Ferrari’s Monza pole carries an ending with it
Ferrari’s pole at Monza matters beyond the starting grid: it is both the first and the last pole for this version of the 499P. The car’s next major update is due for 2027, making this WEC race its final appearance in the current specification.
Ferrari described the home pole as “emotional,” and the setting gives that word some weight. Still, a pole position is a qualifying result, not a verdict on the car’s wider campaign. The fragment offers no detail on the lap or the team’s race prospects, so the significance here is chiefly symbolic: a strong Monza moment as the 499P’s present form approaches its farewell.
Antonio Fuoco’s pole position carries extra weight: Sunday’s Monza 6 Hours is the last race for Ferrari’s 499P in its current specification before a major upgrade next year. The Italian also took pole for the car’s debut at Sebring in 2023. That bookend is a neat piece of history, though the team will care more about turning it into a home win.
“I think everyone wants to give this car a proper goodbye,” Fuoco said. The 499P has won eight races, including Le Mans three times, and he joked that it had earned pole. His focus quickly returned to the six-hour race: Ferrari needs a clean run and must make the most of its starting position.
#50 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco
Photo by: Jakob Ebrey
The qualifying session offered little dry running to prepare for that race. After three wet sessions, teams had to make set-up calls with limited reference points, and the track remained patchy in places. Fuoco said he had to trust the team’s choices on dry tyres; the pole was especially meaningful for him as an Italian driver at Monza, but he stressed that the job was only half done.
Fuoco will start in the #50 alongside Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina, with a chance to control the opening pace. Ferrari’s stated target is the win. The #51, meanwhile, qualified fourth after Antonio Giovinazzi lost time in the second sector and missed the chance for a final flying lap by only seconds, as the chequered flag fell and the circuit continued to improve.
Giovinazzi sees a strategic blind spot
#50 Ferrari 499P: Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina, Nicklas Nielsen
Giovinazzi said the #51 was about two tenths short of Fuoco’s pace. He welcomed Ferrari’s presence in Hyperpole at Monza, following the #51’s Hyperpole appearance at Imola, but his own lap was compromised by the car’s balance in sector two. Fourth still gives the crew a chance to score points toward Ferrari’s push for second in the manufacturers’ championship; the BMWs will start farther back.
That optimism comes with a caveat. No one has dry-weather race data from the weekend, so teams lack a reliable read on tyre degradation or how their pace will hold over six hours. Giovinazzi expects strategy to hinge on how quickly teams interpret conditions once the race begins. Ascari’s kerbs were still wet during qualifying, even as other sections had dried.
#51 Ferrari AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Antonio Giovinazzi
Photo by: FIA WEC / DPPI
Kubica pays for limited dry running
Robert Kubica had been in contention for pole in the #83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P, but finished eighth as the track dried through Hyperpole. His car had set the pace in Friday and Saturday’s wet practice, when the yellow entry could keep close to Ferrari’s two factory cars. The factory team had tested at Monza; Kubica’s crew had not.
That difference mattered more as the surface changed. Kubica had never driven the 499P at Monza in the dry and said he struggled to find confidence as conditions shifted. The #83 had lacked both track time and familiarity with the car on a dry circuit.
#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P: Philip Hanson
Photo by: FIA WEC / DPPI
“The track dried a lot during qualifying, and that worked against us,” Kubica said. He called the session difficult and admitted the dry conditions exposed the crew’s lack of preparation, though he tried to soften the point with a joke about how everyone knows how to accelerate in the dry. His teammates Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson share the #83 entry.
The uncertainty is the story heading into the race: the team says system problems hurt its qualifying effort, though it believes it could still have done better. It couldn’t challenge for pole with the information available, and several drivers may have an advantage because they’ve raced at the circuit before. Race-day setup, balance and tyre wear are also largely unknown. That leaves the team weighing a long list of open questions. If you’re looking for a confident prediction, there isn’t one here; the team expects the race to be difficult to read.
