Ferrari says its lacklustre efficiency on the 2026 Le Mans 24 Hours was all the way down to an “unbalanced” area, in a direct jibe on the Steadiness of Efficiency system governing the Hypercar class.
The Scuderia arrived on the weekend because the reigning three-time Le Mans winner, however it by no means seemed to be in competition for a high outcome after struggling for pace all through apply 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, steered 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 below the sporting rules, whereas the precise BoP information for every race can be saved secret from the general public.
“I feel it was clear already for the reason that check day, possibly even earlier than, that the sector was unbalanced and that we weren’t among the many high performing ones,” Barbieri stated.
“We tried the whole lot we might, through the week, completely different set-up philosophies to attempt to shut the hole. We actually could not discover something that huge to shut such a niche.
“Additionally through 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 huge.
“Additionally, the drivers pushed tremendous arduous 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 are able to preserve our heads up excessive, as a result of in the long run we did a very good race.”
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina
Photograph by: Alessio Morgese / NurPhoto by way of Getty Pictures
Apart from a collision with the Proton LMP2 automobile 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 solely all the way down to an absence of tempo.
Barbieri pressured that Ferrari executed an ideal race at Le Mans, suggesting that fifth was the utmost it might obtain given the constraints.
“Because the check day, we noticed that there have been seven vehicles forward,” he stated. “Most likely two extra, contemplating the 2 Alpines [were faster]. And the truth that as a substitute of ending P10, we ended up P5 with one of the best automobile, is telling us that we actually did one of the best that we might.”
Requested the place he would place Ferrari within the pecking order, he replied: “Fourth or fifth [best car]. I feel we have been within the ballpark with the Alpine. The final six hours of the race confirmed that as a result of we have been operating with a really comparable tempo to the #35 Alpine, which in the long run was capable of overtake the #83 [AF Corse customer Ferrari]. The vehicles that have been in entrance of us on the finish of the race have been one step forward and we could not catch them.”
The place did Ferrari wrestle in opposition to rivals?
Regardless of having three vehicles within the high class, Ferrari was by no means capable of mount a problem for a podium place.
The #50 Ferrari 499P dropped out of competition early within the race with a malfunctioning fireplace extinguisher that led to a prolonged go to to the storage, earlier than the 2024-winning automobile stopped on observe on Sunday morning with a suspected electrical drawback.
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 steadily 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 automobile by operating in clear air.
“A method just like the one which Toyota did could be very right and really highly effective if in case you have the tempo. So if operating in free air, you may go sooner than the sector,” Barbieri defined.
“In our case, we imagine that the easiest way to attempt to shut the hole with the opponents was to make use of their slipstream.”
Barbieri added that Ferrari wasn’t battling an absence of high pace and as a substitute 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 have 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 have been within the ballpark [in terms of top speed] however it was simply the lap time that was not fast sufficient. [We were losing time] primarily within the gradual corners, and that is it.”
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