Ferrari concluded the 2026 World Endurance Championship season with a podium finish at the Monza 6 Hours, but the Italian manufacturer’s race was compromised by multiple penalties for exceeding tyre pressure.
On Sunday, Antonio Fuoco put the #50 Ferrari 499P on pole position in qualifying, making it the prime candidate for a top position. But just an hour into the race, a black-and-orange flag for a tyre pressure infringement forced the car into the pits to replace its medium-compound tyres. A 20-second penalty further pushed Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina down the order.
The same occurred again toward the end of the race. This additional penalty caused the #50 crew to drop to ninth place in the final classification, despite a patient recovery drive that had brought the team within striking distance of the top five.
“There was a procedural error regarding temperatures: the forecasts for track temperatures were higher than what they actually turned out to be. We always strive to give our absolute best by pushing to the limit. Unfortunately, for the #50 car, and also for the #83 499P, the tyre pressures ended up being slightly lower than they should have been,” engineer Giuliano Salvi told the media including Motorsport.com at Monza.
“As the [Latin] saying goes, ‘dura lex sed lex’ [the law is harsh, but it is the law]. Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do about it, which is a shame because we had devised a strategy to recover, knowing that we were slightly off the pace compared to the others. We intended to extend our stint, with the goal of eventually getting back on par with our rivals.”
The issue with tyre pressures also affected the #83 AF Corse Ferrari driven by Yifei Ye, Robert Kubica, and Phil Hanson. They finished sixth, though their race was further hindered when a wheel came loose following a pitstop, forcing them to return to the pits.
“Everything was going well for the #83 too, but then there was the issue with the wheel coming loose after the pitstop. It’s a shame, because Robert was in great form all weekend, even if he couldn’t achieve a better result in qualifying, as the chequered flag fell just when he would have had another lap available.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: Jakob Ebrey
“Overall, the entire field was quite closely matched. We’ll need to look into exactly what happened, both regarding the tyre pressures and the pitstop for the #83, which is quite unusual for us, given our three-year track record.”
Nielsen also expressed his disappointment while speaking to Motorsport.com and other media in the paddock interview zone at Monza: “Antonio did a fantastic job securing pole position. He delivered when it mattered most, especially since qualifying was challenging due to track conditions.
“Today was obviously a shame, as we were penalised because of the tyre pressures. It was essentially a double penalty: we were forced to change the tires and then serve a time penalty.
“I believe we had the pace to recover, but it was difficult because overtaking proved complex for us. Several other cars were faster than ours on the straights, so we tried to use traffic to our advantage—it was perhaps our only real opportunity to make a pass.
“This wasn’t the end to the season we wanted, especially in this race, having started from pole position.
“When you’re trying to fight your way back, you also need a bit of luck regarding the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car – and for us, it always appeared at the wrong moment. We were making a comeback following the penalty, but then we found ourselves further back once again. That’s how it went.”
#51 Ferrari finishes on the podium
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: Ferrari
At the very least, the strategy for the #51 Ferrari, driven by Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi, and James Calado, worked well. The trio managed to secure the final spot on the podium, behind the race winning #38 Cadillac and the second-placed #36 Alpine.
“We had very little data regarding the conditions we would face here, especially in terms of the race and these temperatures. It was a bit of a gamble. As you could see, we weren’t the fastest. Cadillac did a great job, and so did Alpine. In the end, we achieved the best result possible. We lacked a bit of speed, which is a crucial factor at Monza,” explained Giovinazzi.
Of the three, he put in the most work, completing 112 laps compared to 39 for Pier Guidi and 40 for Calado – a distribution that was part of a pre-planned strategy, as he clarified in response to a question from Motorsport.com.
“The fact that ‘Ale’ drove less was actually a matter of strategy. I drove for an hour at the start, but then the Virtual Safety Car was deployed, and we had to change everything. Ultimately, everything happened earlier than we had initially planned.
“We knew we would need a ‘splash’ of energy with four laps to go, and we tried to avoid that. Alpine and Cadillac, by contrast, had fewer laps to cover before needing a splash, which also helped their pace. With all the Virtual Safety Cars, it was a rather unusual race – everything kept getting reset. But for the fans, it was perhaps even more entertaining.”
Salvi, meanwhile, offered a broader perspective on a 2026 season in which Ferrari failed to defend its title but still bagged one victory and several podium finishes.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado, Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: Jakob Ebrey
The Italian manufacturer is now finalising a major update for 2027 to significantly overhaul the 499P.
“Overall, the season has been quite frustrating. We struggled at Fuji, while in Brazil we managed to perform better than last year. At Imola, we took pole position and battled with Toyota; in general, we were always in the mix with everyone. Perhaps only at Le Mans were we a step behind the others,” he said.
“Here, we probably could have done more to extract the maximum from the car, but the potential – in terms of race pace – was there to win. In terms of raw performance, we were in good shape; perhaps we were slightly lacking in top speed, but had we been in clear air, we could have fought with Cadillac and Alpine.
“Of course, it’s a shame not to have won [at Monza], but a podium is still a positive result for the final outing of the 499P in this configuration – a car that everyone has loved from day one, despite it representing an entirely new challenge. It has certainly earned its place of honour in our museum.”
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