Le Mans | Coletta: “Cold tyre? Not for everyone, it needs to be checked”

There is very little time left for the cars that will take part in the 24h of Le Mans to return to the track, and already today we will have to carefully follow two Free Practices and Qualifying which will determine the best 8 worthy of attacking tomorrow’s Hyperpole.

While preparations are underway on the Circuit de la Sarthe, in the increasingly crowded paddock we are also starting to think about race day and all the issues that arise from it.

After the success of 2023, the spotlight is obviously on Ferrari which is trying to spend this adventure as peacefully as possible, focusing on a 499P which in its first outings has proven to be competitive in every situation.

But a 24 hour race is obviously very long and a lot can happen, as Antonello Coletta (head of endurance and customer racing for the Prancing Horse) explains in the meeting he had with journalists present in France, including Motorsport.com, also reeling off a very particular theme which could tip the balance.

At Imola and Spa the results did not reflect the real performance of the 499P. What are your feelings about the 24h?
“Certainly if we look at our championship position in relation to the competitiveness of Imola and Spa, we cannot be happy. Instead we are happy with the performance of the car and how we have shown that we know how to defend ourselves or be able to attack depending on the situations. We have experienced different situations, at Spa we were in 1st, 2nd and 4th place before the interruption and I think we could definitely have occupied two positions on the podium, if not the top step. At Imola we were in the top three in Qualifying, then in everything was going well until the rain; we analyzed everything, we know what happened and where there was a misunderstanding within the team.”

Is there any regret?
“We paid dearly for it, but it’s part of the game and it’s right if you make a mistake. At Spa there’s nothing to blame us for, after the restart we ended up behind, but showing that we could have deserved an excellent result which unfortunately didn’t arrive because everything was compromised by others factors”.

So are you feeling okay for now?
“We are the only manufacturers who have never spent money on evolutions, I think it is right to underline the quality of the car’s design and of the entire team, which continues to be young because it only debuted last year and is still growing with every race. We are understanding the 499P more and more and until now it has not been deemed appropriate to make any developments because first we want to know 100% what we have before changing anything.”

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, #51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi, team photo

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

The third 499P helps in this…
“Yes, we have shown that we are capable of expressing ourselves at our best and fighting for the top. The championship is still long, there is the possibility of recovering and doing well, then it is clear that we must be put in a position to be able to do so.”

For now it hasn’t rained at Le Mans, but things could change for the race; are you worried?
“The forecast continues to change every day. It seems that it won’t rain much, perhaps a little at the start or on Sunday morning. The fundamental thing will be to manage the situations well, on a long track like Le Mans where the risk is of having different weather conditions at different points. We will have to be cool and analyze situations and weather well, as happened in 2023. During the night we managed to gain over 45″ in a similar situation, an advantage that later came in handy when the problem occurred at the pit stop of the car. #51. I would be satisfied if we managed to repeat ourselves in the same way, when it comes to understanding whether or not to take risks by fitting a certain type of tyres.”

Are you thinking of upgrading the 499P?
“As regards the development of the car, we are finishing understanding the package we have. Areas of improvement have been identified, the objective is to finalize the evolution and then understand when to make it operational, whether in the second half of the season or the The final choice hasn’t been made yet, we’ll see how Le Mans goes and then we’ll evaluate.”

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

This year there will be no ‘warmers’ for the tyres, what do you think?
“The tire issue will be very important indeed and must be taken into great consideration both from the point of view of performance and competitiveness, and with regards to safety. On this last issue, honestly, we are all worried because if the temperatures drop, especially at night, great risks will be run, which frankly I don’t see who would benefit.”

Do you see anyone benefiting from this situation?
“It will be very important for the sporting authorities to check the temperatures of the tires when they are mounted on the cars. In past races we have already seen that someone has been very good at having warmer tires and on a track like this, where we lose over 15″ when let’s go in with cold tires, it would be unacceptable not to have control. Here too we must be certain that the rules are respected because we are convinced that they must be respected, if created.”

“Having a rule and not controlling it wouldn’t make much sense, especially if it determines performance and a very important difference in times. Losing 15″ in a lap is practically impossible to then recover it in a stint, and I wouldn’t want the 24h of Le Mans to be decided by the warm-up of tires at night or in other difficult situations”.

Do you foresee a questionable outcome?
“I think it’s the theme of this 24h, it will have to be managed with a lot of attention, seriousness, severity and especially attention. It would be a shame to have a result defined based on tire temperatures already in the first lap out of the pits. We also hope that all the drivers manage this situation, until halfway through the second lap everything will be very complex and dangerous, also considering the number of cars on the track and the gentlemen.”

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

Photo by: Nikolaz Godet

Have you received reassurances from the organization on these checks?
“Not at the moment, but I take it for granted. I want to think that this happens and I’m sure that the sports authorities are organizing themselves to check that the temperature is the ambient one. We will certainly have a margin of tolerance, but we must remain in compliance with the rules We talked about it and highlighted the issue.”

Do you think we can go back to ‘warmers’ even during construction?
“I think it’s too late now, all the back boxes would have to be re-equipped and reorganised, so it would be very complicated. I don’t think there is the desire to discuss this rule, all efforts will have to be focused on resisting in the first km out from the pits to cold tyres, while from the sporting authorities to respecting the rules, managing the present in the most professional way possible”.