INTERVIEW: Ferdinand Habsburg on getting Hypercar seat, driving the Alpine A424 and calling his mum after the first test
Ferdinand Habsburg takes to the WEC's top class for the first time in 2024, and tells OE Founder Tim Fullbrook what adapting to life in Hypercar has been like so far.
Ferdinand Habsburg is already a World Champion in a prototype, in fact he’s got 43 races and a Le Mans win to his name behind the wheel of LMP machinery – but 2024 will be a year like no other for the 26-year-old.
The Austrian is part of Alpine’s factory Hypercar driver lineup who are tasked with chasing down the collective might of Toyota, Ferrari, and Porsche in World Endurance Championship’s top class, armed with a pair of shiny new A424 LMDhs.
With that comes a whole host of firsts for ‘Ferdi’; his first driving a hybrid race car, his first in the top class of the WEC, and his first season carrying the responsibilities of a factory driver.
Alpine, on the other hand, are no strangers to the category, having run two seasons, and won races, with the grandfathered, ex-Rebellion Oreca LMP1; but they return to a class much-changed from 2022.
What lies ahead for both Habsburg and his new team is a lot of learning, which in the now manufacturer-saturated top category has every potential to be a difficult journey.
But you wouldn’t guess that from the radiant smiling Austrian, clad in fresh Alpine overalls, stood in front of a near mirror-clean, cutting edge race car about to embark on a world tour.
Speaking to OE Founder Tim Fullbrook at the official launch event for the Alpine Hypercar team at Enstone, ‘Ferdi’ gave insight into those very first moments of driving the new car, on exploiting his strengths, and what to expect from the French marque in 2024…
Tim: How does it feel to be an Alpine factory driver, has it sunk in yet?
Ferdinand: “Someone has to wake me up, right? Here we are, I’m with the bosses, with my teammates, the Alpine F1 drivers, it’s like when you’re in high school and you go to a cool party so you need to act cool, you know what I mean? Inside you’re bursting with excitement but you don’t want to show it, but I gave up on that after ten minutes, as I’m far too excited and I’m happy I did because for me this is a special day.
“The launch has been a very special day and I want to take it all in.
“It’s also been a lot, we’ve been here [at Enstone] since 8am, with the factory people and I think I’ve been in the wrong place with the wrong outfit at least fourteen times today so there’s a lot of improving to be done on my side!
“But that doesn’t take away from the feeling. When there was a moment to breathe I just sat down and took it all in.”
Not that long ago on Instagram you shared a post about missing out on winning the 2017 Macau GP in the final corner, it must be an incredible feeling to look back at that Ferdi and see where you are now.
“When I started testing, and the deal was all done and dusted for me to be racing here, I went to the track every single day remembering that Ferdi. And being happy and grateful that he never gave up.
“Grateful to the people that maybe when it was difficult to continue, kept with me and believed in me.
“It’s very weird that you watch all these documentaries with famous people and they talk about the people that didn’t give up on them and kept believing in them and you don’t really understand it but now I fully get it.
“And you know for yourself, you have to be grateful that you kept pushing and that you believed in it.”
Let’s talk about you on-track experience there’s been some 14,000km of testing for Alpine, but what’s it been like for you completing your first miles in an LMDh car?
“It was new but also not new in a way because the driving style is quite similar to the LMP2 car, it’s just there is a lot more power.
“When I got out of the car for the first time, I did my first five lap run just to do a seat fit validation, I checked my steering wheel at the end of the straight on my outlap and I had done 342km/h (212mph).
“I got out of the car, I called my mum, and I said ‘Listen, you won’t believe what I just did.’ And she was telling me ‘Why are you doing this? Do you need to do this?!’
“It’s been a lot of mileage, a lot of improvements, a lot of steps back to go forwards, in the end you can never do enough. You always want more time to develop it, but Qatar’s on our doorstep.
“We tested last weekend in Barcelona, and the number one priority of the season is to finish every race with both cars and really get as much mileage as possible.
“And if performance and results comes out of it, we’ll take that with open hands.
What’s it like being involved in the development of a car? Something that you could say you’re missing from your racing resume.
“I don’t have a huge amount of experience developing a car, but having been in motorsport for such a long time now, and on a professional-amateur level, you start to find what you like and don’t like, and you start to find compromises.
“The thing that’s most important is being able to communicate. I can’t change the car, I don’t know how to run these extremely complicated computer systems, AI, I don’t know if ChatGPT is in there or not, but I don’t have the ability to construct bodywork and that.
“It’s about, what do I like, and can I express that in a way to the team well enough that they can really understand that and utilise information.
“It’s been a really positive relationship already. I’m getting to know my engineers and I feel like they’re taking on my information really well.”
Driving a prototype isn’t new, but having a hybrid system is, what’s it been like learning the new system?
“When the hybrid works it’s magical, and when it doesn’t it’s really difficult. So it’s kind of bipolar in that way.
“In development you’re taking risks and you have to, and with the hybrid system that’s controlled by one computer, and then so many parts between the ICE and MGU and then not just how you stop the car but how you get out of the middle and then exit the corner, then of course there were some moments where nothing made sense to me.
“But that’s part of development right?
“When the team put something together that’s exactly what we are trying to produce in terms of feel, the power you have is absolutely incredible.
“Not just in the start of your run, but also when you’re doing a double stint. You can change and influence the car’s balance so much throughout the double stint that it feels like at the beginning it’s completely different to the end. Like I say, it’s amazing when it works, and terrible when it doesn’t.”
You’re known for this super consistent and reliable driving style, how do you feel about driving a car with so many things to play with when you’re still trying to maintain that high average pace?
“I’m very humble about my strengths and weaknesses, but I feel my strengths have always been fuel economy and getting more laps out of the car, and also my tyre consumption being low and being very efficient with what I’ve got.
“And so I’ve been really trying to work hard with the team so that the systems understand how I’m driving and using my efficiencies, and how that can improve my strengths to a higher extent and help other drivers with it more.
“The challenge is always how much lap time do you have to lose to gain a lap of fuel, and at the same on the tyres. How much do I have to lose to take the tyre an extra stint.
“I would say that my more natural ability to make the car go further is something that we’ve been focusing on when I got in the car to develop it.”
Reunited with Charles Milesi, and joined by Paul-Loup Chatin, what’s it been like with your teammates so far?
“Of course it’s great to be back with Charles [Milesi] we won WEC LMP2 together, we won Le Mans together in 2021, and with Paul-Loup it’s someone I’ve competed against in ELMS, and what I love is we all share the same enthusiasm, and it’s something that Bruno Famin and Philippe Signault took a really good decision and putting us three guys together.
“We share an intense enthusiasm that we are not just here to be part of the show, and that really improves the energy for all of us.”
Now you’re part of this Hypercar class that you’ve watched grow whilst being on track, what are your expectations for your season in this ever-growing class?
“I would like to finish every race, that’s the main goal, that’s clear. We all want to win, but where do we think we’re going to be?
“Well we haven’t yet received information on our BOP, that’s important to how the car feels and how we develop throughout the season.
“We’re going to give it absolutely everything we can do be as fast as we can, we have a gap to fill. We’re not at the level of Toyota, Ferrari, and Porsche, but that’s where we need to be.
“If we are able to finish every race, capitalise on any opportunities that come our way to maybe be on the podium that would be amazing. Put it this way, if we get the chance to be somewhere on the podium, trust me I will make sure the party will be amazing.”