Ferrari’s nail-biting double: Le Mans hat-trick glory vs F1 Canadian GP chaos
Ferrari's past 72 hours have been a tale of two worlds: absolutely brilliant at Le Mans and quietly troubled in Montreal.
Between 14-15 June, Ferrari's AF Corse-prepared 499P stormed to a third consecutive overall victory at the gruelling 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Yet, on June 15, at the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, the Scuderia's single-seater squad underwhelmed in the race. Two extremes in one dramatic weekend.
Le Mans: Three-peat perfection
From 14 to 15 June, the famed Circuit de la Sarthe hosted the 93rd 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ferrari’s customer outfit AF Corse, running the No. 83 Ferrari 499P, claimed victory in a historic sweep.
The trio of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Philip Hanson completed 387 laps, finishing ahead of Porsche’s No. 6 Penske and the #51 Ferrari in third.
This marks Ferrari’s third straight win at Le Mans (2023, 2024, 2025), all with different driver line-ups and cars - a remarkable streak unmatched since the early 1970s.
It’s also the first time since 2005 that a customer team has won Le Mans - AF Corse’s No. 83 did the honours.
Kubica becomes the first Polish driver to win overall, and Ye secures China’s first Le Mans victory.
Beyond the win, the result bolsters Ferrari’s momentum in the WEC, consolidating their lead in both the Drivers' and Manufacturers' battle.
And for Kubica, it’s poetic: this comes 14 years after his dramatic crash in a 2011 rally and mirrors his emotional F1 win in Montreal back in 2009.
READ MORE: The former F1 drivers who competed at the 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans
F1 Canadian GP: Ferrari ignored their drivers - and paid the price
Canada proved to be yet another ‘what if?’ event for Ferrari, one that should’ve produced a much stronger result.
Ferrari entered the weekend under pressure and got off on the wrong foot when Charles Leclerc crashed heavily in FP1, destroying his chassis and forcing him to miss FP2 - an ominous start.
Qualifying didn’t fully redeem the situation. Leclerc made Q3 and even posted a purple sector at the start of his final lap, but a mistake wrecked the lap and left him grid-bound in P8.
It was worse than merely missing track position; it robbed him of race-day leverage.
Come Sunday, Ferrari opted for a two-stop strategy in dry conditions.
Leclerc believed a one-stop could hold and voiced this to the team, but they stuck with the plan - calling him in again and dropping him behind P7.
He finished P5, noting afterwards it was a “super-frustrating race” where strategy didn’t match reality.
Lewis Hamilton qualified P5, but on Lap 12, he hit a groundhog. The resulting damage cost him around 20 points of downforce and compromised his pace; he limped to P6.
The final standings: P5 for Leclerc, P6 for Hamilton - solid, but mediocre, with Mercedes leapfrogging Ferrari for second in the Constructors’ standings.
Just hours after conquering Le Mans for the third year in a row with flawless execution and race-day composure, the F1 team fell short where it mattered most - in strategy.
What went wrong wasn’t bad luck. It was decision-making. They missed an opportunity to capitalise.
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