Difficult debut for Ferrari 499Ps in Qatar

The Ferrari – AF Corse team finished round one of the FIA World Endurance Championship with eighth and 14th place at the 1812 KM of Qatar. The result came courtesy of 499P numbers 50 and 51, crewed by Antonio Fuoco-Miguel Molina-Nicklas Nielsen and Alessandro Pier Guidi-James Calado-Antonio Giovinazzi, respectively.

The AF Corse team’s 499P crossed the chequered flag in fifth after completing 334 laps, with the Prancing Horse official drivers Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman – both making their World Endurance Championship debuts with the Maranello manufacturer – with Robert Kubica. With this result, the yellow liveried Ferrari Hypercar took second place in the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams standings, and the three drivers celebrated by climbing the podium. The result earned the number 83 crew 15 points for the Drivers’ standings and 27 points for the FIA World Cup for Hypercar Teams.

As predicted ahead of the event, the race at the Middle Eastern track proved tricky for the AF Corse Ferrari team’s hypercars. The contacts suffered, which constrained the mechanics to recall the 499Ps to the pits for the necessary work, and the penalties incurred for several errors undermined the official crews’ chances of contending for the top positions despite Molina and Calado’s excellent start.

The Ferrari – AF Corse team left Qatar with six points in the Drivers’ and 12 in the Manufacturers’ standings. The FIA WEC will be back in the spotlight on 21 April at the Autodromo Enzo and Dino Ferrari in Imola with the 6 Hours, the season’s second race.

Antonio Fuoco : The year’s first outing wasn’t positive. First, we must work on ourselves because we made too many mistakes today. Now our goal must be to start again even stronger. We are already thinking about the next race at Imola in which I hope we’ll again prove our worth.

Nicklas Nielsen : We can’t be satisfied with eighth place, even though we climbed a few positions at the end, gaining some important points for the team and perhaps finishing in the best possible position given the circumstances. It’s a shame because Miguel had an excellent start, but we couldn’t contend for a top position during the race.

Alessandro Pier Guidi : Before the start, we knew we didn’t have the pace to compete with the cars vying for the top spots, and the race proved this. We still hoped to finish in the points zone, but given how the race went, it was not possible.

James Calado : We have finished a tricky race in which we made some mistakes and were a little unlucky to be honest, but we knew after the practice and qualifying sessions we had little chance of a great result on this track. Now we look to the future, hoping to return to the track at Imola with different aspirations.

Antonio Giovinazzi : The race was tricky from the start. When we lost the rear wing after a collision, one hour and twenty minutes after the start, everything became even harder. We lacked speed and pace here at Lusail, but we also made some mistakes, so in the weeks between now and the 6 Hours of Imola, our goal will be to work hard to return to the track with bigger ambitions.

Ferdinando Cannizzo : The race result confirmed what had already emerged during the Prologue and in the simulations, that is, the big difference from other cars that didn’t allow us to fight for the podium, and so it was, despite Molina’s splendid start. The race was not free of flaws and unfortunate episodes, but we had no chance of contending for the podium. Despite this, we tried to achieve the best possible result for our cars also by adopting an aggressive strategy. Despite a very demanding track, the tyre management was admirable considering that we suffered neither degradation nor wear even with so many double and triple stints on the tyres.