2026 Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 Team

[Space-heat]

The funny thing is that, for all the talk of energy deployment problems, we've been here before: with the SF-24, everything would always go wrong in Q3 for mysterious reasons, with both cars qualifying way down the grid, but then the car would be a beast in the race.

The SF24 struggled to get the most out of the soft tyres as it was too gentle, leading to excellent race pace. This issue is 100% PU deficit.

[f1316]

This is really bad. You pay the price for nailing corners basically. So we are not really watching who is the most skilled, but the ones who are best at managing battery. Something drastic is going to have to happen. These engine regs need to be binned asap.

I get the impression that Mercedes (and now McLaren, at least to an extent) has enough deployment that this is less of an issue though - so it may be more of a Ferrari problem than a macro rules problem. Now, if that’s only possible by tricking the compression ratio test then that’s another story, but I do Mercedes drivers improving, trying new things, and not being punished in the same way.

It’s all shame because leclerc is driving really well here. With Russell struggling, a front row was beckoning if he’d improved the normal amount from Q2 and when he went purple in S1, it looked so promising. Anyway, I think we’ll be stronger in the race - the key thing will be starts + ease of passing. Charles took the lead from P4 in Melbourne but it should be harder to pass here - and I suspect his 6 tenths deficit in race pace has shrunk a bit since Friday - so there’s the potential for a defensive driver in theory that could make it interesting.

[AR3-GP]

"I honestly can’t stand qualifying, it’s a f***ing joke!

I go faster in corners, throttle earlier, for f***’s sake, I'm losing everything in the straight!"

This is so sad to hear.

[Xyz22]

The drivers are clearly asking too much from the tyres in order to compensate for the lackluster Power Unit. This lead to mistakes and even worse performance in the straights. Nothing they can do right now, really. They need a significantly better PU. This was the fist time in ages the car performed well in Suzuka S1.

It's not that at all. Deployment is automatic, but it also automatically learns when to deploy based on previous driver inputs.

So pushing harder confuses the car. It still deploys according to the data, but it's now in a different place on the track.

The driver then gets power where he doesn't need it, has a moment that needs corrections, and the car updates the data according to the corrections now. So the driver ends up again out of sequence to get full power.

These regulations are monumentally stupid when you consider stuff like this. It's not a Ferrari specific problem either.

Ferrari lacks power overall so both Leclerc and Lewis are forced to push more through the corners in general, which compounds what you described.

[Seanspeed]

The drivers are clearly asking too much from the tyres in order to compensate for the lackluster Power Unit. This lead to mistakes and even worse performance in the straights. Nothing they can do right now, really. They need a significantly better PU. This was the fist time in ages the car performed well in Suzuka S1.

It's not that at all. Deployment is automatic, but it also automatically learns when to deploy based on previous driver inputs.

So pushing harder confuses the car. It still deploys according to the data, but it's now in a different place on the track.

The driver then gets power where he doesn't need it, has a moment that needs corrections, and the car updates the data according to the corrections now. So the driver ends up again out of sequence to get full power.

These regulations are monumentally stupid when you consider stuff like this. It's not a Ferrari specific problem either.

Deploymentslop™

Another of AI's great contributors to society.

But seriously, what is messing up here? The AI-developed deployment input, or how the ECU is interpreting and outputting the result?

It's a weird situation.

[Hammerfist]

How about we let the driver deploy manually when he wants instead of letting the car do it? Is there any reason why this wouldnt be viable?

[GrizzleBoy]

How about we let the driver deploy manually when he wants instead of letting the car do it? Is there any reason why this wouldnt be viable?

I had always thought this is how the best regs would be until just before testing and was quite disappointed to find out that all the energy deployment strategy was cpu based.

What I thought was a tool for strategynturned out to be.......I dont really even know what it is. Automated engine efficiency regulator?

[ScuderiaLeo]

They are slower than I thought they'd be... posting high 35s while the others are occasionally hitting high 34s...

[SoulPancake13]

Welp, Bearman out ruins LEC's race somewhat. These regs are a joke, Bearman was so much quicker there and had to avoid Colapinto who started moving towards the middle of the track(very questionable behavior imo)

[ScuderiaLeo]

Mixed bag sc for Ferrari, horrible for Leclerc but great for Hamilton, maybe he can get 2 in a row? Pace seems better on the hards

[ScuderiaLeo]

Now the bad luck is striking Hamilton instead? He is having battery issues it sounds like?7

[Luscion]

Nice podium for Charles, miserable race for Lewis, deployment issues whole race it seems like

[j_ste]

Incredible effort from Charlie…really great weekend

[ScuderiaLeo]

Wow... I admit maybe I didn't have enough faith in leclerc. Absolutely incredible race from him, sucks for Hamilton though, they need to get on top of these battery problems.

[CRazyLemon]

I expect McLaren to be ahead of us come Miami. Ferrari in effect needs a chassis 0.5 faster than the others just to overcome the PU disadvantage. To get there and maintain will be extremely difficult. ADOU if we're lucky and than only race 10/12, with fingers crossed it is reliable is too much damage championship wise.

Would things have looked better for our result if Leclerc and Hamilton didn't battle, we seemed pretty comfortable 3 and 4 until we started battling each other. Has Ferrari already decided no championship up for grabs, go race.