On Saturday and Sunday, the Sebring track hosted the Prologue of the FIA World Endurance Championship, a testing ground for all the protagonists of the series which will kick off on Friday with the 1000 Miglia.
The opening race of the 2023 season will also be the first against opponents for the brand new Ferrari 499Ps, which over the weekend have begun to take measures not so much at the American track – which had already been used for private tests in recent months – but to immerse yourself in the torrid environment of the Hypercar Class against its category rivals.
Let’s begin immediately by saying that car #51 does not need a chassis change, after James Calado crashed off the track at turn 1 on the first lap of the program in Sunday morning’s session, betrayed by the cold tires and the bumpy circuit Florida.
Someone even had the courage to ask for the ‘head’ of the reigning British LMGTE World Champion, without taking into account that this season’s regulation does not provide for the use of tyrewarmers and puts all competitors, more or less experienced, at serious risk that they are. Even more so if you’re in Sebring with the ‘bumps’.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
The alarm had already been sounded by several insiders in the past weeks – Jim Glickenhaus in primis – and yesterday morning we had the first ‘illustrious’ victim of this questionable novelty, introduced to have a more ‘green’ impact as it uses a lot of these times. And now the technicians of AF Corse and the Prancing Horse will have to roll up their sleeves to repair the 499P that Calado shares with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi.
The #51, crashing into the barriers, suffered a lot of damage to the right side and to the front suspension; once back in the pits, it was decided to interrupt the tests having already collected a lot of data and preferring to proceed calmly with the analysis of the chassis, which Dallara’s collaborators considered suitable for continuing the adventure.
Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi close with the 9th overall time among the LMHs in 1’49″573 (author from Puglia), 1″365 from the absolute best set by Toyota #7 on Saturday morning, clocking up a total of 116 laps on the same day , which is the only one that actually saw them run.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
On the other side of the garage, the #50 ridden by Antonio Fuoco/Miguel Molina/Nicklas Nielsen ended both days with 221 total laps and the Dane clocking 1’49″300 which brings the Ducati to sixth position in the overall ranking of the two days, with a gap of 1″092 from the top. And Molina to take away the satisfaction of soaring at an altitude of 294.7km/h as the top speed recorded.
But how far can Ferraris actually go? It is a question to which for now any answer may or may not make sense. In the long runs carried out, the prototypes from Maranello proved to be in line with the times of their rivals, with a few tenths of a delay which may have a relative weight not knowing how much fuel had been put into the tanks and the wear of the tyres. And above all what game did they all play in hiding.
The fact is that Toyota seem to have an extra gear by far, leveraging on the two years of activity in the category and the goodness of the GR010 Hybrid project. Cadillac and Porsche chase the Japanese with their respective LMDhs, while the Ferraris appear behind them, lurking and ready to take advantage of any favorable situation.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
The 499Ps have always placed at least in the Top5 and have shown an almost constant performance in all four sessions of the Prologue. Probably this is the position they currently occupy and from which they are trying to build something in the first step of a long and difficult path. Which is why you shouldn’t be in a hurry to demand a competitiveness that can come over time, evidenced by the declarations of the Ferrari owners themselves who have been preaching calm and humility for weeks now.
The bogeyman of reliability is there for everyone, it’s no secret and even the Prancing Horse know it all too well from what they saw during the tests carried out last July with the 499P. To this we add that Sebring is an ‘atypical’ track, so much so that even the Balance of Performance has been drawn up with a precise table for the 1000 Miglia, while the values have undergone changes for the following three stages of the calendar.
And speaking of BoP: who knows if and how much it will affect the results. To date, it is too early to start discussions on the matter. Indeed, even in the future it will be difficult to have opinions on this matter, because the 2023 regulation prohibits all teams and riders from talking about it…
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