Ferrari 499P Launches 2026 FIA WEC Title Defence
Ferrari has officially launched its 2026 season and will return to the FIA World Endurance Championship to defend the Manufacturers’ and Drivers’ world titles it secured in an unforgettable and already historic 2025 campaign. The Maranello manufacturer revealed the updated livery of the 499P fielded by the official Ferrari – AF Corse team at an event held on Wednesday, 25 February at the Museo Enzo Ferrari in Modena. The public presentation welcomed tifosi and featured Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Enrico Galliera, Chief Product Development Officer Gianmaria Fulgenzi, Antonello Coletta, Global Head of Endurance and Corse Clienti, Ferdinando Cannizzo, Head of Endurance Race Cars, and the official drivers who will race the number 50 and number 51 Ferrari 499P cars.
The livery carries the FIA World Championship laurels, which serve as evocative symbols and provide the team with extra motivation as it targets peak performance. You can clearly see the laurels beneath the Shield bearing the Prancing Horse on the front fenders of both Ferrari 499P sports prototypes, which will run with the same driver line-ups for a fourth consecutive year. The number 50 Ferrari 499P returns with Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Nicklas Nielsen. Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi will drive the number 51. The 51 crew won the 2025 Drivers’ title, so they will race a car featuring the FIA laurels awarded to the drivers, displayed on the door fins.
Ferrari has evolved the 2026 499P look while staying true to its endurance racing heritage. The design continues to pay tribute to the 312 P that dominated endurance racing until 1973, the final year Ferrari competed for overall honours before its historic return in 2023. The Centro Stile Ferrari created the livery with a predominant Rosso Scuderia finish, and the team now presents it in a new gloss version rather than matte. The colour and finish match the Scuderia Ferrari HP SF-26 Formula 1 World Championship single-seater.
Ferrari pairs the unmistakable red, which symbolises the racing heritage of the company founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1947, with Giallo Modena once again. The yellow shade defines the bodywork lines and, for 2026, places greater emphasis on the cockpit volumes.
The 2026 Ferrari 499P stands out from earlier versions by the orientation of the yellow diagonal lines that form an arrow, a design cue that has become iconic since the car’s debut in 2023. For 2026, the Centro Stile Ferrari has reversed the arrow so its tip points towards the rear wing rather than the direction of travel. The design choice puts the cockpit at the centre of the concept, both as a structural element at the heart of the car and as a highly symbolic feature of the Ferrari 499P’s identity.
Ferrari introduces no major technical changes for 2026. The team has used only one Joker since the Ferrari 499P made its racing debut, and it arrived for the São Paulo round in July 2024. Over the winter break, Ferrari worked relentlessly on research, data analysis and simulator-to-track correlation to refine the car’s behaviour and sharpen team operations.
The Ferrari 499P uses a hybrid powertrain that combines a twin-turbo V6 internal combustion engine in a mid-rear layout with an electric unit, the ERS (Energy Recovery System), mounted on the front axle. The internal combustion engine features bespoke characteristics, yet it derives from the Maranello six-cylinder family used in road cars, which underlines Ferrari’s technology transfer between racing and production models.
After Ferrari returned the Manufacturers’ World Endurance Championship title to Maranello in 2025 to end a 53-year wait, and secured the first Drivers’ world title in the top class of endurance racing, the Ferrari – AF Corse team enters the new season determined to stay competitive at every round and confirm its leadership of the FIA WEC. The team also recognises that rivals will raise the level even further across the endurance racing grid.
The FIA World Endurance Championship calendar includes eight rounds on the same circuits as the previous two seasons, and the campaign starts one month later than in 2025. The Lusail International Circuit will host the collective Prologue tests on 22-23 March, followed by the opening round, the Qatar 1812 km, on 28 March. The season then moves to Imola, Italy, on 19 April, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium, on 9 May, Le Mans, France, on 13–14 June, São Paulo, Brazil, on 12 July, COTA, USA, on 6 September, Fuji, Japan, on 27 September, and Sakhir, Bahrain, on 7 November.
Antonello Coletta, Global Head of Endurance and Corse Clienti: “The objective for 2026 is to defend the leadership we secured in 2025. That will not be straightforward, as our rivals are increasingly competitive and many are fielding updated cars. At the same time, we have taken a different approach, believing the 499P remains competitive enough to fight at the highest level.
