2026 Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 Team

[f1Follower]

So was it a deployment issue with Austria as the new engines were not tuned? What the hell changed in a weeks time?

[Luscion]

Lewis is known to be a mega quantity here. I think there's more time to unlock with the Mercs as Lewis qualified only a 100th ahead of Antonelli. No disrespect to Antonelli, rather, I'm saying he's yet to peak.

In summary, I'm very weary of the Mercs.

Lewis messed up his S3 in the last corner, he could have gone even faster. either way beating merc at a track like this is really good, nobody including Ferrari expected them to be remotely competitive here much less be fastest in all 3 parts of quali

[venkyhere]

HAM absolutely nailed it. I am one of the 'HAM is washed' group I admit, but even in the venturi tunnel era, HAM was always great at silverstone. This is his signature track.
That said, looks like Ferrari PU upgrade is finally here, Austria was most probably a blip due to higher altitude & heat & tyre wear. Surely this 'faster than mercedes' lap cannot happen just because HAM is driving it, the PU upgrade has to have worked. Well done, Ferrari, well done, Hamilton !!

[Badger]

So was it a deployment issue with Austria as the new engines were not tuned? What the hell changed in a weeks time?

They were fairly close in quali in Austria. Likely what changed is the altitude, the low drag floor, and more corners where the SF26 can shine.

[Sidiamal]

The one thing that quirked my eyebrow in Austria was that they'd opened the guts of the Ferrari to bring cooling completely disproportionately compared to RBR and Mercedes. Considering that at Silverstone and Barcelona they've basically nearly closed the louvres despite the temperature not being so different likely the actual problem with the engine was that it they've done a F1-75 again and the engine simply vomits above sea level.

Combine a working energy deployment strategy, Hamilton at a track where he's used to producing with the engine finally working in its operating window and a track that plays more into the car's strengths and it's no wonder the fortunes have completely flipped. Nevertheless, wouldn't call it set in stone and Antonelli is definitely still the favorite to take it home the rest of the weekend. Mercedes will probably converge towards Ferrari's stronger deployment strategy but for the time being at least the sprint should be competitive.

[Luscion]

Maybe Mercedes will converge towards Ferrari's stronger deployment strategy but for the time being at least the sprint should be winnable.

Merc tried it, didnt work

They tried with Antonelli to give him a burst of energy between Copse and Maggotts, but then he doesn't have it in the hangar straight...
Russell (white) does the "normal" deployment like in Q1. Ferrari continues like in Q1.

[Sidiamal]

That's very very surprising, rarely do you ever see Merc miss a deployment trick this season.

[Luscion]

Ferrari did a miracle with the ERS strategy, allowing HAM to achieve a brilliant pole!

LEC and HAM could stay full throttle more than any other driver, maximising the energy they could harvest. They then deployed it to achieve the best top speeds BY FAR!

Excellent traction/grip → more harvesting opportunities
It's also possible that they turned the new PU slightly up

Completely unexpected, honestly!

[Fakepivot]

din't in spain also they had fastest speed?

[venkyhere]

There can only be one or another or both, of the following two reasons for Hamilton pole :

1) Ferrari must have brilliantly used their ADUO to enhance their PU (ICE/recovery efficiency/deployment efficiency/MGUK itself) because this (white encircled in the pic) is possible only if there is 'extra energy to spare'. To the effect that the Ferrari PU has surpassed not only RBPT's PU, but even the Mercedes PU.

OR/AND

2) Ferrari's overall SLM drag is much much lesser than anyone else.

[urtsee]

Probably 2

[Luscion]

https://ibb.co/8DS4bCpt

There can only be one or another or both, of the following two reasons for Hamilton pole :

1) Ferrari must have brilliantly used their ADUO to enhance their PU (ICE/recovery efficiency/deployment efficiency/MGUK itself) because this (white encircled in the pic) is possible only if there is 'extra energy to spare'. To the effect that the Ferrari PU has surpassed not only RBPT's PU, but even the Mercedes PU.

OR/AND

2) Ferrari's overall SLM drag is much much lesser than anyone else.

Fred_18's analysis

Ferrari master-plan: a masterpiece of energy management. It's not so easy to give a clear explanation for what we saw on track at Silverstone in SprintQualifying, because what happened in the first 8 races indicated without a shadow of a doubt that #Mercedes was the best in terms of energy management, while #Ferrari was among the worst, with a constant energy hunger. A paradigm that has now completely changed: the SF26 matched Mercedes (and pulled away from the others) precisely on the energy front. The SQ3 graph shows this a bit less clearly than SQ1 and SQ2 did, but the Maranello team's entire energy strategy around the lap was flawless right from the start, while Mercedes tried to correct course as the session went on. #Hamilton takes every opportunity to recharge up to turn 7, while still going fast through the corner, above all managing to anticipate the exit very well each time. Then everything he's gathered gets discharged through the middle section of the track, from the old pit straight, through Copse, recharging aggressively again at Maggotts, then discharging it all once more after Stowe. Through the corners, the chassis takes care of performance — and that's how one of the most unexpected poles of the year came about. The question remains how Ferrari managed to have all that energy available. The impression is of meticulous optimization work on one hand, but perhaps also something aerodynamic that significantly cut drag, possibly even sacrificing some downforce — something that Mercedes apparently can't manage to do even if it wanted to, and indeed #Russell is far off the pace. A front row of the old guard and the young gun, both delivering masterclass laps. #Leclerc wasn't far off and lost P3 to Verstappen.

[Sidiamal]

https://ibb.co/8DS4bCpt

There can only be one or another or both, of the following two reasons for Hamilton pole :

1) Ferrari must have brilliantly used their ADUO to enhance their PU (ICE/recovery efficiency/deployment efficiency/MGUK itself) because this (white encircled in the pic) is possible only if there is 'extra energy to spare'. To the effect that the Ferrari PU has surpassed not only RBPT's PU, but even the Mercedes PU.

OR/AND

2) Ferrari's overall SLM drag is much much lesser than anyone else.

Macarena wing bearing its fruits I suspect. The Ferrari also had the best end of straight top speed in Barcelona if I I recall.

[urtsee]

Less drag means less energy required

[f1316]

It’s interesting to see the difference between teams on the same power unit:

(1) it’s not as if the Mercedes power unit is so dominant that Williams or even Alpine can get anywhere near the pace - eg not akin to Williams in 2014. Of course there’s software and deployment strategy at play in that, but it doesn’t seem as if the PU is the dominant factor over the chassis
(2) on the flip side, maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that the RB/Ford engine has been deemed strongest, looking at Racing Bulls’ performance? They now seem like regular Q3 occupants and with a gap over the field. Maybe that is the engine making the most difference + likely the one customer team that gets all the same software as the works outfit
(3) Ferrari customer teams are nowhere near. Cadillac is obviously going to be way off since they’re new and Haas aren’t good in quick corners - so not suited to Silverstone - but it does seem as if the Ferrari chassis is still doing a lot of heavy lifting. I suspect downforce in high speed corners is allowing them to trim a lot of drag and maybe, as I suggested/hoped after Austria, there was a bit more to find in deployment from the new PU that wasn’t yet optimised for deployment


Whatever the case, it’s encouraging and surprising to see the sprint pole - long may it continue!