Inside Ferrari-AF Corse's three-stage preparation for every 499P Hypercar race
Ferrari's 499P doesn't just show up at the circuit — its FIA WEC race weekends are built weeks in advance at Maranello through three distinct preparation stages.
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What Happened
The arrival of the 499P cars at the circuit is only one stage in the Ferrari-AF Corse team's build-up to a race. Preparations for each FIA WEC round begin much earlier at Maranello, where a series of tasks lays the groundwork. Giuliano Salvi, Ferrari Endurance Race Team & Track Operations Manager, says the process involves three main stages: Build and Pre-Event, which take place at Maranello in the preceding weeks, followed by the team assembling at the circuit on the eve of Free Practice before track activities begin.
- Build — a virtual construction of the car, taking place at Maranello in the preceding weeks.
- Pre-Event — the Maranello meeting where the team determines its race strategies.
- Circuit — the team assembles on the eve of Free Practice, before track activities get under way.
“Preparing for a race involves three main stages. 'Build' and 'Pre-Event' take place at Maranello in the preceding weeks. The team then assembles at the circuit on the eve of Free Practice, before track activities get under way.”
In the Build phase, the car is constructed virtually. Salvi says the team gathers all the requirements and brings the technical team together to share ideas and collect input from every department. The team then determines its race strategies at the Pre-Event meeting, starting with offline simulations based on calculations of the car's physical behaviour, without factoring in the drivers. Those data are then fed into the Simulator in a stage called Driver-in-the-Loop, because the driver is a key part of the process.
Ferrari's engineers organise dedicated Simulator sessions for each 499P, allowing the driver involved to prepare for the circuit hosting the next race. Salvi explains that the car's set-up is tailored to the driver's requirements and driving style, but with a key consideration: getting the best performance from the car requires a compromise that works for all three drivers in the crew. Once the virtual build is complete, the data are sent to the workshop and the team begins fitting components to the car so it can be shipped to the circuit.
“To perform well, we need an excellent working relationship within the team and between the team and the driver. The word that sums it all up is 'trust': both sides need to have complete faith in each other.”
Why this matters
Endurance racing is as much an engineering and organisational exercise as a driving one, and this account shows how much of a Ferrari-AF Corse race weekend is decided before the cars are even loaded. For newcomers to the FIA WEC, it explains why simulator work, driver feedback and team trust are treated as performance factors in their own right.
Terms in This Story
- Hypercar
- The top class of car in FIA WEC endurance racing, which the Ferrari 499P competes in.
- FIA WEC
- The FIA World Endurance Championship, the global series of long-distance sports car races.
- Driver-in-the-Loop
- A simulation stage in which a real driver takes part in the simulator alongside the calculated model of the car.
- Free Practice
- Timed practice sessions held at the circuit before a race weekend's competitive sessions.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.