September 1st, 2024 will surely go down in Ferrari’s racing history as a particularly memorable day, but perhaps not for the reason you may expect.
Winning both the Italian Formula 1 Grand Prix and the FIA WEC’s Lone Star Le Mans race at COTA in the same 24-hour stretch was a remarkable achievement even for a manufacturer that has countless significant accolades to look back on, and multiple rooms in Maranello with trophies stacked to the ceiling.
The No. 83 Ferrari 499P’s victory at COTA on Sunday night after Charles Leclerc dazzled the tifosi in Monza earlier in the day produced a laundry list of impressive statistics, including the fact that it now has an overall win in two separate FIA world championships on the same day for the first time in its history.
Ferrari also has three WEC Hypercar wins to its name now, with three different cars and driver crews after the No. 51 won the Centenary Le Mans 24 Hours and the No. 50 won the 2024 running of the event back in June.
As for the drivers, Robert Kubica, Ye Yifei and Robert Shwartzman scored their first WEC victories and became the second crew driving a privately-funded Hypercar to win a race this season, after HERTZ Team JOTA’s dramatic triumph in Spa back in May.
But beyond the key stats, this is a result that may be looked back on as a significant moment for Ferrari’s factory driver roster.
AF Corse and Ferrari pushed to field a third 499P in the WEC this year because it wanted to have a platform at the top end of sportscar racing to trial young drivers that it believes have a bright future ahead of them.
Step forward the No. 83’s pair of 24-year-olds: Yifei – who was poached from JOTA over the off-season – and Ferrari Academy graduate Shwartzman, are improving with each passing race weekend with the help of mentorship from Robert Kubic a
Prior to yesterday’s race, the No. 83 had its moments and famously led the Le Mans 24 Hours for multiple hours before receiving a costly penalty for wiping out the No. 15 BMW during the night and retiring late in the race with a hybrid system issue.
Lone Star Le Mans therefore felt, as Yifei put it, like “redemption” for June. It certainly looked like a true turning point for this effort, too. It was a complete performance from qualifying through to the end of the race. All three drivers were rapid, stayed mistake-free, and in the case of Yifei and Shwartzman, soaked up major pressure during their stints.
Yifei spent the middle portion of the race leading while managing a set of hard Michelin tires over two stints, and endured a lengthy sequence with Toyota’s Nyck de Vries on his bumper on fresher medium rubber. The Dutchman couldn’t find a way through, cooked his tires and was forced to pit early for an undercut.