In 2025, Ferrari and AF Corse have pushed the Hypercar class to a brand new stage, extracting much more efficiency from the 499P than in earlier seasons, when the Italian LMH was already one of many quickest vehicles within the area.
The 2025 season was outlined by the Prancing Horse. Above all, the successful streak within the first half of the season can be remembered perpetually. Nonetheless, in a Stability of Efficiency-governed championship, such dominance is technically not imagined to occur. So what occurred?
The reply: Ferrari made an enormous leap over the winter. This progress was pivotal for why the 2025 WEC BoP didn’t work as meant. The preliminary BoP for the 499P was nonetheless primarily based on the ultimate races of 2024, when the rear-end replace was nonetheless model new.Â
Qatar shock units the tone
Ferrari made this replace actually work over the winter break. While Ferrari was already aggressive in late 2024 — with a win in Austin and qualifying third and fifth in Bahrain — nobody anticipated such an enormous efficiency achieve over simply three months.
In Qatar, Ferrari caught your complete area and the automated BoP system off guard. The downside with an automatic BoP is easy: if the baseline values are incorrect on the begin of the season, it takes time for the system to successfully carry a automotive again in line. AF Corse used this window of alternative to their most benefit.Â
Ferdinando Cannizzo, head of endurance race vehicles at Ferrari, defined at Bahrain: “From the very starting we labored exhausting to make sure good efficiency on all of the observe traits. However the outcomes proved that we achieved our objectives on high-efficiency tracks like Le Mans or Spa or Monza first. And so we gained a lot expertise in establishing the automotive for high-efficiency tracks.
“However over the primary two years we collected extra information and in some unspecified time in the future understood that we needed to transfer away from the precise setup that we used at Le Mans to higher carry out at tracks with completely different traits.
“We then spent a lot time segmenting all of the tracks and understanding in all of the areas during which we weren’t performing effectively and the way we might arrange the automotive for these. So I believe our energy this yr might be the whole understanding of the automotive.”
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BoP all the time one step behind
The 499P started the season in Qatar with a power-to-weight ratio of two.070 kg/kW within the crucial window under 250 km/h, solely the third-worst ranking behind Porsche (2.094) and Toyota (2.115). Ferrari steamrolled the opposition and took a dominant 1-2-3.Â
What adopted is symbolic of how cleverly Ferrari was in a position to play the system. As a substitute of a harsher BoP following the Qatar dominance, the power-to-weight ratio for Ferrari’s house race at Imola acquired really improved to 2.057 kg/kW.Â
Ferrari understands like no different workforce how one can be dominant with out displaying that dominance too clearly within the information related to the 2025 BoP – the highest 60% of laptimes and the ten single quickest laps in the course of the race.
For Spa, the BoP process was adjusted for the primary time, counting solely the 2 finest races as a substitute of three. But, even having the second-worst power-to-weight ratio within the area (topped solely by a catastrophic Toyota BoP) couldn’t cease Ferrari in Belgium.
At the very least, for the primary time in 2025, Ferrari needed to actually combat for the win. Alpine was sure that with out Mick Schumacher’s puncture, the successful workforce would have been blue as a substitute of pink. Nonetheless, Ferrari headed to Le Mans with three wins from three races.
The Le Mans thriller
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photograph by: Marc Fleury
It was at Le Mans the place the most important BoP row erupted — a battle largely accountable for Porsche’s subsequent withdrawal from the WEC. Within the Particular BoP, created totally on simulation information, Ferrari obtained a comparatively common ranking of two.023kg/kW under 250 km/h.
Above 250 km/h, related for less than this race as a result of observe traits), the 499P was given the worst power-to-weight ratio of all hypercars at 2.084 kg/kW. Regardless of this, the three Ferraris occupied first, second, and fifth within the high pace rankings.Â
This paradox led to vital displeasure among the many different producers. To at the present time, the paddock puzzles over how Ferrari is ready to generate such an enormous benefit within the high-speed vary. Theories starting from “diffuser stalling” to tricking torque sensors flow into as unproven paddock rumours.
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It needs to be famous that Ferrari didn’t cheat. The Italians merely perceive how one can play the sport higher than anybody else. Nonetheless, the political penalties have been historic: The “BoP row” and the next failed try and unify the LMH and LMDh platforms within the short-term have been the catalysts for Porsche’s resolution to exit the WEC on the finish of 2025.Â
With the LMDh idea, Porsche feels it will probably’t play the identical sport as Ferrari does with the LMH, regardless of the ACO’s promise of a “assured equal taking part in area.”
Aggressive even with the harshest ranking
It wasn’t till after Le Mans that the system lastly caught up with the Ferrari 499P. For 3 races, it was handed a ranking of two.227 kg/kW beneath 250 km/h, the identical power-to-weight ratio Toyota had struggled with in Spa.
Nonetheless, Ferrari remained aggressive within the dry apply periods in Austin earlier than the rain turned the whole lot the other way up.Â
And in addition at Bahrain, now with the second-worst power-to-weight ratio of two.203 kg/kW behind Porsche, Ferrari remained the second-strongest drive behind perennial Bahrain winners, Toyota.
Ferrari’s two “bogey tracks,” Sao Paulo and Fuji, remained. In Brazil, Ferrari was with out a likelihood, partly as a result of the hole in power-to-weight ratio to the opposite hypercars was so huge. At Fuji, many different hypercars have been rated much less favourably in comparison with Sao Paulo, whereas Ferrari remained caught at 2.227 kg/kW.
General, Cannizzo stays happy with Ferrari’s post-Le Mans efficiency: “In all probability the post-Le Mans circuits usually are not essentially the most appropriate tracks to our automotive. However in case you examine our efficiency and take away any efficiency administration adjustment [the BoP], we have now gained a number of efficiency. And we’re extraordinarily happy with that.” The Ferrari 499P is the quickest Hypercar outright. It’s due to this fact no marvel that Antonello Coletta constantly advocates for the entire abolition of the BoP. But Ferrari proves that even with BoP, it will probably exploit its benefits at each stage.Â
Because of this, Ferrari AF Corse secured the primary prototype title since 1972 for Maranello. For 2026, Ferrari finds itself in a wierd state of affairs: In fact, it desires to maintain successful. Nonetheless, one other season like 2025 would inevitably result in the exit of extra producers.
How Ferrari navigates the tightrope between technical excellence and the political necessity of a balanced area can be one of the crucial compelling tales of the 2026Â season.
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