The 2025 24 Hours of Le Mans will go down in history as one of the races with the most unique and unexpected outcome—yet also one of the most romantic—which saw Ferrari triumph for the third consecutive time, thanks to the private AF Corse team.
The 499P continues to dominate the Circuit de la Sarthe and, after its victories in 2023 and 2024, completed the hat-trick with the Giallo Modena #83 car driven by Robert Kubica, Phil Hanson, and Yifei Ye. The trio made very few mistakes, maintained a strong pace, and secured the lead in the morning after an error by the official #51 Ferrari.
The fourth round of the 2025 FIA World Endurance Championship confirms that the Maranello cars are the ones to beat in the Hypercar class, but few would have bet on the third entry taking the spotlight in France.
The latest addition to the Piacenza-based team was Phil Hanson, a young driver with immense potential who immediately demonstrated exceptional quality in endurance racing—so much so that he has already taken home a Le Mans win.
“I’m overwhelmed with emotions right now, and I know that here, until the very last lap, you can’t relax because anything can happen. That’s why I didn’t celebrate until Robert crossed the finish line—then I exploded,” said a visibly moved Hanson during the press conference.
Another great story is that of Ye, a Ferrari works driver since last year and already a winner with the 499P at Austin in 2024, but with a traumatic Le Mans experience in 2021 that only a Hypercar victory could finally put behind him.
“My first Le Mans was in 2021 with Robert, and we all know how it ended; this week he joked with me, saying that the two times we’d raced together at the 24h, we never finished. So I hoped for a different outcome this time,” laughed the Chinese driver, the first to win the 24h overall in a Ferrari.
“We know our car is very strong on this track; the #51 won in 2023 and the #50 in 2024. Winning ourselves is a great source of pride, even if it wasn’t easy because the Safety Car disrupted the rhythm and brought everyone back into the race.”
“In the end, it was a very tight contest, and one mistake could have been extremely costly. That’s why we had to maintain maximum focus until the end. Also, with only one Safety Car, we had to push like in qualifying every lap to gain on the competition.”
“For me, it’s special because I moved to France when I was 11 to try and become a professional driver. The last time I got on the podium here was in 2016 in French F4, so my dream was to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans, especially since I used to live in an apartment near Tertre Rouge. I did it with Ferrari—I have no words. It’s a dream come true because this is the most famous race in the world along with the Monaco GP and the Indy500.”
And then there’s Robert Kubica, one of the most talented, determined, and generous drivers, who hasn’t always received what he deserved. Winning the year’s most important race in a car from the most prestigious brand adds a sweet chapter to a true fairy tale.
“It’s definitely a special day. I think back to my first Le Mans in 2021 when I lost the LMP2 class on the last lap, in the worst possible way. I already knew that in racing, you have to wait for the finish line, but the awareness that only a technical issue could take the victory away from us had been with me for a while as I was driving.”
“When I first came here, I was 35 years old, had raced in many categories, and everything had become sort of routine, let’s say. But Le Mans, with its uniqueness and specific challenges, gave me feelings and sensations as if I were facing something completely new, something I didn’t know how I’d react to or what to expect. It brought me back to my karting days, when everything was a first.”
“I loved that feeling, and I fell in love with Le Mans. In 2021 I told my teammate Louis Deletraz that if I ever won, I wouldn’t come back. And actually, I mentioned it two days ago to a friend of mine—someone who works at Ferrari and is also a rally driver. He told me, ‘I heard if you win, you’ll retire.’ And I replied, ‘If I win, I’ll go back to rallying.’ I usually keep my word. We’ll see what the future holds.”
As for the race, the Polish driver drove for over 10 hours and never held back—after all, who better than him to handle tricky situations?
“Today’s race was long, but I managed the final part because we were aware of what we were racing for, what was at stake, and what we’d been working towards for so many hours. We finally managed to complete that final lap that I couldn’t in 2021 with Yifei, who was also my teammate back then.”
“The tire change near the end was a precaution. We could’ve finished with a triple stint, but we had a good lead and I tried to extend it as much as possible. A third stint on the same tires is always risky—wear increases, and even a small cut can deflate a tire. So a fresh tire, besides offering better performance, also gives you more confidence and safety to finish without issues. We did everything to avoid problems.”
“But to be honest, I wasn’t worried about the chasers. We had pace, and when needed, I showed it—especially in the early part of the race. In the final hours I just managed the lead, knowing I had to stay ahead without taking risks, because just one Safety Car and it would all restart from zero. So I tried to preserve the tires and keep a safety margin, because at Le Mans, you never know.”
“When I got in the car, I didn’t expect to finish the race. But I do whatever I’m told. I’m happy to have contributed—even though I think the biggest contribution came at the beginning, when we climbed from tenth to the front. We had great battles, overtakes, and I knew I had to take some risks to bring the car back where it belonged. It worked, then the Safety Car came out—at the worst time for us.”
“We had a big advantage over most of the field, and that erased everything. Things were relatively under control, but in a 24-hour race, you never know what to expect. You always try to build a gap, create a margin. But at the same time, when you’re in the lead, it’s never easy. You need common sense and balance between risk and reward. And it’s so easy to make a mistake here and lose everything. So I’m happy I managed to drive those last five hours without any errors. In the end, I only slept a couple of hours—and for a 40-year-old man, I’d say that’s not bad.”
As we mentioned, the Robert Kubica fairy tale takes on truly beautiful and romantic tones, and Robert himself gives a touching interpretation, in his typically honest and thoughtful way.
“I don’t think this is the most important success of my career. The most important one has nothing to do with racing, to be honest. It was the victory I earned—the battle I fought—when my mind or brain wouldn’t accept my limitations after the accident. During recovery, I fought for months, worked hard to accept things, to restart, to find peace of mind, to stop living with the ‘what if it hadn’t happened’ mindset, and instead to focus on goals and milestones. Accepting your limits may seem easy, but for me, it was anything but.”
“Let’s say that today fate gave me something back, at least in sporting terms. It’s a huge result. I’m the kind of person who didn’t even enjoy my Formula 1 win at the time—maybe tomorrow I’ll manage to enjoy this one more. Right now, I’m also tired—we’ve gone many hours without sleep, at least the past 38. I only slept two hours, but maybe once I get some sugar into my system, my brain will switch on and I’ll enjoy it more.”
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