A landmark 1-2-3 finish for Ferrari/Michelin in Qatar

Ferrari monopolized the podium of the Qatar 1812 Km (Round 1 of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship/FIA WEC) with the #50, #83 and #51 499Ps of Fuoco/Nielsen/Molina, Kubica/Ye/Hansson and Pier Guidi/Calado/Giovinazzi. Lusail International Circuit is notoriously hard on tires but Michelin's Pilot Sport range enabled the Hypercar teams to run double- and triple-stints.

Ferrari was clearly in its element in Qatar. After qualifying on pole position, it emerged in front out of Turn 1 on hard-compound MICHELIN Pilot Sports before clocking the fastest race lap (Pier Guidi, 1m41.259s) on a combination of hard (left wheels) and medium (right) tires. It went on to claim an emphatic one-two-three finish, aided by a strategy founded on double-stinting its prototypes' slicks.

“Lusail is known to be hard on tires, especially the lefts, but the Prologue test enabled us to sign off the ability of our slicks to perform double- and triple-stints,” says Pierre Alves, the manager of Michelin Motorsport's endurance racing programs. “At the start of the race, we saw two distinct strategies, with some of the Hypercar teams running the hard-compound all-round, while others opted for a mix of hard lefts and medium rights. As the track temperature dipped to 20°C, they all switched to a combination of hards and mediums in order to run double- or triple-stints.”

Eloquent examples include the #12 Cadillac which covered 110 laps (600km) on the same two hard left-hand tires, and the #15 BMW which completed 102 laps.

“At the same time, there was no significant wear to report and the fastest laps were often posted towards the end of stints,” adds Pierre Alves. “That can be put down to our partner teams and drivers who have come to master the warm-up phase, while avoiding the phenomenon of graining in order to favor longevity.”

Ferrari's three cars were followed over the line by the #15 BMW of Vanthoor/Marciello/Magnussen and the two Toyota GR010 Hybrids which made a mark in qualifying before climbing up the order as the 10-hour race progressed.

There had been high hopes for the Cadillac V-Series.Rs – now run by JOTA – which effectively appeared at the front of the field early on. Their chances were dealt a blow, however, when team-mates Alex Lynn (#12) and Jenson Button (#38) collided at the restart after a Safety Car interruption during the second hour.

The #93 Peugeot finished inside the top 10, ahead of the Porsche 963s which had finished first, second and third here in 2024. Alpine Endurance Team was poorly rewarded for its promising start, while the Aston Martin Valkyries were delayed by a variety of issues.

With the exception of Aston Martin, all of Michelin's Hypercar partners will stay on in Qatar for a bespoke test aimed at pursuing the development of the next-generation Pilot Sports.

The second round of the 2025 FIA WEC will take teams to Italy for the 6 Hours of Imola on April 20.