The faces are very tense and there is zero desire to talk at Ferrari at the end of a 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps which will cause discussion for quite some time due to how it was managed by the Race Direction of the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Indeed, in truth there would have been many things to say, but the night flights now departing forced the men from Maranello to be as telegraphic as they were frank, while darkness enveloped the paddock of the Belgian track, now in the process of being dismantled given also the time.
The decision to restart the race after the interruption due to the accident of the Cadillac which occurred during the fifth hour was not at all accepted by the Maranello standard bearers, nor by all the other competitors, except obviously for the Porsches of Jota and Penske, at that moment the only ones to have already made the refueling stop and therefore with the victory served on a silver platter.
Up to that moment it had been a wonderful and hard-fought race which had put the 499P #51 and #50 ahead of everyone, but the judges’ decision to add 1h44′ to the time that was now running out, since it had not been stopped after the display of the red flag, has left enormous bitterness in the mouth and a polemical aftermath which will now inevitably have to be analyzed at the top levels of the FIA and ACO.
The repairs of the barriers after the accident
Photo by: Paul Foster
To clarify, the Sporting Regulations, in point 14.3.1, clarify that the time on the stopwatch is not stopped in the event of a red flag, but “If circumstances require it, the Stewards may make the decision to stop or re-establish it, as long as it does not exceed the scheduled racing time for the competition.”
However, this can only be done on some routes since in some cases it is impossible to go beyond a certain threshold, such as for example in Imola, which first of all is in the middle of houses and has strict rules on noise to be respected, as well as not have lighting systems required for safety when the sun goes down. This puts the WEC world in front of different lines of conduct depending on where you race and many turned up their noses after the race, convinced that something more linear and safer would be needed.
In fact, the choice to proceed to Spa-Francorchamps for an additional 1h44′, when there were now 10′ left until the fateful 7pm which would have marked the end of the operations, creates a dangerous precedent which will have to be clarified as soon as possible for everyone, with the Ferrari first of all to also present an appeal at the end of the race on the provisional final classification of the race published, rejected by the Stewards, simply because “A decision of the Stewards cannot be subject to a protest under Article 13.2.1 of the FIA International Regulations”.
Having said that, the Ferraris returned home with third place in the #50 of Fuoco/Molina/Nielsen and fourth in the #51 of Calado/Pier Guidi/Giovinazzi, when in theory they could even think about celebrating a double.
The faces of the Rossi at the end of the race were those of those who had just suffered a real theft, with James Calado kindly introducing himself in the area reserved for interviews, answering through gritted teeth the questions from Motorsport.com and other journalists who asked him they asked for an opinion on the bitter conclusion.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
“For us the race ends when the clock reaches 6 hours and for all of us it shouldn’t have been added 1h44′”, replies the Briton, visibly exhausted.
“It’s up to the team and Ferrari to check and discuss how the regulations are made in view of the next outings. Personally, nothing like this had ever happened to me and it was a shock, I don’t know what else to say.”
“We were the fastest and the car was fantastic, we managed everything perfectly and managed to take the lead with an incredible pace.”
“The fact that the race lasted 7h45′ was absolutely not something we expected, from my point of view we could have taken 25 points today and for obvious reasons this didn’t happen. In fact, they took the race out of our hands” .
When the accident of Earl Bamber and Sean Gelael occurred (for which the Cadillac standard bearer will pay 5 positions on the grid at the next event), the Safety Car was called in, then after a few seconds it was passed the red flag; those moments had still put Ferrari at a disadvantage compared to the others, as Calado is keen to add.
“The Safety Car came in at the worst moment and the red flag didn’t have an impact because at that moment we would have had to make an emergency pit stop anyway as we had a lap of petrol left, or maybe a couple behind the safety car.”
“We showed what we are capable of, as had already happened in Imola. In the first stints ‘Giovi’ did something exceptional, moving up the rankings and allowing me to get to the front of the race. I congratulate my teammates and the whole team The result does us no credit, but both cars achieved excellent performances, so we will go to Le Mans with positive feelings.”
Photo by: Emanuele Clivati | AG Photo
Molina, who at least managed to get on the podium, is also of the same opinion: “I believe that the team showed all its potential at Spa and we will hardly be able to forget what both our crew and that of our teammates in the #51 did, coming back from behind. In the sixth hour we were first and second and I think that position best represents what we saw on the track today.”
Antonello Coletta, Ferrari Head of Endurance and Customer Racing, adds: “The team did a great job over the entire weekend at Spa. During the race the drivers managed to recover many positions and take the lead with the two official cars, benefiting from the optimal strategy developed by the team, which allowed them to make the most of the tyres.”
“The third and fourth positions of the 499P #50 and #51 as well as the class podium of the #83 were important results, even if this race, which should have ended in the sixth hour, when the positions were even better, lasted much longer.”
Ferdinando Cannizzo, Head of Endurance cars, comments: “Today for us, despite the result, was a positive day. As far as the execution of the race is concerned, we didn’t do anything wrong, setting a perfect strategy.”
“We brought the cars, which started in rear positions on the grid, to the top of the standings, and we were driving the test safely, so much so that we found ourselves with the three Ferrari 499Ps in the first four positions.”
“Unfortunately at that point an accident caused a red flag, but from our point of view the decision to extend the race beyond six hours is questionable. The regret is undoubtedly considerable because we believe that the result should have been different.”
#WEC #Bitter #spa #perfect #Ferrari
