How Ferrari aims to keep its horses prancing ahead as a new FIA WEC season begins

There’s plenty of new in the Hypercar class this year, with many teams bringing Evo "Joker" updates to their cars, the arrival of Genesis and a fresh range of Michelin tires. One thing that hasn’t changed year on year, though, is Ferrari’s prospects for a victory on home soil at Imola.

The Prancing Horse and its trio of 499Ps run by AF Corse has been the pacesetter for much of the event so far, finishing 1-2-3 in the combined rankings during the Prologue and FP1, and then third and fourth in the timesheets during FP2 with the two factory cars, both within two tenths of Charles Milesi’s benchmark time for Alpine.

Across the paddock in Hypercar, Ferrari’s rivals broadly expect the 499Ps to be toughest to overcome in qualifying and the race. The 499P is a well-proven machine that’s particularly strong over the Autodromo’s punishing curbs, and won the race last year. Ferrari also heads into the season as the reigning champion. Within the Italian camp, though, they’re playing down the chances of it being a stroll in the park on Sunday afternoon.

“We look really strong, but we are thinking we are not the favorite for the weekend,” Miguel Molina, driver of the No. 50, told reporters today. “We saw some data, we saw some performance of the other manufacturers, and we think we are not the ones that are the favorites, as said.”

“This is one of the tracks where the car has done well, I think it’s a positive track for the Ferraris," Reigning drivers’ world champion Alessandro Pier Guidi from the sister No. 51 crew, added. "The curb riding is good on the car; all the bumps we have suit the car better. If you are able to use the curbs you can gain a lot of time on this kind of track.

“We have the same cars as last year, so if there’s an advantage, I expect the others to be stronger. When you bring Evos, it’s because you want more performance.”

"The curb riding is good on the car; all the bumps we have suit the car better. If you are able to use the curbs you can gain a lot of time on this kind of track," says Alessandro Pier Guidi. Sam Bagnall/Getty Images

Ferdinando Cannizzo, the global head of Ferrari endurance race cars, owes Ferrari’s charge out of the gate to its decision to conduct qualifying simulations in FP1 and 2. Ferrari also benefited from a recent test at the Imola circuit, which allowed the team to prep for the race weekend and learn about the new-for-2026 soft tires.

“I think we are one of the few teams that did a qualifying sim in the prologue and free practice," he noted. "But if you look at the race pace from the other cars, you realize the Ferraris are not the fastest overall, or at least not the favorite. The cars are close to each other, and it will come down to which compound you select and strategy. In general, I think the cars are very close.”

There was a shred of uncertainty heading into the season for Ferrari, as the FIA instructed it to make minor aerodynamic tweaks to the 499P as part of the homologation process at WindShear over the off-season. However, the drivers aren’t reporting a difference in feel behind the wheel, and Cannizzo and Ferrari endurance boss Antonello Coletta feel that after plenty of running with the car in its 2026 configuration, the team isn’t on the back foot.

“We changed the car, some flicks, Gurney flaps, diffuser fences to protect the strength of the car and fall in the performance window,” Cannizzo explained. “The major surfaces of the car have not changed at all, or it would be considered a Joker. It’s minor.”

Unlike its rivals, Ferrari's 499 won't have a Joker in the deck this year. James Moy Photography/Getty Images

Ferrari opted not to play a Joker for the season and, in all likelihood, wouldn’t have been granted permission by the rulemakers to upgrade the car to improve its performance after such a successful 2025. Coletta did, however, suggest that Ferrari may target an Evo Joker for 2027.

“We think our car is competitive and we prefer to see after this season if we need to change some issues or not,” he said. “For this matter, we believe for us it’s better to maintain the same car as last year with some small differences. I think we can change some issues next year, probably. But we would like to see the first races of the year, and after that we will make our decision.”

Without any published BoP tables to refer to as a baseline (following the recent decision made by the FIA and ACO to keep the data private), and so many car updates being introduced at the same time, 2026 feels like a whole new world when it comes to passing judgment on the hierarchy each weekend ahead of the race.

We’ll have a better understanding of where things stand once qualifying is in the rear-view mirror tomorrow. Securing a strong grid position is particularly important at Imola because overtaking is difficult and it’s one of the shorter, six-hour races on the schedule. After such a long winter, the teams in Hypercar will be as eager as ever to start the first race of the season on the front foot, so expect fireworks in Hyperpole.