2026 Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 Team

[sucof]

Seems a bit soon to already calling for heads roll. The car looks good, they did a good job during the winter. Doesn't look to be a matter of chassis problems. Somehow the Mercedes team seems to have more power that even the other customers don't have.

They have better energy management and more downforce. So it's like this, the hybrid component is so big now that there is not just a torque demand map, you have deployment map. It's like I sell you an oven and some ingredients and it is up to you to bake the cake. The energy management maps are not a standard thing Mercedes sells to the customers. The customer has to figure that part on their own. And they are waay behind because Mercedes has had years of dyno runs on virtual tracks to fine tune them. It's literally a one year baked in advatage for Mercedes.

I highly doubt they have better downforce. On similar laps Ferrari was quicker in most corners.
And I also highly doubt energy management has a one year merc advantage... you have nothing to prove this statement.
I go even further: energy management will be something the easiest to copy between teams. They have the GPS data, speed, rpm... if they lack in some knowledge or philosophy how to create the best, they will find it out quickly from others data.
Merc has either 1 month of advantage in this regard, or something in the engine hardware that is their real advantage which is hard to copy.
We will see.

[Frank73]

Seems a bit soon to already calling for heads roll. The car looks good, they did a good job during the winter. Doesn't look to be a matter of chassis problems. Somehow the Mercedes team seems to have more power that even the other customers don't have.

They have better energy management and more downforce. So it's like this, the hybrid component is so big now that there is not just a torque demand map, you have deployment map. It's like I sell you an oven and some ingredients and it is up to you to bake the cake. The energy management maps are not a standard thing Mercedes sells to the customers. The customer has to figure that part on their own. And they are waay behind because Mercedes has had years of dyno runs on virtual tracks to fine tune them. It's literally a one year baked in advatage for Mercedes.

I highly doubt they have better downforce. On similar laps Ferrari was quicker in most corners.
And I also highly doubt energy management has a one year merc advantage... you have nothing to prove this statement.
I go even further: energy management will be something the easiest to copy between teams. They have the GPS data, speed, rpm... if they lack in some knowledge or philosophy how to create the best, they will find it out quickly from others data.
Merc has either 1 month of advantage in this regard, or something in the engine hardware that is their real advantage which is hard to copy.
We will see.

I think he was maintaining that Merc has better downforce than their customers

[f1316]

Certainly a crumb of comfort in looking at Bearman’s data. I don’t know how much it cost them - certainly no enough to fight with Mercedes - but if it leaves them 3-4 tenths behind Russell, it’s pretty close to Antonelli and I think that’s reasonable on a bad track. I think it’s probably more like 6 tenths back though, which is too much.

[PlatinumZealot]

Seems a bit soon to already calling for heads roll. The car looks good, they did a good job during the winter. Doesn't look to be a matter of chassis problems. Somehow the Mercedes team seems to have more power that even the other customers don't have.

They have better energy management and more downforce. So it's like this, the hybrid component is so big now that there is not just a torque demand map, you have deployment map. It's like I sell you an oven and some ingredients and it is up to you to bake the cake. The energy management maps are not a standard thing Mercedes sells to the customers. The customer has to figure that part on their own. And they are waay behind because Mercedes has had years of dyno runs on virtual tracks to fine tune them. It's literally a one year baked in advatage for Mercedes.

I highly doubt they have better downforce. On similar laps Ferrari was quicker in most corners.
And I also highly doubt energy management has a one year merc advantage... you have nothing to prove this statement.
I go even further: energy management will be something the easiest to copy between teams. They have the GPS data, speed, rpm... if they lack in some knowledge or philosophy how to create the best, they will find it out quickly from others data.
Merc has either 1 month of advantage in this regard, or something in the engine hardware that is their real advantage which is hard to copy.
We will see.

Mercedes made the power units. During the engine development phase it is certain that they were testing the deployment maps on their dynos for at leasy one year inside and out. The customers do not have this. They only had a basic map to model their simulations on. The customers are now building their deployment strategies as they gather the data. And even that is feeding back into Mercedes' own model.
Keep in mind the Mercede chassis also took into consideration all this data. Lets say McLaren fully grasps how to craft the deployment maps by 8 races time... They still have to go an change the chassis/aero development around this. I am pretty confident it is one year's advantage all things considered. Be glad to be proven wrong tho.

