The performance of Ferrari’s Hypercar will be pegged back for the next round of the World Endurance Championship following its victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours.
The two 499Ps will have to run five kilograms heavier and with less power than any of their rivals in their home race at Monza this weekend following the latest adjustment to the WEC’s Balance of Performance.Toyota were displeased by a change to the BoP ahead of the series’ blue riband race at the La Sarthe circuit last month. Chairman Akio Toyoda said they had “lost to politics” after the BoP was adjusted to disadvantage the GR010 Hybrids which swept to victory in the first three WEC rounds at Sebring, Algarve and Spa-Francorchamps.
For Monza, Toyota’s performance will be further reduced. While their weight remains unchanged, their engine’s power output has been cut to 507kW.
However Ferrari have been hit harder by the latest BoP changes. In addition to the weight increase, the 499Ps will have 10kW less power than Toyota’s GR010s. While the GR010s are still allowed to consume 908MJ of energy per stint, Ferrari’s permitted usage has been reduced by 8MJ to 893MJ.
The FIA has also confirmed further BoP changes for the races following Monza at Fuji and Bahrain, which will conclude the seven-round season. Toyota will be permitted 514kW at their home race (7kW more than at Monza) compared to 505kW for Ferrari.
The governing body said the latest changes “assigns different values to all three of the circuits remaining on the schedule this season” which are intended to “take into account the unique characteristics of each of the three layouts”.
“The data gathered over the 24 Hours of Le Mans race was broken down and correlated with simulation tools, allowing for a better understanding of the optimal performance potential of each of the cars,” it added.
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2023 WEC Balance of Performance changes
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World Endurance Championship
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Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
4th July 2023, 0:05
The ACO giveth (victory at the only race that matters), the ACO taketh away. (performance at all other venues)
BasCB (@bascb)
4th July 2023, 9:12
Indeed.
AlexS
5th July 2023, 4:29
The difference in performance was not enough to give victory to Toyota.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
6th July 2023, 9:32
AlexS
You are not the first I have seen make this comment, but in neither case have I seen any explanation for this ‘assumption??’
powersteer
4th July 2023, 1:21
Who wants to watch a race that’s artificially manipulated by politics?
S
4th July 2023, 9:46
Do you watch any other motorsports?
F1 is the pinnacle of manipulation and politics…
Many people care less about that aspect than they care about seeing consistent decent, competitive racing action and entertainment.
MichaelN
4th July 2023, 17:08
Absolutely. It’s fair enough to like the technical game, but claiming that is the only worthy performance differentiator is nothing more than an opinion.
Thanks to the great work done on the BoP, many teams and cars were potential winners at Le Mans.
asd
4th July 2023, 16:26
It’s being manipulated for the drivers to compete on a more even plane. I’m all for it.
The process is transparent, and the more people know, the more they will complain.
MichaelN
4th July 2023, 17:03
It’s not “manipulated”, the whole reason so many manufacturers signed up is that the BoP was part of the deal, and they had faith in the FIA/ACO to do it well and fairly because they’ve done a great job with it in GTE Pro for many years. Even in the face of blatant attempts to cheat the system.
anon
5th July 2023, 8:32
MichaelN, actually, there have been complaints in the GTE Pro class that the ACO has manipulated the BoP balance to get the results that it wanted at times, particularly for races which happened to coincide with important anniversaries for a particular marque.
It was pretty much an open secret that the ACO manipulated the BoP in 2016 to get a “Ford versus Ferrari” battle in the GTE Pro category, given it coincided with the 50th anniversary of Ford’s win in 1966 – it also helped that Ford was paying for the ACO to host an exhibition on “Americans at Le Mans”.
In fact, the ACO quite blatantly ignored quite a lot of their own regulations to even allow Ford to compete that year – Ford’s car didn’t comply with the homologation requirements, and the ACO also changed the number of participants allowed at Le Mans to accommodate Ford, as they originally didn’t have any entry rights either.
Jere (@jerejj)
4th July 2023, 6:07
How surprising.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
5th July 2023, 17:35
I don’t think I’ve ever seen you use sarcasm before! 👍
Yellow Baron
4th July 2023, 7:40
Bop isn’t ideal but Atleast in touring cars it follows a sept of routine. This is more like pass the parcel. It’s great to have variations in car designs but does feel very odd the way the go about bop
Tali
4th July 2023, 8:26
Total nonsense
Patrick (@paeschli)
5th July 2023, 12:23
I don’t get how manufacturers sign up for this nonsense.
zozio32
5th July 2023, 13:11
it is quite simple: manufacturer get into it for the marketing part (building brand identity, prestige, using it as support for marketing actions), to support employee engagement internally (it bound the workforce to the company) and maybe for the sport.
What they don’t want is massive costs to participate, the risk to be total loosers and low spectator engagement due to boring races. I don’t think the “purity” of the sport get much into the equation at board level… I think a BoP formula is quite appealing in that sens. Controlled costs, a chance to build more of less what you want, and as long as you do a good enough job, you get a good chance to be a contender for honours. You get +300000 people paying to come to LeMans for your BoP formula, a good battle where all manufacturer got the chance to lead and show well, what’s not to like?
lynn-m
4th July 2023, 11:19
This is been manipulated man.
