Ferrari Behind the Scenes, Kubica: “Irregular Tyre Pressure, I Had to Push”

A victory not without suffering

There Ferrari at COTA took its third victory in the WEC Hypercar class in the 2023-2024 two-year period, the first on a circuit other than Le Mans. The credit goes to the ‘customer’ crew of Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye, who alternate at the wheel of the 499P #83. In qualifying the fastest Ferrari was that of Antonio Giovinazzi, the #51, but during the first stint the #83 at a certain point took the lead of operations at the end of the longest straight of the Tuscan track (the same point where the race of the #51 was then interrupted prematurely due to damage resulting from a contact while overtaking).

The #83’s overtaking of the #51 was necessary to try to raise the tyre pressure which had ended up below the regulatory limit. “I wanted to stay in second position and manage the situation by using the tyres as little as possible, it took us too long to understand that the pressures had become too low and at that point the only solution was to get in front and push. – he explained as reported by sportscar365.com Robert Kubicawho completed his first stint at the wheel of the #83 Ferrari – I did my best, but we reacted a bit too late and I managed to lift them. I managed to be probably OK, but we preferred to change them, also because using so much rubber you risk running into a performance collapse”. Yifei Ye completed a double stint on the harder, less performing compound, allowing Nyck De Vries in the #7 Toyota to close the gap. “It was a consequence of what happened in the first stint – added Kubica – we had to return to the possibility of having the most performing tyres in the final part of the race. In the central part of the race we did not run with the most effective tyres, but with the safest ones, accepting to go slower”.

Bringing the #83 to the finish line in first place was Robert Shwartzmanalso thanks to a drive-through penalty given to Toyota #7 for not respecting a yellow flag: “The race was very difficult, Toyota was a really tough opponent and put a lot of pressure on us. In the end, however, we managed to maintain the lead and achieve an exceptional result. I want to thank the whole team that did an exceptional job and my teammates who were really strong. After the retirement at Le Mans, where we were protagonists for a long time, I was waiting for a happy moment like this: when I stepped on the podium I felt a unique emotion“, Shwartzman’s words.