24 Hours of Le Mans: A Chat With Ferrari's Drivers From the Front Row
Four drivers of the Ferrari 499Ps who will lead the field in the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans give their thoughts on the historic race.
Ferrari's bid to win Le Mans a half-century after it last competed for outright victory at La Sarthe is off to a strong start with both 499P Hypercars qualifying on the front row of the grid of the 100th anniversary race this weekend. Being quickest in qualifying at Le Mans is one thing. Turning that pace into victory in the world's most grueling motor race is a whole new challenge. Here's how it looks from the front row.
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50 and 51
Italian driver Antonio Fuoco put the number 50 Ferrari on pole position in yesterday's Hyperpole qualifying session with a 3min 22.982sec lap. Countryman Alessandro Pier Guidi was just 0.763sec slower over the 8.46-mile lap in the number 51 car.
Starting Ahead
The Ferraris will start ahead of the number 8 Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hybrid, driven by New Zealander Brendon Hartley to third fastest in yesterday's session, and the number 75 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963 driven by Philip Nasr.
Antonio Fuoco, Number 50 Ferrari 499P
"In qualifying we always push. I think I was a bit unlucky with the traffic on through the Indianapolis where I lost a bit of lap time, but the feeling was quite good. Getting pole position was special. Now we need to really focus on the race. We need to be spot on, think on all the small details, try to be perfect and try to do our best
"In the night session we did some work to adjust the car for the race because we know that the long run is bit different compared to one lap. I think we found a good compromise, and now we are ready for the race."
Miguel Molina, Number 50 Ferrari 499P
"The second sector is very good for us; the car is very good on braking and changing direction, so in the chicanes it is very fast. You don't have to overdrive the Ferrari. It gives you what it has, and if you try to go over the limit, you get less performance than you expect. You need to drive very calmly and let the car do the work.
"We still know that Toyota is the benchmark. They have everything under control. In the qualifying we were expecting them to be closer. In the race, I think they are still ahead of us in terms of pace. We are close, closer than in previous races, so we will try to make their life difficult. But our aim is to finish the race, to stay out of trouble in the first hours, and when the sun rises, we'll see where we are."
James Calado, Number 51 Ferrari 499P
"The Toyota's got a lot of downforce through the Porsche curves, we can see that. We can see that they're not using the curves, so they may have a performance advantage there. The Porsche looks strong on the long runs. I think Toyota and Porsche are our main competitors in terms of performance.
"The 499P's race pace has been one of our weaknesses in the first few races. The Ferrari's quite hard on rear tires, but here at Le Mans the tire degradation has been pretty decent. Our car is so new; this is only its fourth race. But every lap, every test, every race that we do, we are learning. We're learning in big strides, understanding fully how the car is in the working window with the tires."
Antonio Giovinazzi, Number 51 Ferrari 499P
"Being an Italian driving for Ferrari means there is some pressure. But when Ferrari enters a championship, you will have always pressure to perform, to win. We have a new car. We put the car on the track last July for the first time, and now we are here starting Le Mans in the first row. That's quite impressive.
"The 499P is easier to drive than a Formula 1 car because it has less downforce and weighs more. It has less speed. But racing at Le Mans is very different. In F1 you can sometimes do a whole race without overtaking, and here you overtake cars seven or eight times in the lap. It is never boring, and you need to be always really focused because anything can happen on every lap."
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Ferrari 499P
Ferrari 499P
Ferrari 499P
Ferrari 499P
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by cars. My father was a mechanic, and some of my earliest memories are of handing him wrenches as he worked to turn a succession of down-at-heel secondhand cars into reliable family transportation. Later, when I was about 12, I’d be allowed to back the Valiant station wagon out onto the street and drive it around to the front of the house to wash it. We had the cleanest Valiant in the world.
I got my driver’s license exactly three months after my 16th birthday in a Series II Land Rover, ex-Australian Army with no synchro on first or second and about a million miles on the clock. “Pass your test in that,” said Dad, “and you’ll be able to drive anything.” He was right. Nearly four decades later I’ve driven everything from a Bugatti Veyron to a Volvo 18-wheeler, on roads and tracks all over the world. Very few people get the opportunity to parlay their passion into a career. I’m one of those fortunate few.
I started editing my local car club magazine, partly because no-one else would do it, and partly because I’d sold my rally car to get the deposit for my first house, and wanted to stay involved in the sport. Then one day someone handed me a free local sports paper and said they might want car stuff in it. I rang the editor and to my surprise she said yes. There was no pay, but I did get press passes, which meant I got into the races for free. And meet real automotive journalists in the pressroom. And watch and learn.
It’s been a helluva ride ever since. I’ve written about everything from Formula 1 to Sprint Car racing; from new cars and trucks to wild street machines and multi-million dollar classics; from global industry trends to secondhand car dealers. I’ve done automotive TV shows and radio shows, and helped create automotive websites, iMags and mobile apps. I’ve been the editor-in-chief of leading automotive media brands in Australia, Great Britain, and the United States. And I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The longer I’m in this business the more astonished I am these fiendishly complicated devices we call automobiles get made at all, and how accomplished they have become at doing what they’re designed to do. I believe all new cars should be great, and I’m disappointed when they’re not. Over the years I’ve come to realize cars are the result of a complex interaction of people, politics and process, which is why they’re all different. And why they continue to fascinate me.Read More