We will approach the season race by race, aiming to achieve the best possible result. Our philosophy is always to look ahead, without dwelling on past achievements, even after an unforgettable season like 2025, when we had the unique experience of bringing a world title back to Maranello after more than 50 years in the top class of endurance racing.
In 2026, we will approach the challenge with maximum focus, without allowing ourselves to be affected if things do not always go perfectly. Our drivers have a wealth of experience, so I am confident that none of them will feel the weight of starting the season as reigning world champions.”
Ferdinando Cannizzo, Head of Endurance Race Cars: “The races in which we struggled in 2025 were the ones that gave us the clearest indications for improvement. Added to this is the fact that we had to re-homologate the car and that we will be using new tyres.
The Federation decided to re-measure all cars in a new wind tunnel in the United States. This led to a repositioning of the 499P within the performance window, which now needs to be fully understood and addressed through setup adjustments. As a result, we have a revised aerodynamic package. Although the changes are limited in scope, they have a significant impact on the car’s behaviour.
To bring aerodynamic performance back within the new performance window, we focused our development on specific areas of the 499P, primarily the underbody, to meet the regulation-defined drag and downforce targets. The new window required recalibrating the aerodynamic mapping. As a result, we now need to rediscover the balance that has always defined the 499P.
As for the new Michelin tyres, we must not only re-establish correlation between wind-tunnel data and on-track performance, but also find a new match between the car setup and the tyres. So far, we have not had the chance to fully explore all the compounds, having mainly tested the medium compound. While tyre warm-up has improved, we have yet to understand its impact on the car’s overall balance fully. We will complete this work in the period leading up to the start of the championship.”
Antonio Fuoco, 499P #50: “Our ambitions ahead of the new season are similar to those of 2025: to always give our best, race after race. With eight rounds on the calendar, it will be important to score as many points as possible at every event while minimising mistakes, especially given the very high level of our rivals and an increasingly competitive field. We finished last season on a positive note, so we aim to carry that momentum into the opening round in Qatar.”
Miguel Molina, 499P #50: “After three years of consistently strong results, finishing in the top three of the World Championship as the number 50 crew, our ambition remains to fight for the title. We will see where we stand at the start of the season. The key races will be the opener in Qatar, which will provide the first indications after the winter break, followed by Le Mans for its prestige and history, but above all because double points are awarded, which are crucial for entering the final part of the season in the best possible position. I think the most challenging rounds will once again be São Paulo and Fuji.”
Nicklas Nielsen, 499P #50: “After three very intense seasons, we naturally want to aim for the World Championship. Our journey in the top class of endurance racing so far has been incredible. Since 2023, our progress has been remarkable across the board, and we know we have a competitive car. The key now is to continue building on this positive momentum. One of our aims is also to improve on circuits such as Fuji and São Paulo, where we have struggled more than at other tracks, with experience playing a key role. We have been racing the 499P since 2023, but there is always something new to learn, both as a team and as drivers.”
Alessandro Pier Guidi, 499P #51: “Starting a new season after winning the championship is certainly positive and gives us a lot of energy, but we are fully aware that everyone begins again on zero points and with the same chances to perform well. Defending a title is always harder than winning it in the first place, something I have already experienced after world championship victories in GT racing. The goal for 2026 is to build on what we achieved last year and, if possible, improve our result at Le Mans, where we finished on the podium, as well as at other rounds where there is still room to improve. Last year in Qatar, we were very fast, and we hope to repeat that performance so we can start the championship on the right foot.”
James Calado, 499P #51: “We have a competitive car and a strong, united team. For 2026, our ambition is to win the championship again, but we know this challenge will be demanding. Consistency across an eight-round calendar is crucial, especially at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where double points are awarded, and the result can prove decisive for the final standings. In 2025, despite winning the championship, we made a few mistakes during the season and incurred several penalties. These are aspects we must take into account in the future, as we look to improve and minimise the number of errors.”
Antonio Giovinazzi, 499P #51: “2025 was a fantastic year – it fulfilled a dream I’ve had since childhood: becoming World Champion with Ferrari. We head into the 2026 season as reigning champions, but repeating what we achieved last year won’t be easy, and we know all our rivals will return to the track determined to beat us. The championship will kick off in Qatar, where Ferrari secured a fantastic one-two-three finish in 2025. The opening round of the season will be important to assess our level and that of our competitors. The Le Mans race is the most important of the year. However, I am just as excited about the 6 Hours of Imola in Italy, where in 2025 we won in front of our tifosi.”
