
In the final free practice session, held on Thursday evening after Hyperpole, two Ferraris were once again at the top of the leaderboard... The Prancing Horse will indeed be in the match. Maybe even victorious in the end.
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