Ferrari factory driver Alessandro Pier Guidi told media before free practice 1 that on paper, the Italian manufacturer should be better at Imola than they were at Qatar.
‘It is clear that it could be better because we better performance on paper. But we won’t know until we start to drive,” said the 2023 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, in response to a question asked by MotorsportWeek.com.
Alongside his teammates James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi in the #51 Ferrari 499P, Pier Guidi finished the Qatar 1812km out of the points in 12th. While the sister car finished sixth and the ‘customer’ #83 Ferrari 499P, also run by AF Corse, finished fourth, it was clear Ferrari were not on the ultimate pace of race winners Porsche.
“I’m not sure what happened in Qatar, but anyway, we cannot have any other zero [points] or mistake. We need to be really focusing and start to score,” said Pier Guidi.
“Let’s say in one championship you can have one kind of race joker that we can play,” continued the Italian.
“But we’ve already used the joker and now we need to start to store points. I hope in our home race, it could be the best place to start to score.”
Regarding the race itself, Pier Guidi was bullish on Imola.
“Imola probably one is one of the best track to drive to enjoy the driving pleasure, but probably is also one of the worst to race.
“It’s very narrow and there are very few, almost zero, places for overtaking. And also lapping the other car. It’s very complicated. So qualifying will be important and it will be a very challenging race – we expect a lot of mental exertion as well,” he said.
However, Ferrari have at least tested at Imola, late last year, although Pier Guidi said it wasn’t perfect.
“Yes, we tested at the end of last year, in November. There was still the old kerbs spec, and they weren’t near to the track. It wasn’t the perfect test because it was raining, in November as you can understand. So the weather was not perfect but yes, we did a few laps, so we have a decent knowledge of the track,” he told MotorsportWeek.com and other gathered reporters.
Finally, when asked by MotorsportWeek.com if he expects tyre warmup to be an issue here, Pier Guidi was emphatic.
“Yes,” he answered.
“The temperature is quite low, the energy of the track is quite low. And we have available the two harder compound, even if we expect to use the medium compound more.
“So it won’t be easy with this temperature. If the temperature goes up, probably not. But if it stays like this or is maybe a bit cooler like we had yesterday afternoon, it will be an issue,” he concluded.
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