What’s the best way to celebrate a contract extension on a Friday? Win your next race on Sunday. And that’s exactly what Nicklas Nielsen did at COTA.
The Danish Le Mans winner, whose association with Ferrari dates back to 2018, signed a new multi-year deal with the ‘Prancing Horse’ earlier this month, and went on to score his first FIA WEC Hypercar victory since the 2025 Qatar 1812KM two days later.
“It was the perfect race day! It was never really a question whether I was going to stay or go somewhere else, so it was not a surprise. But I’m so happy and proud to continue,” he told DSC. “I’ve only ever been with Ferrari and AF (Corse). It’s more like a family for me than a team, and everything is better in life when you’re happy to go to work.”
It was an emotional result that kick-started the next phase of his career with the fabled Italian brand.
“It had been too long,” he continued. “We’d been close many times, for not just wins, but good results in general, and we just didn’t put it together (during Ferrari’s winless drought in Hypercar). So it was special. And it was surprising too, because mid-race we were not looking to be in a strong position, and we were lucky that the #51 (Ferrari) and lead Toyota had problems.”
Before the COTA weekend, Ferrari’s factory Hypercar team was in a rut, struggling to hit the heights of its 2025 World Championship-winning campaign, in which a 499P won each of the first four races and finished on the podium at COTA and Bahrain. But that all changed in Austin, with a win propelled Nielsen and his teammates in the #50 499P into championship contention, just 21 points off the lead with three races to go and a maximum score of 78 left on the table.
Ferrari is now back in the Manufacturers’ World Championship too, off the back of the result, sitting third behind Toyota and BMW but just 26 points off the lead.
“(The #50’s title chances were) maybe not gone, but it definitely looked difficult before COTA, especially with the calendar being changed as well, with fewer points now on offer,” Nielsen admitted. “Now, the mindset maybe has changed a bit, but to be honest, whenever I go, whenever we go, we want to win if we can, and right now we have nothing to lose.
“I think we’re going to go for a bit of risk if we need to. We’ll do our best to take as many points as possible, and then we will see Barcelona and Monza. But at least we’re back in the championship fight, and it would be nice to be there to fight in the end in Monza as well.”
Ferrari’s dip in form during its winless stretch between Le Mans last year and COTA this year was tricky to evaluate and analyse, as several key factors seemed to contribute to it. The car had to be tweaked aerodynamically during the homologation process ahead of the season; much of the competition developed substantial EVO Joker updates to their cars, and the Balance of Performance process, now kept under wraps by the rulemakers, has evolved too.
“It’s not a completely different car from last year; the car is still good,” Nielsen responded when asked about the effect the tweaks to the 499P have had so far this season.
“But you know, it’s been a bit strange at certain tracks for us. If we take São Paulo, it’s usually not a track where we are really strong, and this year we were quite good there. The car was really behaving well, and that took us a bit by surprise, to be honest. Then Fuji is always a track where we struggle a bit, so let’s hope it’s one of those cases where we come here, we don’t really expect much, and then we are there.”
Nielsen isn’t the only Ferrari driver with a spring in his step at the moment. Phil Hanson’s contract was also renewed ahead of Lone Star Le Mans, and Yifei Ye recently put pen to paper for a new deal, announced hours after Nielsen’s extension.
The latter was a news drop that generated significant attention in China, Ye’s home country. “It was not as big as when I won Le Mans,” he told DSC. “But it still ended up on Chinese national TV! As the only Chinese driver working for a factory team, I kind of carry the responsibility to deliver good results. The fact that I am extending with Ferrari is encouraging for me. And I have had so much support from fans.
“Antonello (Coletta) does an amazing job at managing people. The engineers, drivers, mechanics, all have confidence because we are not made to feel scared of having a bad race. Of course, in racing, you have to be fast, but if you do a good job and behave well, you are treated well, and that goes a long way.”
Ye, like Nielsen, hopes that signing his new contract precedes a strong finish to the WEC campaign. Ye and his teammates in the privately entered 499P don’t need to worry about the Manufacturers’ standings, as their car doesn’t count for points, but climbing the standings and helping the two factory cars where possible remains a clear goal after a trying season through five races.
“We can still play a part to help Ferrari,” he added. “We will focus on each race individually, and try and get on the podium, maybe even win a race if conditions allow. We’ve had an unlucky season; we haven’t been able to maximise what we have. The pace has been good, but we’ve not been able to put everything together.”
Whether or not Ferrari can follow up its COTA win with another standout result on Sunday in Japan remains to be seen. Early signs from Friday practice suggest that it may be in for another tricky weekend if it stays dry.
Still, the 499Ps haven’t attempted a qualifying simulation yet, using only the medium tyre during FP1 and 2, so their true performance potential isn’t yet clear. Either way, with rain forecast for tomorrow and Sunday, the six hours could prove to be a lottery anyway, which may play into the hands of the Ferrari drivers.
“This year we’ve managed to improve the car’s long-run performance and tyre degradation, so if people make mistakes we can capitalise,” Ye pointed out. “And if it rains, it may help us to recover if we struggle for pace.”
Images courtesy of Dailysportscar & Ferrari
