A year ago, Alessandro Pier Guidi, Antonio Giovinazzi and James Calado stepped off the podium of the 24h of Le Mans as historic winners and a year later they managed to celebrate again in front of the crowd at the Circuit de la Sarthe.
This time the crew of the Ferrari 499P #51 achieved a comeback third place, at the end of a very tough race that provided endless emotions from the first to the last lap.
For the Maranello trio, abdicating by handing over the success to their teammates Molina/Nielsen/Fuoco was the best way to return home happy with a result that relaunches them in a very tight series still full of things to discover, as explained by the Maranello standard bearer speaking to the journalists present at Le Mans after the race, including Motorsport.com.
“It was really difficult, forced to always chase from the start due to the 10 second penalty we had to serve at the first pit stop. I still think that Le Mans chooses the winner, rather than the drivers who win Le Mans”, began Pier Guidi.
“It’s clear that this wasn’t our good time, but if I look at the last few years, in those with even numbers I never win! But I won the Centenary edition and that’s fine.”
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
The race, as we know, turned out to be much more complicated than expected due to the uncertain weather conditions, which often changed within a few moments.
“Everything was complicated, from the strategies to the tire choices; we did something wrong, but it happens to everyone and we are probably the ones who have made the least mistakes, also having the most luck.”
“The weather radar didn’t indicate rain and instead water was coming down from the sky, this put us in difficulty as to what to do. The last stint was quite difficult, we didn’t have so much grip in the wet and the Porsche was faster. Furthermore, there was ‘There was a lot of traffic and I tried to lose as little time as possible in those conditions to keep the 963 behind me.”
“Toyota was much stronger and I expected it, but the Porsches were very close as always, even though I thought they were going a little faster.”
“The 499P was fantastic in the dry, while in the wet we struggled more. I don’t know yet if it’s a question of pressure or temperature, we’ll have to analyze the data.”
“But I struggled a lot, especially when I reached low speeds in traction. Here you go with minimal aerodynamic load and we had still chosen to favor the speeds to try to have more”.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen, #7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 – Hybrid: Jose Maria Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck De Vries, #51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: Marc Fleury
The Piedmontese did not agree on continuing the race under the Safety Car with the rain that raged during the night, among other things with the problem of cold tires to manage.
“More than four hours in those conditions was really difficult and many of us asked ourselves why this decision was made. Frankly, I didn’t think it made much sense, it was more of a red flag. We need to ask whoever made these decisions.”
“Without tire warmers it wasn’t easy at all, honestly at night and with the rain we took absurd risks right from the first laps. In the end it went well.”
“To win you need a bit of luck, in 2023 it went well for us, this time it was our teammates’ turn.
“In Imola if it hadn’t rained so much we could have won and become the heroes of that race, unfortunately things went differently. But the performance has always been there, even at Spa and here. It’s not for nothing that we got the podium.”
“In any case, we’ve won two editions in a row since our return and I really think that’s positive. In the end it was a matter of gritting our teeth and resisting, we’re in Le Mans and that’s how we do it. Luckily it was enough!”
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Next came Giovinazzi, who commented with a broad smile on the third step of the podium he had just taken home.
“Winning last year was historic, but this was probably the most difficult race of my career because the weather was constantly changing and it wasn’t clear what would happen”, comments the Apulian.
“We had a planned strategy, but in the end practically nothing was followed! But that’s also the beauty of Le Mans, you always have to be ready to seize the opportunity, even if the conditions weren’t easy, but we were very good. we suffered a lot from the lack of energy per stint, also because everything was constantly changing between the wet and the Safety Car. It would certainly have been different in the dry.”
“At night we spent a lot of time behind the Safety Car, plus the tire choice was often a gamble. Sometimes it paid off, other times it didn’t; in a race like this things can change quickly.”
#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
Photo credit: Rainier Ehrhardt
The 2024 edition was very different from the 2023, not only in terms of the results but also in how it took place. Starting with a car to… tame in treacherous conditions.
“Unfortunately I felt a bit of a lack of grip at the rear. We’ll have to analyze everything because in the morning, in the wet, I wasn’t very happy with the balance, while in the dry we were among the fastest.”
“We will need to improve for the future, but the 499P is perfect for Le Mans, as it was at Spa and Imola. It is still quite new, there is certainly room for growth and I am really liking the development we are doing and we need to continue on that path.”
The 499P has confirmed itself as versatile and competitive on every track and from now on we can also think about the world title, despite the fact that the Reds have made an uphill start this year.
“We must be super proud of a simple result, considering that the cars and teams are still young because we only returned last year. Another podium at Le Mans is always nice because it is a special place and I can only congratulate Ferrari for this result.”
“Now we’re back in contention for the title and that’s the next goal. We hope to fight until the end, unfortunately in the first outings we lost important points and if we had won at Spa the story would have been different.”
“Now we have taken a lot of points and we have to arrive very excited in Brazil, which is a new track for everyone, therefore to be discovered also for the 499P. We didn’t try much on the simulator because we were concentrating on Le Mans, but it is a track that I like I like it very much.”
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Finally, Calado took the fact that he had… abdicated at Le Mans philosophically, but he was satisfied with the work done.
“The #50 drivers deserved it, a great result at the end of a very open battle with Porsche and Toyota, a sign of how spectacular this championship is becoming.”
“I’m proud of the third place obtained with my teammates, who did a great job. At times it wasn’t easy and we even made wrong decisions in some moments. We found ourselves chasing, but we never gave up and a podium is always a great result.”
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