Ferrari at Sebring: the 50-year itch. As Le Mans 2023 looms, we look back to Ferrari's first race of the year
Le Mans 2023 is just days away, and the 100th running of the event promises to be one of the most exciting in decades. For the first time in years, endurance titans Porsche and Ferrari will line up alongside each other in the premier class, flanked by a field which now includes Cadillac and BMW. Toyota is still here too, now with the competition it craves and the experience to beat it.
At 1030kg minimum and 671bhp max, LMH cars are substantially heavier, less powerful and around 10 seconds slower over a Le Mans lap than their LMP1 predecessors, cold facts that substantially undersell the spectacle – witness Cadillac driver Alex Lynn’s predatory overhauls of the Porsche 963 during the race as edge-of-seat proof.
I pore over the 499P in Ferrari’s garage, stretching long and low, the red and yellow livery evocative of its 312P forbear. A clean-sheet design that Ferrari began testing at Fiorano only in July, the 499P comprises a full carbonfibre monocoque and bodywork, a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 sending 671bhp to the rear wheels, and an e-motor to chuck 268bhp at the front.
While the design is new, Ferrari has opted for continuity of personnel. It has built on the familiarity of its lengthy relationship with independent outfit AF Corse, its partner for production-based GT racing in the WEC, although the team is greatly expanded and strengthened, including some appointments from F1.
Friday morning, race day, and I find myself sharing a golf buggy with former Formula 1 Alfa Romeo Racing driver and current Scuderia Ferrari reserve Antonio Giovinazzi – the better to navigate Sebring’s vast concrete expanses and grab a little shade from 25ºC temperatures that burn way hotter. We dash down to Turn 1 ahead of the midday rolling start, a vast expanse of the very same concrete laid for the original airfield in 1941, as a distant but ever-increasing buzz rises from the pack nearing the end of the formation lap. When the safety car pits, Fuoco leads them flat out in the number 50 Ferrari – the cars visibly bite and grab at the coarse surface, bumping around aggressively. The pace is intense from the off, push, push, push.
Time for a chat with Antonella Coletta, who’s in a modest little prefab a far cry from F1 motorhomes. For the team boss, Sebring is all about gaining experience and proving the 499P’s reliability on a bumpy track that will not only stress the suspension, but also the engine and gearbox, given how often slicks leave the surface and the revs spike – Ferrari has tested here twice before as well as elsewhere with a 24-hour simulation where ‘we had some problems’.
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