Red Lion: James Calado is Ferrari's first British world champion since John Surtees

“He said the good thing about Ferrari is they always treat the sports cars the same and they’re as passionate as the F1 guys.

“He said not to upset them! You’ll be under a lot of pressure because it’s Ferrari, but that it’s a good place, and told me to enjoy it. It’s a nice little fact to be in line with him as two champions.”

Il Grande John, still the only man to become a world champion on two wheels and four, was known for often being as uncompromising off-track as he was on it, something also shared with Calado.

Being interviewed in the chill of the famous Shell garage at Ferrari’s private Fiorano test track, the sports car veteran’s got a bone to pick…

Calado has been unimpressed with the metaphorical tumbleweed from the British press that greeted his world championship triumph. He says he hasn’t conducted a single interview with a media outlet from his home nation since securing the title.

“I was surprised,” he growls. “I got home, and there was nothing, so strange.”

In contrast Calado has described the Tifosi’s reaction to Ferrari clinching a championship as “crazy” and says the cumulative effect of being a longtime Cavallino works driver has made Italy feel more like home than the UK.

Focusing on the positives, Calado’s Hypercar championship is a crowning glory on a brilliant endurance career which is still in full flow.

The Brit had already won WEC’s LMGTE Pro category three times in 2017, 2021 and 2022, before he and his team-mates took a sensational Le Mans win in the 2023 debut season of its 499P Hypercar – 50 years after it left the top tier of sports car racing.

Not content with one La Sarthe win, the Scuderia has now taken three overall victories since its return. However, that success meant Ferrari turned its attention to championship glory for 2025.

A stunning start to the season with two race wins and two third places meant Calado, Giovinazzi and Pier Guidi were in the box seat after Le Mans, but Balance of Performance constrictions and tracks not suited to the 499P meant the trio were looking over their shoulder in the second half of 2025.

Their dark horse rivals came in the form of the yellow ‘privateer’ 499P entry of Robert Kubica, Yifei Ye and Phil Hanson, who emerged into championship contention after winning Le Mans this year.

The tension hit its peak at the season finisher in Sakhir, and Calado knows which most at Ferrari would pick as their WEC ‘stint of the year’.

“Everyone would think it was the last one with ‘Ali’, in Bahrain, where he’s going to finish with the car [and secure the championship],” he says.

“I can only say that I can’t really remember the stints I did!

“I think one thing is that ‘Gio’, he was very impressive in the qualifying. We kept the same driver throughout the whole season, because it makes sense as he’s more experienced and that was really important.

“Especially towards the end in Bahrain, we focused really on keeping the car in one piece. So we didn’t go for outright performance. It was just to stay out of trouble.”

Surtees was renowned for having an engineering bent to his driving, and Calado says sympathy with the monstrous 499P Hypercar was essential to making it through the season.

“From one year to the other [2024 to 2025], especially in Qatar, we made some massive changes with the set-up, huge changes, almost night and day difference,” he emphasises.

“In 2023 we struggled a lot with tyre degradation, but this year we were quite dominant in that area.

“This made us change our approach [to racing]. And then the first four races, the car was pretty amazing, to be honest. And the difference was huge in terms of the feeling in the front end, especially the brakes.

“We changed a lot track-by-track, but the baseline is pretty much the same set-up, which has been good.”

However, Calado is keen to point out it’s not just the car which has got better at looking after the tyres.

“The drivers also made a difference,” he says. “We learned properly on how to manage these tyres. They’re a lot different to in GT, but we studied, and we also learned a lot from the F1 guys on what to do. You speak to some of the engineers which have been involved in both projects. We look a lot more into data prior to the race on what to do, and where, and how to manage these tyres.”

The Brit turned 36 the day before this year’s Le Mans, but a new ‘multi-year’ contract announced in October will see him racing with the Scuderia for seasons to come.

Calado has always maintained he values world championships over Le Mans race wins – and that pushed him into making a decision on his future.

“It’s the first time I thought about it properly,” he says. “In other years, I’ve always been like: ‘OK, sign again, sign again.’

“There were, of course, some teams interested going forward. I won’t say who, but there were some tempting offers.

“But the reality is, knowing the team as I do, and going back to it being my ‘home team’, my first priority was to stay and to continue this success.

“And looking over the years, I think Ferrari, generally in GT and even now, has been quite dominant in terms of the results that we’ve got.

“I’m very proud to be able to stay and continue.”

Calado has made history for Ferrari, and history for his country – and it looks like there’s still more to come yet.