Ferrari improves car reliability for WEC 2025 after Hypercar DNFs in 2024

Ferrari has strived to enhance the reliability of its 499P World Endurance Championship contender after non-finishes blighted its 2024 Hypercar marketing campaign.

Though its #50 entry completed runner-up within the standings, the opposite two Ferraris have been eighth and ninth with a mixed three DNFs throughout the eight-round season.

So in the course of the Italian marque’s 2025 launch in Fiorano this week, Ferrari revealed it has undertaken a root and department overhaul of its Le Mans Hypercar to keep away from a repeat of the issues. 

Ferdinando Cannizzo, head of design on Ferrari’s sportscar racing programmes, stated: “Now we have spent the final half of the [2024] season and the winter time to enhance the automotive primarily on the reliability aspect.

“We performed on that aspect lots: I might say that fifty % of the modifications have been made with this intent.

“Each space of the automotive has been impacted by the modifications. Now we have finished minor or vital modifications by way of reliability on the suspension, electrical stuff and structural enhancements.”

However Ferrari has not solely addressed the problems that resulted in its #51 499P shared by Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi retiring on the Austin and Fuji races in September, in addition to the #83 buyer entry pushed by Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Robert Shwartzman stopping on the Le Mans 24 Hours in June. 

“On the finish of every race we completed, we discovered one thing we might enhance, even on the final check,” Cannizzo added.

He thinks the reliability enhancements “may give us a automotive that’s rather more sturdy, extra assured to drive on the edge – inherently it will probably have an effect on efficiency by way of consistency”.

Ferrari has confirmed that it has not invoked a second ‘evo joker’ improve for the brand new season after the introduction of revised brake cooling at the Interlagos race last July.  

However Cannizzo defined that roughly 25 % of the enhancements for the approaching season have been linked to efficiency. 

He careworn that they weren’t {hardware} modifications however associated to “a greater interpretation of our automotive to take advantage of the aero, the tyres, the potential”.

#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen

Photograph by: Ferrari

The ultimate portion of the revisions for 2025 relate to the regulatory modifications, together with the requirement to run an LED show panel on every sidepod that can point out the place every automotive is operating throughout a race, in addition to different data that’s but to be disclosed.

This was a part of the explanation behind a livery change for the 2 manufacturing facility entries run by AF Corse for the third season of the 499P.

The stripes within the Modena yellow of Ferrari’s residence city now run alongside the higher surfaces of the rear bodywork slightly than down the sidepod. The bottom color of the works 499P is now a deeper or blood pink, which Ferrari sportscar racing boss Antonello Coletta described as a “reminder of the previous”.

Ferrari is heading into this season with an unchanged driver line-up: the 2 crews of Giovinazzi, Calado and Pier Guidi in #51 and Nicklas Nielsen, Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina in #50.

Phil Hanson has joined Kubica and Ye within the buyer AF entry changing Shwartzman, who has moved to the IndyCar Series with Prema Racing.

The 2025 WEC marketing campaign begins with the Qatar 1812Km 10-hour race on 28 February, with the official pre-season prologue check taking place on the Losail Worldwide Circuit on 21-22 February.