"After claiming success at Le Mans last year, we were determined to begin 2025 by showing our potential, because we have a major goal – to chase the world title for Ferrari. Scoring 38 points here in Qatar is undoubtedly ideal as we pursue this dream."
These are the words of Ferrari factory driver Miguel Molina after taking victory in the opening race of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship at Qatar.
The Italian manufacturer has made no bones about it: they are chasing the world title this year. The win at Qatar — a 1-2-3, no less, with the factory cars taking a 1-2 in the manufacturers championship, as the second-placed "satellite" #83 car doesn't score manufacturer points — gets that title bid off to a good start.
Back in 2023, the aim was very simple for pretty much any manufacturer in WEC: win Le Mans. Even Toyota, winners for the past five years at that point, were relishing the chance of going up against more competition, after being offered only token challengers since 2018.
But Ferrari have been there, done that — twice. They've proved the Ferrari 499P is a Le Mans-winning car. Yes a third win on the trot would undoubtedly go down well at Maranello, but the aim this year is broader: win the world title.
Molina's teammate in the #50 car, Nicklas Nielsen, emphasised this team-wide aim in his pre-season comments. 'Winning at Le Mans in 2024 motivates us to compete for victory in this year’s 24 Hours as well, but I think our goal now is also to win the world championship,' he said. You can't be clearer than that.
While the management didn't mention the world title explicitly in their post-Qatar comments, the underlying implication is still there.
“This result repays all the effort and the hard work carried out from the second half of last season, particularly during the winter, when we focused on preparing for races at circuits where we did not perform well in 2024, such as Qatar', said Ferdinando Cannizzo, Ferrari's head of endurance race cars.
'Today, the team did an outstanding job: we encountered no issues on any of the three cars and executed an excellent strategy to recover ground with the number 51 499P. This is just the beginning of what will be a long and complex season, and we must approach every single round with this same attitude.'
Not just manufacturers title — drivers' too
The drivers, too, are keen to have the title 'world champion' bestowed on them.
Earlier in the season, James Calado told reporters, Only Endurance included, that the world championship was now his aim.
'Two Le Mans is great, but of course they [Ferrari] want a world championship,' he said.
Only Endurance asked if, before winning Le Mans, that was the aim, and now that's been achieved, if the goal has switched.
'The aim was always to win both,' said Calado.
'I've always said from the start, I prefer a championship over Le Mans. Le Mans is just one race. Yeah it's massive and there's a lot of media, there's a lot of TV footage, but what counts more for me is a world championship.'
So, while Calado and his teammates Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi didn't win at Qatar, second is still a good result and good points towards winning the championship.
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