[motobaleno]

They have better energy management and more downforce. So it's like this, the hybrid component is so big now that there is not just a torque demand map, you have deployment map. It's like I sell you an oven and some ingredients and it is up to you to bake the cake. The energy management maps are not a standard thing Mercedes sells to the customers. The customer has to figure that part on their own. And they are waay behind because Mercedes has had years of dyno runs on virtual tracks to fine tune them. It's literally a one year baked in advatage for Mercedes.

I highly doubt they have better downforce. On similar laps Ferrari was quicker in most corners.
And I also highly doubt energy management has a one year merc advantage... you have nothing to prove this statement.
I go even further: energy management will be something the easiest to copy between teams. They have the GPS data, speed, rpm... if they lack in some knowledge or philosophy how to create the best, they will find it out quickly from others data.
Merc has either 1 month of advantage in this regard, or something in the engine hardware that is their real advantage which is hard to copy.
We will see.

Mercedes made the power units. During the engine development phase it is certain that they were testing the deployment maps on their dynos for at leasy one year inside and out. The customers do not have this. They only had a basic map to model their simulations on. The customers are now building their deployment strategies as they gather the data. And even that is feeding back into Mercedes' own model.
Keep in mind the Mercede chassis also took into consideration all this data. Lets say McLaren fully grasps how to craft the deployment maps by 8 races time... They still have to go an change the chassis/aero development around this. I am pretty confident it is one year's advantage all things considered. Be glad to be proven wrong tho.

With all due respect I buy only the first part of your theory. That is to say the testing advantage gained during engine development phase with respect to client teams. For sure big. But I agree with Sucof that such an advantage is the easiest to recover. McLaren will be on top of it in the next 1-2 GPs imho. And I dont't buy at all the chassis correlation with that. (not that McLaren does not have chassis deficit. Of course they have it but it is an independent thing imho more likely correlated with what happened during last season fight).

[Luscion]

https://www.formulatecnica.it/2026/03/f ... orrezioni/

Many observers will have been tremendously disappointed by today's performance of the Italian car. However, we cannot in any way think that this kind of outcome is actually all that surprising when reading between the lines of its performance. During testing, the SF-26 had shown several encouraging signs, but as was already noted at the time, there had been no real direct head-to-head comparison with the other cars, which had only on rare occasions allowed their true potential to be glimpsed.
Setting that reflection aside, let's start with one of the areas where the Prancing Horse proved particularly strong: medium and low-speed corners. Throughout the entire lap, the Maranello car displayed a level of grip — both mechanical and aerodynamic — that was decidedly high. A pure performance that, at least in this respect, sits at values very close to those of the Mercedes W17, which at the moment represents the technical benchmark of the 2026 Formula 1 season.

Minimum speeds at the apex of corners, compared to yesterday's session where they were not particularly impressive, proved to be very competitive and, looking at the matter with a broad analytical perspective, we can say that the car showed a genuinely good level of handling. The Ferrari drivers had to make very few corrections at the steering wheel: a clear sign of an extremely stable platform. On corner entry, there is little understeer — even less than the Mercedes on Saturday in Melbourne.
The excess of rotation in the third phase of the corner, when the drivers get on the throttle, also appears fairly contained, though present — certainly far less pronounced than what we were able to observe watching the onboard footage of the two McLaren MCL40s. This is why the Prancing Horse's performance cannot simply be judged as negative. The fact that it ended up a full eight tenths behind Mercedes is largely due to a non-optimal management of the hybrid system through pre-set software.

[catent]

I think Ferrari may have made a mistake going for a small turbo. It's absolutely going to haunt them at tracks like Suzuka, Spa, Silverstone, Monza, Baku, Jeddah, Qatar, Vegas.

They ran a smaller turbo during the previous formula and it didn't seem to hurt them too much at power sensitive tracks with long straights, like the ones you mention.

Let them optimize the energy recovery software/deployment strategies, bring the updated rear-wing, and we'll go from there. If they're still short on power, then perhaps it was a poor design choice. But I think it's too early to conclude that.