Remember when it was just left upto the car designers & engine suppliers to get on and do the best job possible and if somebody had an advantage it was then just left to the others to work hard & improve.
And remember when the natural back and forth we saw from the performance differences of each package in different areas what not only accepted but praised & allowed to give us some real, organic back and forth racing.
I remember watching saloon car racing as it was then called where you had the big powerful but heavy & sluggish American cars going up against the less powerful but smaller, lighter & more nimble European cars which provided us with some incredible fights as the US cars would get ahead on the straights only to be passed in the corners & this would go on for lap after lap all race long.
You could never get that today because everything has to be equal, If somebody has a big power advantage it’s artificially reduced & if someone has more downforce that too is artificially reduced all for the benefit of equality for ‘the show’. It’s no longer a sport, It’s no longer a sporting or real technical competition of the car & engines designers….. It’s a gimmick ridden, artificially equalised show where everything has to look more or less the same, Be the same size, Have similar power levels & ultimately the goal is that they basically perform the same.
I just feel that the younger generations will never get to experience what Motor Racing used to be when it was a more pure sport.
Coventry Climax
5th July 2023, 0:02
Amen.
More and more, I don’t even bother watching anymore. Motorsports as it used to be is dead.
Moshambles (@moshambles)
4th July 2023, 12:00
Impossible for me to care about which manufacture or team wins when this is the case.
Zozio32
4th July 2023, 12:48
BoP is to date the only way to have variability in car design, hence interest from manufacturer that can build their idendity into the design, variability of technical solutions, controled budget (“good enough” car to be in the right perf window, not chasing the last 0.1 s at the cost of M€) and still interesting races.
Basically, you want the thrill of a spec category such as F2 or LMP2/3, but with the possiblity to build brand identity for manufacturers. Downside, it might feel a bit artificial, but the driver and the team running the car still make the difference. The way to set the BoP is not perfect yet, hopefully they will learn with more data coming in. And I am sure that in term of marketing, it is better for example for Toyota to have a great battle with Ferrari and finish 2nd, than to win against much less oposition.
The races have been fun, with variability of pace of the different cars through the races depending on tyre strategy, drivers, traffic from the lower class, which all contribute to make the race interesting. The drivers will be pushing at some part, saving tyres at some other time, which create great drama through the race (last stint of Callado at Spa was great, he had the tyre against the porsche that was obvsiously struggling at the end). Just look at the emotions of the drivers at the end, do you think they are not engaged with the process?
And yes, if you take out the BoP, you’ll end up with the bigger spender winning, and a dead category at the end.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
4th July 2023, 19:16
“We want to build a terrible car and still be able to win” is not what you’d call a sporting attitude.
MichaelN
4th July 2023, 19:28
None of the cars is terrible. Not even the non-hybrid cars, although they are compromised. Part of the idea behind the LMH/LMDh series is, as Zozio32 notes, that manufacturers have more liberties with their design because there are certain caps on performance. Does that mean some cars are – out of the box – faster? Sure, but everyone knew that when they signed up to this series.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
5th July 2023, 0:07
That Peugeot monstrosity is doing a very good job in the terrible department. (and pretty much nowhere else)
Now, I wouldn’t mind that much, if it wasn’t specifically designed to be terrible and let the BoP do the winning for itself anyway.
zozio32
5th July 2023, 10:36
and did the BoP made them win yet?
Alec Glen (@alec-glen)
4th July 2023, 13:12
At least in the WEC they’ve up front about the manipulation, far better than whatever gets agreed behind closed doors in F1.
MichaelN
4th July 2023, 14:55
Bit of a tendentious headline, but a good summary in the body of the article. Seems many only read the title.
The FIA/ACO has done a great job on the BoP, with many teams competitive at Le Mans and having potentially race winning pace. That so many different cars led the race on merit is testament to the good work done on the BoP. That the LMH and LMDh use a BoP scheme may not be to everyone’s liking, but it’s proven an excellent way to stimulate participation and set the stage for competitive races.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
4th July 2023, 17:32
Does the crippling 1kg weight increase apply to everyone who turns up with a Porsche 963? Jota and now Proton, as well as the works team?
And is this the last tinkering of the 2023 season?
FIA published weights and power output figures, whatever they mean, for the next 3 events including one in November…I guess the idea is it’s all decided, out in the open, and the only whining will come from the regenerative braking units.
Qeki (@qeki)
4th July 2023, 19:24
Could some series have BOB for judges. If they get too much voice/power they could get “BOBBED” to not have as much power as they had in previous races
AlexS
5th July 2023, 4:30
Disgusting. Ban the BOP.
S
5th July 2023, 7:22
And return to having only one competitor in the top class.
Then watch the flow-on effects as it filters down to the lower classes too.
LM24 with only a dozen competitors on the grid (or less) would be epic, right?
Manufacturers and teams compete in BoP series because of BoP – not despite it.
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
5th July 2023, 13:59
Bop is less unpleasant than Wolff & Horner.