Ferrari driver Antonio Giovinazzi says the manufacturer can “risk a little bit more” this weekend to overcome its car’s struggles around the Interlagos circuit as it has “less pressure” by not leading the FIA World Endurance Championship.
The Brazilian track has not been kind to the Ferrari 499P in the past with the car yet to achieve a podium at the venue, having taken a best result of fourth.
However, after three seasons where Ferrari arrived in Sao Paulo fresh from 24 Hours of Le Mans glory from one of its trio of 499Ps, it is only third in the manufacturers’ standings this time around — and already 70 points behind pacesetter Toyota — after a trickier campaign.
The No. 50 crew of James Calado, Antonio Fuoco and Alessandro Pier Guidi that won last year’s title is the best of the Ferraris in the drivers’ standings in fifth, having achieved the brand’s sole podium so far this season.
“Last year at this point we were leading both championships so we were more safe in everything we were doing — setup and strategy side,” explained Giovinazzi.
“This year we can risk a little bit more because we’re in the back, we’re still P3 so still have some chance to take it [the title] but we can risk a little bit more and maybe make our competitors do some mistakes.”
Giovinazzi explained that the low-speed corners around the Interlagos circuit are not suited to the Ferrari 499P’s characteristics.
However, he does believe the car is a “little bit better” this time around but still “not the car that can win this race.”
“Here is one of the tracks, together with Fuji, where we have really low-speed corners and we struggle with that,” Giovinazzi added.
“Last year we did an improvement in Fuji already and this year is not that bad.
“We’re still not the fastest one but I still think we can try to fight better than last year.
“Last year I remember we took one lap [down] after 50 minutes, hopefully we will not do that this year but we’re still not in the best shape in a track like this.”
Giovinazzi’s belief that the manufacturer has taken a step forward in Brazil this season was echoed by Ferrari’s endurance chief designer and governance’s relations manager Mauro Barbieri.
“We’re trying year after year to change our approach, we can use the setup tools that we have available on the car to try and suit it to this track,” he explained.
“We feel better than in the past, we’re a bit more confident and let’s see if we can be in Hyperpole and in the top-five, the top-eight.
“I think targeting to pass the cars for the Hyperpole is something we need to do. And then, if we can achieve this target, we will see where we can position ourselves.”
Given Ferrari’s general struggles at the venue, including when it comes to overtaking, both Giovinazzi and Barbieri stressed the importance of a strong qualifying.
The manufacturer had an encouraging start to the Interlagos weekend when all three of the 499Ps were inside the top-four in first practice.
But, when the track had began to clean up and some teams started to think about qualifying, in FP2 the pick of the Prancing Horses was seventh and that progressed to fifth in FP3.
However, Barbieri noted the decreased margins between the Hypercar competitors with the top-ten separated by just over half a second in the final practice session.
“For sure this year seems to be a trend the field is more packed than in the past — we are more in the pack compared to last year,” he said.
