Ferrari: F1 and Endurance Racing Are Not Incompatible

Rumors of Ferrari’s return to Endurance racing are becoming more and more insistent. The Italian brand won the premier event – the 24 Hours of Le Mans – nine times between 1949 and 1973 (including six consecutive victories between 1960 and 1965), at which point Enzo Ferrari decided to focus his efforts and resources on the F1 World Championship.

It didn’t take much more for Luca di Montezemolo, the current president of the Maranello company, to take the opportunity to criticize the 2014 version of F1: « Formula 1 is not working. It’s declining because the FIA has forgotten that people watch races for excitement. Come on, nobody watches races for efficiency. »

« People watch the race to be excited. No one wants to watch a driver saving fuel or tires. They want to see them attack from start to finish. It’s sport, yes, but also a show, » he insists, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The 2014 season was marked by the introduction of a new engine technology based on a high level of hybridization between a gasoline engine, whose consumption must not exceed 100kg, and a series of devices that recover electrical energy during braking and from exhaust systems, among other things. To avoid an arms race and escalating expenses, engines are frozen at the start of the season. « And we cannot touch the engine? » fumes Montezemolo.

Under these conditions, the question of a return to Le Mans and Endurance racing, by 2020, could be seen as a threat to end the F1 commitment, according to Ferrari’s big boss: « Obviously, we cannot do both Endurance and Formula 1. It is not possible. » The threat of the Scuderia’s withdrawal has often been brandished in the history of the discipline, particularly in the 1980s, but more recently, in 2009, during tensions between the FOTA and the FIA.

However, Ferrari, through a statement published on its website, did not hesitate to respond by tempering the situation: « It’s a bit exaggerated [to imagine a withdrawal] based on the repeated statements by President Luca di Montezemolo that Formula 1 must evolve and renew itself, all while acknowledging the unique attraction of the 24-hour race. »

The Italian manufacturer believes it is capable of tackling both challenges head-on: « To say that after 2020, Ferrari might leave F1 to focus on Le Mans and Endurance is taking its words to the extreme. Moreover, obviously, there is nothing preventing Ferrari from competing in both disciplines. So, it’s just pure speculation. »