Victory for the #83 Ferrari 499P deprived the #50 and #51 cars of more points in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championship.
The win was particularly problematic given that the #83 is not eligible for manufacturers’ championship points.
Still, Ferrari are the runaway leader in the standings with 172 points ahead of Toyota on 95 points.
During the race, Robert Kubica in the #83 complained that the #51 was being given preferential treatment, having compromised its strategy and ceded track position to benefit the race leader.
Ultimately, the #51 dropped out of contention when Antonio Giovinazzi spun entering the pit lane in the final stanza of the race.
Neither the #50 nor the #51 could push towards the end of the race after being told to protect their engines.
The team was perhaps fortunate that the #50 car, which finished fourth, did not win after it was disqualified for a technical infringement.
“We managed the situation in a way that was best for Ferrari, and for the final result,” said Antonello Coletta, Ferrari’s global head of endurance, when asked about the mid-race politics.
“It was clear when we had some problems from the first hour of the morning and until 3am or 3:30am, we had to manage this situation.
“We asked all our drivers to make the best choice for us. It’s clear that when you ask the drivers, the answer is first narcissism, and then [they said] ‘ok’. But this is motorsport.
“In the end, all our drivers were ‘Casa Ferrari’, we all stayed together to celebrate another amazing victory, and for me, this is the best.”
Former Toyota driver Anthony Davidson said the politics of the situation took the gloss off of Kubica’s win.
“It wasn’t quite as hard-fought in terms of the competition at the front, but it was exceptionally political at times in terms of strategy,” said Davidson in commentary.
“I think that wore a lot of people down. You can really hear, even though we heard from the winner himself, Robert Kubica, he could barely bring himself to be emotional because he’s just mentally worn down from this 24 hours – let alone those last 59 laps that he drove.”
Kubica claimed victory with Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson, marking the first Polish and Chinese race winners. It was the 35th time a driver from Great Britain won the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Ultimately, the #83 couldn’t give way to either of the sister AF Corse cars as the #6 Porsche 963 of Kevin Estre, Laurens Vanthoor, and Matt Campbell surged to second.
Coletta hailed the #83 and Ferrari’s successful history with privateer teams.
“This victory is very important, because it’s a demonstration that all Ferraris are exactly the same,” Coletta said.
“This is a quality of our cars in LMH, in GT3 and all racing cars that Ferrari makes.
“Our history includes many victories from some Scuderia [privateer teams]. In the US, Scuderia NART was one of the most important Scuderia.
“AF Corse is the first partner of Ferrari, and helps us to manage the official car on one side of the box, and a privateer car on the other side.
“But in the end, we are one Ferrari. The most important thing is that a Ferrari won.
“If we had taken more manufacturers’ points with the red cars, we would have been super-happy — but without the yellow car, it would have been impossible to win because we had some problems with the red cars and Porsche was in second position.
“Without the yellow car, today, Porsche was winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans.”
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