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Brake-by-wire fault costs Ferrari #51 most of Monza FP3
Ferrari’s #51 lost most of Monza FP3 to a brake-by-wire fault after 81 laps on Friday. Pier Guidi returned for a check in the final minute.
Alessandro Pier Guidi had less than a minute of final practice left when he took Ferrari’s #51 back out at Monza. It was an installation lap, a chance to check the 499P after a brake-by-wire problem had kept it in the garage for more than three quarters of the session. As the circuit began to dry and the other Hypercars found more grip, the Ferrari crew could only watch. They ended the morning with seven laps.
That left Pier Guidi, James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi short of track time before qualifying for the 2026 WEC 6 Hours of Monza. Ferrari’s sister #50 got through 31 laps and climbed to fifth late in Saturday’s final practice. Even the least active of the other Hypercars managed 25 laps. By the time the #51 rejoined, the crew’s opportunity to follow the track’s evolution had gone.
A promising start in the rain on Friday
Calado had put the #51 fifth in Friday’s rain-hit opening practice. The session stayed wet through three red flags, but a drying line appeared late and the times came down. Calado’s 1:46.557 was seven tenths shy of Charles Milesi’s session-leading Alpine, and the Ferrari crew got through 36 laps.
The picture changed in the afternoon. As grip improved, Giovinazzi brought the #51’s best down to 1:41.783, but that left the car 15th. The crew still added 45 laps, matching the sister #50, which finished seventh. Up front, Robert Kubica put the independent #83 AF Corse Ferrari fastest in FP2.
With 81 laps on Friday, the #51 crew had experience of Monza in different levels of grip. They had also gone from fifth to 15th as the circuit changed. Saturday offered one more chance to see how their own car responded as grip returned. Most of that hour went into getting it back out of the garage.
What went wrong on the 499P
FIA WEC traced the stoppage to the brake-by-wire system. On the 499P, the front electric motor can act as a generator under braking, helping slow the car while sending energy back to the battery. Brake-by-wire coordinates that contribution with the friction brakes to deliver the braking the driver asks for.
The precise component involved and the work Ferrari carried out in the garage remained unclear before qualifying. Pier Guidi’s installation lap got the #51 back on track. The next opportunity for a sustained run would come with grid positions at stake.