Ferrari says its lacklustre efficiency on the 2026 Le Mans 24 Hours was right down to an “unbalanced” discipline, in a direct jibe on the Stability of Efficiency system governing the Hypercar class.
The Scuderia arrived on the weekend because the reigning three-time Le Mans winner, nevertheless it by no means gave the impression to be in rivalry for a high consequence after struggling for pace all through observe and qualifying.
The very best of the three Ferrari LMH prototypes, the #51 499P shared by Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, completed the race in fifth place, greater than two minutes down on the successful #8 Toyota GR010 Hybrid.
Mauro Barbieri, endurance chief designer at Ferrari, instructed that the Italian producer was handicapped by an inferior BoP at Le Mans, with out explicitly mentioning the system.
Drivers, groups and producers are barred from instantly discussing BoP beneath the sporting laws, whereas the precise BoP knowledge for every race can be stored secret from the general public.
“I feel it was clear already for the reason that check day, perhaps even earlier than, that the sphere was unbalanced and that we weren’t among the many high performing ones,” Barbieri stated.
“We tried every thing we may, throughout the week, completely different set-up philosophies to try to shut the hole. We actually could not discover something that large to shut such a spot.
“Additionally throughout the race, we tried to double-stint tyres, to triple stint tyres, to increase the stints and to go full push. [We tried] completely different tyre specs relying on the time of the day, completely different mixture mixes. However once more, the hole we had versus the highest three producers was too large.
“Additionally, the drivers pushed tremendous laborious for twenty-four hours, taking big dangers. We noticed already for the reason that first hours that we had contact with the opposite classes, with different vehicles. It’s what it’s, I feel we will preserve our heads up excessive, as a result of ultimately we did a great race.”
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina
Photograph by: Alessio Morgese / NurPhoto through Getty Photos
Aside from a collision with the Proton LMP2 automotive within the fifth hour for which Pier Guidi was handed a drive-through penalty, the #51 Ferrari loved a trouble-free race, with the deficit to the entrance completely right down to a scarcity of tempo.
Barbieri pressured that Ferrari executed an ideal race at Le Mans, suggesting that fifth was the utmost it may obtain given the restrictions.
“Because the check day, we noticed that there have been seven vehicles forward,” he stated. “In all probability two extra, contemplating the 2 Alpines [were faster]. And the truth that as an alternative of ending P10, we ended up P5 with the perfect automotive, is telling us that we actually did the perfect that we may.”
Requested the place he would place Ferrari within the pecking order, he replied: “Fourth or fifth [best car]. I feel we had been within the ballpark with the Alpine. The final six hours of the race confirmed that as a result of we had been operating with a really comparable tempo to the #35 Alpine, which ultimately was in a position to overtake the #83 [AF Corse customer Ferrari]. The vehicles that had been in entrance of us on the finish of the race had been one step forward and we could not catch them.”
The place did Ferrari battle in opposition to rivals?
Regardless of having three vehicles within the high class, Ferrari was by no means in a position to mount a problem for a podium place.
The #50 Ferrari 499P dropped out of rivalry early within the race with a malfunctioning hearth extinguisher that led to a prolonged go to to the storage, earlier than the 2024-winning automotive stopped on monitor on Sunday morning with a suspected electrical downside.
AF Corse’s satellite tv for pc #83 entry that was eradicated within the first qualifying did not make any inroads early within the race however step by step vaulted inside the highest 10. A late splash and sprint left Robert Kubica, Philip Hanson and Yifei Ye seventh general.
Barbieri stated Ferrari couldn’t have opted for an aggressive undercut technique just like the Toyotas, because it couldn’t have unleashed efficiency out of the automotive by operating in clear air.
“A method just like the one which Toyota did may be very appropriate and really highly effective in case you have the tempo. So if operating in free air, you may go quicker than the sphere,” Barbieri defined.
“In our case, we consider that the easiest way to try to shut the hole with the rivals was to make use of their slipstream.”
Barbieri added that Ferrari wasn’t fighting a scarcity of high pace and as an alternative misplaced time due in low-speed corners.
Requested if Ferrari was banking on its straightline benefit to move vehicles, he added: “Precisely, that is what we had been hoping for. However then, after just a few laps, we simply could not stick with them. However nonetheless we tried to diversify the methods a bit.”
He added: “We had been within the ballpark [in terms of top speed] nevertheless it was simply the lap time that was not fast sufficient. [We were losing time] primarily within the sluggish corners, and that is it.”
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