And even if a smaller turbo compromises some performance at tracks like the ones you mentioned, it remains to be seen how it will perform at tracks with very different layouts to Australia, during starts/restarts, how active aero may be able to help compensate for these potential compromises, and what other benefits it may bring.

We know Australia is an outlier of a track (especially with these engine regulations) and apparently Ferrari were far from optimized in their energy recovery/deployment during Q3. The fact the Mercedes' customer teams were also 1s+ away seems to be reason for some optimism. It is a long season and lots for the teams to still learn.

Even if Mercedes does have a considerable power advantage, ADUO exists and the June 1 change in compression ratio compliance checks will happen (whether or not that will actually affect performance, I guess we'll see).

[Seanspeed]

The car honestly looks pretty good from the eye test. Way better than last year, relatively speaking. It seems like the engine might well be one of the weaker aspects of the car. Reliable, but unimpressive in performance and capabilities.

The Mercedes is simply something else. And I had that sinking feeling back in Bahrain on the second day when Kimi was fastest and I saw the fastest lap onboard - the car just has insane levels of turn-in. Absolutely laser guided.

[Vinlarr89]

I do honestly feel that this track probably isn’t helping the situation, and the car can perform better at different circuits.

One of the worst things about these regs though is the way it takes away Charles greatest strength (quali) he was the king of snatching a bit of time with late braking but simply can’t do that because now he has to harvest same as everyone else

[catent]

People, calm down, and stop this negativity.
Fred and Ferrari did a great job. Having the second best car is awesome.
Even better, their car might be the best not counting the Merc power advantage.
I am proud of Ferrari, and the season is very very long.
If you are a fan, then support your team. If you are not supporting then please stop the trolling and negativity. Thanks.

How do you know it's the second best car?

Unfortunately, the theory that MB had a colossal advantage PU wise was true. Another wasted year.

How do you know the season is wasted/lost?

[ryaan2904]

All this hype just to end up delivering the 3rd or 4th best car.

Scuderia Ferrari in a nutshell

Patience padawan

[ryaan2904]

They built a good chassis, no doubt. But I wouldn´t call it amazing, at least not as amazing as AM (imagine Newey´s car with Ferrari´s engine!)

well Newey's car with Ferrari engine would have imploded the team, he would have made it extremely skinny and then when engine issue shows up he points finger at Ferrari department and of course the british bais media would have came up with all kind of rumours and oh its the "Italian politics" blablabla and this would have created so much problem with in the team.. In a way glad he didn't join Ferrari.. Ferrari need to find there own newey/ brown etc.. they should have similar program to FDA to train young engineers do they have such programs??

Yeah. I appreciate some good cars that Newey has made but if he's taking anything from Ferrari, i'd rather he shut up and take what they give or work for them

[catent]

All this hype just to end up delivering the 3rd or 4th best car.

Scuderia Ferrari in a nutshell

Hype from whom? Certainly not the team, they've been measured and tight-lipped in their expectations.

The irony is that most of the fans here right now, moaning about qualifying in Australia, were the same ones telling us months in advance that Ferrari are useless, Vasseur is a poor TP, the technical department isn't talented enough, Serra is no good, the 2026 regulations will go poorly, etc. So they certainly were not hyping the team up. The more level-headed fans also weren't terribly optimistic/positive, taking a more "wait and see" approach.

Best as I can tell, there was no real hype from the team nor the fans. If you perceive "hype" and disappointment, it's likely rooted in your own internal perceptions and expectations.

The last time I saw actual "hype" around Ferrari heading into a season, was last year, going into 2025, and with good reason. Unfortunately there was apparently a pretty fundamental technical issue (as we all now know) which couldn't be overcome.

[bluechris]

Let's wait 2-3 races before we do any conclusion guys.

[ryaan2904]

Why are so many people saying Vasseur will be fired or Charles will leave? Ferrari have done a great job, there is innovation and limits pushed in the car after so long. Wait for the 'macarena wing' and all these teething problems to be solved. If its only engine, they'll probably get ADUO to help. If they can be the next best car until then, imo both championships are still in hand.