Since their return to the top flight of sportscar racing, Ferrari have impressed from the outset. Most importantly they go into the new season looking to complete an achievement reserved for the sport’s very best: Three overall wins at Le Mans in a row. But as competition increases, this might be their last proper shot to take the manufacturers crown. 

It’s been something of a perplexing issue for the Scuderia, this seeming allergy to victory away from the Circuit De La Sarthe. And it’s not like they haven’t been competitive at those tracks either. Since 2023,  they’ve racked up plenty of podiums to show for themselves but have come up short every single time.

There’s no better description of what I’m talking about than the 6 Hours of Imola last year. After dominating qualifying and locking out the first three places, they set about holding the lead. Which they did successfully for over four hours and we’re looking strong to hold position until the race ended. But when the rain subsequently fell the strategy completely fell apart. In essence, Ferrari originally stayed out as they remained faster than those on wets in the first two sectors. Then they inexplicably pulled a u-turn and pitted all three cars at the same time and onto the same tires. As a result their cars slipped back in the order as those who’d taken wets laps earlier and Ferrari essentially threw away a home win. 

Let’s be clear on this: collapses on that scale cannot happen this year. I write a lot about how close the field is going to be this year and pure pace alone is simply not enough to win. But it’s races like Imola that show it to be true. Toyota had a considerably slower car than Ferrari and yet through brilliant strategy came through in the final hour to win that race. 

There’s no doubt Ferrari have all the pieces in the race winning puzzle, but it’s whether they can finally piece it all together that will determine if they can win the championship this year. The driver lineups haven’t changed since the start of the programme with Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco in the #50 once again. The sister #51 car is piloted by Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi, so expect the same expertise on track. The ‘customer’ entry of AF Corse’s #83 has dropped Robert Schwartzman in favour of former European Le Mans Series champion Phil Hanson who makes his Hypercar debut this season. The young Brit will be partnering Robert Kubica and Yefei Ye.

So with the same drivers same goal and the same passion as they’ve held since the 1950’s, can Ferrari convert their indisputable talent into a championship this year? Stay tuned, this could be the greatest Italian job yet… 

thumbnail credit – Rick Flores from USA, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons