Here's how Ferrari designed a car that won Le Mans on its first attempt

Enlarge / Ferrari last won Le Mans in 1965 and have not competed at the highest level since 1973. This year it returned and won with the 499P hybrid hypercar. Ferrari

Tuesday morning, a triumphant Ferrari celebrated its last race victory. Not last weekend's F1 race in Montreal, though; 2023 promises to be another tough year for Scuderia Ferrari's open-wheel racing program. Instead, glory has been brought to Maranello by its new endurance racing effort, which has just won the 24 Hours of Le Mans after a 50-year absence. He did it with a brand new car, against tough opposition, and the enormity of that result took a little while to sink in, according to Ferdinando Cannizzo, Ferrari Competitzione GT technical director and Ferrari program technical director. 499P.< /p>

“What I can tell you is that it is clear to us that the challenge we accepted was very ambitious, that we finally achieved a very historic result,” Cannizzo told Ars. "We are aware that the company has achieved historic results, and I think everything will mature in the days to come; we can probably realize the value of what we have all done together."

Endurance racing is on full blast now

The nature of racing at Le Mans has changed significantly since Ferrari's last overall victory in 1965. Then, as now, overall victory was usually up for grabs for one of the cars of the prototype category, cars designed solely for racing. rather than the converted road cars that challenge the GT class. And the race still takes place for 24 hours on a circuit that still includes some public roads. But in the 1960s, endurance racing was not a sport in its own right; cars were fragile, and going all the way meant leaving a lot of them in reserve and being kind to the machines.

Enlarge / James Calado (L) and Antonio Giovinnazi (R) celebrate as Alessandro Pier Guidi brings the winning car into the pit lane after the race. Ferrari

Those days are long gone. Just as road cars have become better and more reliable, so have race cars. It is no longer enough to travel at 70% speed; nowadays, to win Le Mans, you have to sprint to the end.

That was the case this year, with competitive cars from Toyota (which has won the last five races and had a year's experience with its GR010 race car) as well as Cadillac, Peugeot and Porsche (which, like the 499P, were new for 2023). The race was too close to call off after 10 p.m. when a Toyota driver's mistake under braking cost them their chance to catch the Ferrari.

Get ready to win

Good preparation was key to Ferrari's victory, "not just during race week, but for many months; I would say from the start of the design in which our goal was definitely a championship. But specifically also this race, which is very particular - a very high speed race in which power and aero are very important," said Cannizzo. "From an engineering point of view, we prepared for the race very well. But at the same time, we approached the race in a humble way, it was our first time after many, many years. We started from zero, therefore no reference, being the first year."