After 50 years, Ferrari returns to the mother category of the World Sports Prototype Championship, we analyzed the car in a previous article and now it’s time to get to know the drivers of the Ferrari 50 and 51 cars for the 2023 season.
Presented on October 30th 2022, during the Ferrari World Finals at Imola, the 499P is the beginning of a dream that goes down in history, it represents a challenge to win again at Le Mans, the queen of races, in the main category.
The world champions
James Calado and Alessandro Pier Guidi will be 2 of the 6 drivers driving the 499P for the 2023 WEC season. The two champions ended the 2022 season in the best way possible with the 488 in the GTE, the last in this category, winning the World Endurance Championship with Ferrari.
The journey of the British and the Italian driver continues with the brand from Maranello and AF Corse also with the Hypercar, the two have actively participated in the development of this car through many tests performed in Fiorano and beyond.
Antonio Fuoco and Nicklas Nielsen: the young talents that’ll write the future of Ferrari
Alongside the two "veterans" of Ferrari there will be two young drivers: Nicklas Nielsen and Antonio Fuoco.
The 25-year-old Danish raced last season with AF Corse in LMP2 in the WEC winning the category; the 26-year-old from Cariati in 2022 raced in the WEC with Ferrari and AF Corse in the GTE Pro category alongside Miguel Molina, other driver who will drive the 499P this season.
The young Italian was among the fastest in the past season, and also thanks to his experience on formula cars, it will be very interesting to see the work he will be able to do
behind the wheel of the Hypercar.
From F1, Giovinazzi
The novelty though will be another Antonio: Giovinazzi joins the family of GT Competitions and takes part in the Hypercar program with the 499P. Another driver with a lot of experience in formulas, Giovinazzi raced 1 season in Formula E and 4 in Formula 1 in addition to those in minor formulas.
Miguel Molina, with Ferrari since 2017
Also Miguel Molina, official Ferrari driver since 2017, has participated in the development of the 296 GT3 and the 499P and at Sebring we will see him race with the Ferrari prototype. The Spaniard competed in the WEC with Antonio Fuoco last season, winning the last round in Bahrain. In addition to the season in the Endurance World, Molina competed also in the GT World Challenge Europe with Iron Lynx.
The division of drivers in the cars will be Pier Guidi, Calado and Giovinazzi in the 51 and Nielsen, Fuoco and Molina in the 52.
The last Ferrari to race in the main Sportprototype World Championship category at Le Mans was the Ferrari 312 PB, from which the livery of the 499P is also inspired; the two cars were driven by Arturo Merzario and Carlos Pace and Jacky Ickx and Brian Redman.
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