How the Prancing Horse continued its legacy: The Ferrari 499P
- Benjamin Crundwell
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
When Formula One entered the ground effect era in 2022, the Ferrari Hypercar programme didn’t exist and Ferrari’s F1 team was favourites to win the team’s first Championship in nearly a decade and a half. At the time no one could have thought that Ferrari would win a Championship in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) before F1.
The 2021 season saw a new dawn in the WEC. The previous LMP1 class was the fastest closed-wheel racing class on the planet - but it was too expensive. While racing in the top class of Le Mans was desirable, the overall cost was unjustifiable to many manufacturers - including Ferrari.
In the most successful regulation overhaul in modern motor racing history, WEC introduced the LMH and LMDh regulations - better known as the Hypercars. The new era of WEC aimed to be a cheaper, more competitive form of Endurance Racing.
The LMH and LMDh ruleset encouraged greater use of road car technology, as well as restricting aerodynamics and powertrain performance, to drastically reduce the cost to design and manufacture a race car.
It didn’t take long for the major manufacturers to start expressing interest. Having never competed in the WEC’s top class in any form, Ferrari unveiled their brand new LMH competitor in October 2022.
The Ferrari 499P uses the collaborative efforts of a 2992 cc twin-turbocharged V6 internal combustion engine and a 800V battery to produce 671 brake horsepower. Drivers access this power through a seven-speed sequential gearbox.
An extensive aerodynamic package, with over 3000 hours of testing, has proven to be effective on both high downforce tracks such as Imola and low drag circuits like Le Mans.
Ferrari were not the only team to make their Hypercar debut in 2023, as the 1000 Miles of Sebring saw the Cadillac V-Series.R, Porsche 963 and Vanwall Vandervell 680 also make their competitive debuts.
The season was unsurprisingly dominated by the experienced Toyota, however Ferrari were comfortably best of the rest, finishing second in the Manufacturer’s Championship.
The drivers of the No.50 Ferrari (Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielson and Miguel Molina) finished the season third in the Driver’s Championship, ahead of the No.51 drivers (Antonio Giovinazzi, James Calado, and Alessandro Pier Guidi) who were 52 points ahead of the No.2 Cadillac crew in fifth place.
A top three Championship position was certainly not the biggest highlight of the 2023 season for Ferrari. Their peak came at the main race of the WEC season: the 24 Hours of Le Mans, which Ferrari had not competed for an overall win in for half a century.
The No.50 led the Italian’s front row lock out, but it was the No.51 that completed the longest distance when the clock completed its second revolution.
The win did not come easy, before night fell, treacherous rain hit the track and later on the No.51 had to get lifted out of a gravel trap. Despite losing time during the off, the No.51 pulled itself back into contention and won a close fight with the No.8 Toyota.
It had seemed far-fetched that a team could beat the mighty Toyota on their modern-day-debut at the famous race, but for the first time in 58 years Ferrari were the outright winners of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Both cars had an unchanged driver lineup in 2024. The No.50 Ferrari improved to finish second in the Championship - but the No.51 struggled to get results. Meanwhile Porsche found their feet and won the Driver’s Championship.
Once again the Ferrari works team's only win came in the best place to win, Le Mans. Not getting a car on the front row was barely a hindrance, as the Ferrari’s were already 1-2 at the end of the first lap.
When the lead Ferrari’s door was stuck open with two hours to go, the win looked unlikely. Nielsen pitted the car early to fix the door, and the car took fuel while doing so. Nielsen proceeded to complete an intense final stint of fuel saving, just making it to the line in first place.
Having had to watch their sister car win the race the year before, it was the No.50’s turn to celebrate. The TV broadcast showed Nielsen’s teammates, Fuoco and Molina, in an elated celebration on the floor of the Ferrari garage with their mechanics.
The 499P did win another race in 2024, but in the hands of the privateer No.83 AF Corse and Robert Shwartzman, Robert Kubica and Yifei Ye. The car started second, behind the No.51, but took the lead inside the first hour.
Having controlled a lot of the race the No.83 lost the lead to the No.7 Toyota, which then had to serve a penalty for speeding under double waved yellows, handing the lead back over to the Ferrari. After six hours of hard fought racing, the No.83 AF Corse car became the second privateer team to win in the Hypercar class.
Ferrari entered the 2025 season with upgrades in reliability and performance but still no alteration to their driver lineup.
Their third year in the WEC had to be a good one for the Ferrari Hypercar programme. Despite winning Le Mans twice, they were yet to win a Championship and their only other win was in the hands of the No.83 AF Corse privateer.
As well as upgrades to their car, Antonello Coletta (Global Head of Ferrari Endurance) said the team made “several organisational changes” and believed the team had taken a “crucial step forwards.”
Their winter changes were immediately apparent, led by the No.50, the Prancing Horses took a 1-2-3 finish at the 1812km of Qatar. After Imola and Spa were won by the No.51, it was apparent the team had turned over a new leaf.
Ferrari were confident for the fourth round of the season at Le Mans - and they were right to be as the team were by far quickest throughout the race. Only interrupted by the No.6 Porsche, the three Ferrari’s finished 1st, 3rd and 4th, however that became 1st and 3rd after the No.50 lost the podium to a post race disqualification.
This time it was the No.83’s turn to win Le Mans, sparking tension within the works team, who tried implementing team orders against their privateer counterpart. The No.83 was the first privateer team to win Le Mans in exactly 20 years.
It would have been far-fetched after Le Mans to say the team which looked unstoppable wouldn’t win another race for the rest of the season, however a multitude of factors out of their control caused a sudden lack of pace.
The rest of the pack closed back in on the Ferraris however their lead was so big that by the final round in Bahrain, Ferrari were able to confirm a 1-2-3 finish in the Driver’s Championship, as well as winning the Manufacturer’s and the Team’s Championship.
Teamwork has quietly become the strongest quality of the Ferrari Hypercar team, a quality evident during the 8 Hours of Bahrain. Approaching the final laps, the driver of the No.51, Pier Guidi, pulled over to let the No.50 take third place, to “return the podium from Le Mans.”
More importantly, the extra points awarded to the No.50 secured the lockout of the top three Championship spots. The moment showed unity in an otherwise competitive Championship, as the No.51 sacrificed its position on the podium for the collective triumph of the prancing horse.
The WEC has always been a platform for manufacturers to boast their products, however winning Le Mans three times and taking a Championship is not just a marketing victory for the Italian marque.
The results are a nostalgic reminder of what Ferrari used to represent: resilience, passion and determination. For the last 17 years Ferrari’s legacy has been tainted by its Formula One struggles, where many opportunities have been missed.
The efforts to design and race the 499P have paid off for Ferrari, as they have reclaimed their status as the greatest motoring manufacturer. After a half century absence, Ferrari transformed from newcomers to Champions, proving their legacy will never fade.
