Calado: Missing Spa Hyperpole “Purely My Fault”

James Calado has accepted full responsibility for the No. 51 Ferrari crew’s failure to make the Hyperpole session in qualifying for this weekend’s Spa round of the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Calado could only manage the 11th-fastest time at the wheel of the No. 51 499P for the first segment of qualifying on Friday afternoon, missing out on a place in the top 10 by just 0.021 seconds.

The sister No. 50 AF Corse machine went on to top Hyperpole and claim a second consecutive pole position in the hands of Antonio Fuoco.

With he and his teammates Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi set to start from the sixth row of the grid, Calado said errors on both of his push laps cost him dearly.

“Basically I simply screwed up,” Calado told Sportscar365. “I messed up the first lap big time, lost a lot, which was my fault. I just missed the braking at Turn 5 [Les Combes] and went over the curbs.

“The tires were pretty worn and on the second lap I also messed up at Turn 12 [Fagnes].

“It was purely my fault, but there was potential because I was fastest in the last sector and I matched the [best] first sector within a tenth.”

While taking the blame for the No. 51 Ferrari crew’s lowly grid position, Calado added that he is lacking experience with the 499P in qualifying trim.

He suggested that Ferrari may be better off entrusting qualifying to either Giovinazzi or Pier Guidi in future, with the two Italians having taken on duties at Qatar and Imola respectively.

“What I find difficult is that I haven’t done many qualifying sessions,” Calado said. “It’s only my third time ever running with low fuel. The difference between race spec and quali is a big change.

“Going forward I think we should always use the lightest driver of the three of us, and unfortunately that’s not me.

“It’s unfortunate, because I want to match [lighter drivers] but I can’t; I’ve always got a deficit and there’s nothing I can do.”

Calado gave a more upbeat response when asked about the No. 51 Ferrari’s prospects of making its way up the order in Saturday’s race.

“Race pace in FP1 and FP2 was pretty decent, so on paper we look pretty strong,” he said. “And unlike Imola, here it’s a bit easier to overtake.

“I think it will be close. Porsche looks strong in the long runs, and Toyota are probably like us, so let’s see what we can do.”

The No. 51 Ferrari drivers go into this weekend’s Spa race 50 points behind the championship-leading No. 6 Porsche crew, having finished a lowly 12th in the season-opening Qatar 1812km and seventh last time out at Imola.

The Briton conceded that he and his teammates need a strong showing on Saturday to get themselves back in contention.

“We need some good points for sure,” admitted Calado. “It’s not been the best of starts.

“All the potential is there, we just need to optimize everything and put it together, not make mistakes, and we’ll see if we can score points because we could do with a few more before Le Mans.”