Ferrari's Hanson on winning Le Mans: 'Most intense race of my life'

The Brit has taken plenty more WEC race wins since then too. However, despite all that experience, Hanson says this was the most intense race he’d ever been in.

“To see so many cars in a field of that size not have any issues, in what was also a dry race, made it ten times tougher,” he emphasises.

Mick Schumacher commented at this year’s Le Mans that due to the strength of Hypercar Michelin tyres, WEC was now the championship where you pushed flat out, whereas F1 is the series where drivers cruise to look after their rubber.

That, combined with the competitiveness and reliability of cars, plus the calibre of drivers, means the racing is close – and that strategy is key.

“’Getting to the end’ no longer matters, because most cars do now without issues,” concurs Hanson. “So now it’s about how fast you can be across the 24 hours.

“It used to be about managing kerbs and all that stuff – it’s not now. I think until the last 20 minutes of the race, we were still abusing the hell out of this car.

“Considering the last two Le Mans wins for Ferrari had wet spells, this is the hardest the 499P has ever been pushed. We were going into the unknown. The car didn’t falter, which is wild.”

With such a competitive entry, a canny strategy was key – with no one proving this more than the yellow Ferrari.

“The strategy was painful at first”

The No83 AF Corse entry lined up 13th on the grid, so needed some lateral thinking to get it up the field. Only after Hanson had survived the start, of course.

“It was a bit hectic,” he deadpans. “We were able to make a few positions up, and then we opted to fuel save and go a lot longer early on.

“When we stopped, everyone had short-filled on fuel to try and jump positions. So we just took the maximum amount of fuel and lost five more positions – so then had to come from even further back. Then we did the same thing, and went longer again.

“It seemed quite painful at first, but what it did was offset us from the leaders.

That meant was that when we came back into it later in the race, we had a two-lap fuel advantage over everyone else. It opened up options for us as the race went on.”

The upshot was that Hanson found himself fighting at the front by sundown, before going off while in the lead when under pressure from team-mate James Calado in the No51.

He wasn’t the only one though. With four and a half hours to go, the No51’s Alessandro Pier Guidi spun out of first place at the entrance to the pit lane and ended up in the gravel.

This handed the lead to the Hanson, Ye and Kubica, which they never let go.

“I knew that mistake was possible because I’d done the same thing in practice,” says Hanson.

“I’d actually got a reprimand for a drive-through penalty, had I done it again in the race. One of the Jotas went off there a few laps before Pier Guidi and got a penalty. I was mindful of that section – these are the things you remember, you learn your braking point, how hard to push on entry.”

Kubica ended up doing a mega four-hour stint to bring home the race. It was a fitting full-circle moment for the Pole, who saw his early F1 career and a potential Ferrari move ended by serious accident while rallying in 2011.

He takes a small legion of dedicated fans with him wherever he goes, and appears to almost be running the No83 team from the cockpit. Hanson agrees.

“I don’t know how much I’ve learned from him, because what I think I credit him with the most is something I don’t think I’m capable of doing.

“Every driver is fast, every driver is consistent; a lot can give really good feedback. What separates Robert is the fact that he’s able to do all this, yet also able to leave so much awareness and cognitive ability on the table for other things.

“He’ll be driving and having a full-on conversation for 95% of the lap with the engineer, talking about the next stop, the stop after that, the tyre strategy, the fuel strategy, without making a mistake.

“Robert’s flat-out, talking through all the high-speed, all the low-speed corners. He’s doing that whilst fighting other cars.

“I’ve shared the car with F1 world champions, guys that have done 10 to 20 Le Mans, and Robert is unique. It’s like he’s got full visibility, sitting in front of all the TV screens, looking at everyone’s strategy, while driving the car!”

Kubica’s heroics added to the strong start of Hanson and pace of Yifei Ye, who the Brit describes as “super-fast – he must be the most famous person in China right now.”

Despite the post-race formalities taking two hours, Hanson says his phone was still struggling under the sheer volume of congratulatory messages when he finally got to it.

The Brit laughs when asked if he’s glad the ‘privateer’ squad managed to get one over on the works boys, searching for the politically correct line to take – while eventually pointing to history.

“Erm, I’m trying to think what they want me to say… I guess no is the answer. What’s important for Ferrari is winning, whether it’s red or yellow.

“It’s that third win which is obviously outstanding. It’s remarkable.

“I think everyone really thought there was no chance to win a third year in a row. How could that happen?

“I’m just happy to be part of that history that was made.”