With three wins in the bank to start the year and the prospect of a third Le Mans victory in a row on the horizon, you’d expect the confidence levels in the Ferrari AF Corse camp to be at an all-time high. That’s not quite the case, though, ahead of the 10-day marathon that is the Le Mans 24 Hours, which gets underway this week with scrutineering in the city centre.
Speaking with RACER ahead of the biggest race of the season, both factory crews placed an emphasis on scoring points this year, over winning it, recognizing that the odds are stacked against them in this era, which features a top class stacked with factory teams and Balance of Performance.
“We know that Le Mans is a different race in terms of performance, so much can happen over 24 hours, so you need to think about it hour by hour,” Antonio Giovinazzi, one of the championship leaders in the No. 51 499P, says.
“If we can secure the second win for the 51 or help Ferrari win, we are happy, of course! But the focus is on accumulating a lot of points. It’s double points, and if we can’t win, we need to score as many as we can. This is the main goal for Ferrari.”
The Drivers’ standings heading into the fourth round of the season paint a picture of dominance and the Italian brand hopes things stay that way through the summer. The three Ferrari crews in the Hypercar class – the two factory-entered cars plus the privately-entered No. 83 – sit first through third, with Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Giovinazzi 38 points clear of Toyota’s Brendon Hartley, Sebastien Buemi and Ryo Hirakawa in fourth.
In the Manufacturers’ standings, it’s the same story, with Ferrari on 136 points, almost double that of its nearest rival, Toyota, which has racked up 71 by playing seemingly every trick in its strategy box to overcome its pace deficit.
But such crushing form from Ferrari and historical results won’t necessarily count for much when the race gets underway at the Circuit de la Sarthe later this month. The Le Mans 24 Hours is a gruelling race in which so much has to go right for the team that wins.
Over the years, manufacturers have managed to string together three, four, five, six and, in the case of Porsche between 1981 and 1987, seven wins in a row. But none of those streaks have come against a field as deep as the one Ferrari faces in the current Hypercar era, or with a ruleset that, by design, keeps things close. Look no further than the record-breaking edition last year, in which nine cars finished on the lead lap. The previous record was two.
In 2025, Ferrari’s challengers will face off against 18 other cars in Hypercar, and setting aside the brand-new Aston Martin Valkyries and the privately-run Proton Porsche, you can make a case for each of the other 15 cars to win the race on merit.
