How Porsche picked up where Ford left off and ended Ferrari's dominance at Le Mans

When Ferrari lost to Ford at Le Mans, they probably thought their troubles were over, but that’s because they weren’t ready for what Porsche had in mind.

Enzo Ferrari’s brisk rejection had enraged Ford, and that ultimately led to the creation of the GT40 that beat Ferrari at Le Mans four times in a row.

Then, having proven their point, Ford essentially ‘retreated’ and withdrew from Le Mans to focus on other things.

But then Porsche came along, and things got worse for Ferrari.

The curious case of Ford at Le Mans

In the 1960s, Ford was seconds away from buying Ferrari, but after Enzo Ferrari abruptly changed his mind and reportedly insulted Henry Ford II, the deal went south.

Not only that, the rejection made Henry Ford II so angry that he vowed to crush the Italian firm at Le Mans to prove a point – and he did.

It’s a story widely known today, largely popularized by the film Ford v Ferrari.

The irony is that if you look at Ford’s Le Mans record, the American brand can only claim four wins to its name.

Those four consecutive years in the 1960s remain their only overall victories, with no titles before or since.

Maybe to the American manufacturer this was only a matter of principle and pride.

But it was a lot more than that to everyone else, especially Porsche.

How Porsche picked up where Ford had left off

Porsche won Le Mans 19 times – more than any other team, and by a margin that’s not insignificant.

In 1970, Ford failed to reclaim the title, and so Porsche stepped up.

The statistics confirm that their rise was meteoric.

Between 1971 and 1987, Porsche won Le Mans 12 times, and then they went on to win again and again in the 1990s and 2010s.

And by the way, F1 is often criticized for being ‘all about the car’, but clearly that’s even ‘worse’ at Le Mans.

In F1, when a team masters the technical regulations, the same car dominates the podium for years.

With Le Mans, the car can sometimes dominate for decades.

We know this because after Porsche, Audi went on to win 13 out of 15 Le Mans races between 2000 and 2014.

But we digress.

Because the most shocking stat is that Ferrari went nearly 60 years without a win.

After winning the 1965 title and then losing to Ford and Porsche respectively, the Italian manufacturer only managed to reclaim its title 58 years later, in 2023.

‘I tifosi’ – the Ferrari fans – often complain that Ferrari hasn’t won an F1 title in nearly 20 years, which is true.

And that bringing Hamilton on board hasn’t made a difference yet, which is also true.

But the drought was clearly worse when it comes to the World Endurance Championship.

And anyway all spells and all records are made to be broken, and sooner or later Ferrari will win the F1 title again.