Ferrari are looking to take the fight to Porsche and Toyota at the Eight Hours of Bahrain for the Manufacturers’ Championship.
The Italian outfit sit third heading into the 2024 WEC season finale and are 17 points behind Toyota in second and 27 points behind the leaders Porsche.
The No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse Hypercar, driven by Antonio Fuoco, Nicklas Nielsen and Miguel Molina, does have a chance at winning the drivers’ title as they sit 37 points behind the No. 6 Porsche of Kevin Estre, Andre Lotterer and Laurens Vanthoor.
Fuoco, Molina and Nielsen have grabbed three podiums across the season, including victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Ferrari have secured one other win in 2024, coming from the yellow satellite No. 83 car driven by Robert Kubica, Robert Shwartzman and Yifei Ye.
As the 2024 season comes to an end in Bahrain, attention is on 2025 and what the No. 83 Ferrari’s line-up will look like next year.
Martin Haven ‘not sure’ Robert Kubica will find a better seat than the No. 83 Ferrari
AF Corse have already confirmed that Phil Hanson will be joining the team from Hertz Team JOTA in 2025.
It is widely believed that the Brit will be coming in to replace Shwartzman, who is being heavily linked with the second PREMA seat in IndyCar alongside Callum Ilott.
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Chinese driver Ye is understood to be staying with Ferrari in 2025 and will team up with Hanson. The third driver of the No. 83 car is yet to be confirmed.
Speaking during the coverage of the Eight Hours of Bahrain on Eurosport, commentator Martin Haven hinted that Kubica could be the third driver and stated that he will not find a ‘better seat’ than the one he has now.
“That yellow car is the one that Phil Hanson will be driving next year, with Ye Yifei and TBA,” he said.
“TBA may be a Polish driver named Robert, that has yet to be fully confirmed.
“Certainly not sure that Kubica is going to find a better seat than that one. That is the only Ferrari to have won outside Le Mans.”
Robert Kubica grabbed his first Hypercar win with Ferrari in Austin
Kubica has enjoyed an illustrious career in motorsport. The Polish driver drove in Formula 1 with BMW Sauber and Renault from 2006 until 2010, before moving on to compete in the World Rally Championship, winning the WRC2 title in 2013.
The 39-year-old made his return to F1 in 2019 with Williams and has since been regularly competing in WEC. Kubica landed a full-time seat with the Prema Orlen Team in 2022 in the LMP2 class, finishing sixth in the standings.
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Kubica moved to Team WRT in 2023 where he grabbed three wins and won the LMP2 category title. The Polish driver also finished second at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, matching his finish from the previous year.
Kubica is ninth in the Hypercar drivers’ standings heading into the race in Bahrain, having grabbed 51 points in the previous seven events alongside Shwartzman and Ye.