2026 Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 Team

[bluechris]

Did Ferrari choose to nerf their engine a bit by running the exhaust wing? Sure but the ADUO tests do account for that so the engine was definitely ~4% behind. If the RBPT is ~575hp and the Mercedes ~565hp then they were prob ~550hp before the ~10hp ADUO upgrade they already brought. They have another upgrade for Monza so they'll prob be on par with the best engines by then. Its not a big concern - everyone knows they were late to finalizing their 26 engine and behind RBPT and Mercedes when it came to testing. It won't be an issue by 27 at the latest.

People also chose to ignore the fact the car is also inherently draggier than Mercedes and McLaren.

I don't buy that. Where were MB all the previous years if they are so good in aero? Imagine them in their many years of engine domination and put on them a Ferrari engine, they wouldn't had won the half of what they did. MB have now again the best power package not only from the ice but from the electrical side also and this drags also McLaren with them. McLaren is behind in aero because they had the smallest allocation for research for the current rules but now they are back. How RB has the best ice according to FIA but they are so far back? The rest of the power unit is bad from them.
For me engine is king and always was. It's not only the ice that holds back Ferrari but the rest items of the power output also and i don't believe the next update will make them equal to MB. They have gone fundamentally wrong in this rules this time. Maybe next year they will catch up but MB got ADUO also.

[Badger]

Did Ferrari choose to nerf their engine a bit by running the exhaust wing? Sure but the ADUO tests do account for that so the engine was definitely ~4% behind. If the RBPT is ~575hp and the Mercedes ~565hp then they were prob ~550hp before the ~10hp ADUO upgrade they already brought. They have another upgrade for Monza so they'll prob be on par with the best engines by then. Its not a big concern - everyone knows they were late to finalizing their 26 engine and behind RBPT and Mercedes when it came to testing. It won't be an issue by 27 at the latest.

Measurements are taken during races which means the exhaust wing is not accounted for in the data. Ferrari was the only team that ran that trick early in the season so the first ADUO should be affected by that.

Ferrari is nowhere near 4% behind on their combustion efficiency. Their performance on power tracks is far too strong.

[bluechris]

Did Ferrari choose to nerf their engine a bit by running the exhaust wing? Sure but the ADUO tests do account for that so the engine was definitely ~4% behind. If the RBPT is ~575hp and the Mercedes ~565hp then they were prob ~550hp before the ~10hp ADUO upgrade they already brought. They have another upgrade for Monza so they'll prob be on par with the best engines by then. Its not a big concern - everyone knows they were late to finalizing their 26 engine and behind RBPT and Mercedes when it came to testing. It won't be an issue by 27 at the latest.

Measurements are taken during races which means the exhaust wing is not accounted for in the data. Ferrari was the only team that ran that trick early in the season so the first ADUO should be affected by that.

Ferrari is nowhere near 4% behind on their combustion efficiency. Their performance on power tracks is far too strong.

Nope, they are simple better in aero this year including the gains of the macarena wing. Its obvious with all the changes they did before the 1st ADUO, how they was able to catch up slowly but steady the MB rocket engine.
Still they are not good in setup changes during a weekend were other teams are much better. This for me is a big problem they need to solve.

[AR3-GP]

Fred Vasseur: “ADUO will help us reduce the gap, but there's no guarantee it will close it.”

“When you look at Mercedes and Red Bull, we're talking about a 0.1-0.2 second difference per lap in the engine. In any case, it's not a huge advantage to make up.”

The team principal says it's 1 to 2 tenths from the PU. This was posted 2 days ago.

[Emag]

Did Ferrari choose to nerf their engine a bit by running the exhaust wing? Sure but the ADUO tests do account for that so the engine was definitely ~4% behind. If the RBPT is ~575hp and the Mercedes ~565hp then they were prob ~550hp before the ~10hp ADUO upgrade they already brought. They have another upgrade for Monza so they'll prob be on par with the best engines by then. Its not a big concern - everyone knows they were late to finalizing their 26 engine and behind RBPT and Mercedes when it came to testing. It won't be an issue by 27 at the latest.

People also chose to ignore the fact the car is also inherently draggier than Mercedes and McLaren.

I don't buy that. Where were MB all the previous years if they are so good in aero? Imagine them in their many years of engine domination and put on them a Ferrari engine, they wouldn't had won the half of what they did. MB have now again the best power package not only from the ice but from the electrical side also and this drags also McLaren with them. McLaren is behind in aero because they had the smallest allocation for research for the current rules but now they are back. How RB has the best ice according to FIA but they are so far back? The rest of the power unit is bad from them.
For me engine is king and always was. It's not only the ice that holds back Ferrari but the rest items of the power output also and i don't believe the next update will make them equal to MB. They have gone fundamentally wrong in this rules this time. Maybe next year they will catch up but MB got ADUO also.

This is a bad stance to hold. Where was McLaren in 2022 if they won the WCC two years later? You can't retroactively apply these sort of statements. Things change even within a year, let alone across multiple seasons.
People got into the habit of underestimating Mercedes. Weird imo, considering they totally dominated the sport from 2014-2021. And the engine was a major reason for that domination period only up to 2017.

They lost key people going into the ground effect era and they were losing people throughout 2022-2025 too. Clearly something was not clicking internally with the development and they were stuck on a loop, fixing one problem and creating two more. Even when they were struggling, throughout 2022-2025, it was 2-2 against Ferrari. They were still decent, just not McLaren/RedBull-Max level.

So from my perspective, it's no surprise at all they built a good car. The engine is very good, and you could see how far ahead they were in the first 3-4 races, particularly on deployment. But the gaps are down enough right now where you can no longer say "oh it's just the rocketship engine". They have top tier tire wear and a very consistent car across different conditions and tracks.

[gearboxtrouble]

Did Ferrari choose to nerf their engine a bit by running the exhaust wing? Sure but the ADUO tests do account for that so the engine was definitely ~4% behind. If the RBPT is ~575hp and the Mercedes ~565hp then they were prob ~550hp before the ~10hp ADUO upgrade they already brought. They have another upgrade for Monza so they'll prob be on par with the best engines by then. Its not a big concern - everyone knows they were late to finalizing their 26 engine and behind RBPT and Mercedes when it came to testing. It won't be an issue by 27 at the latest.

People also chose to ignore the fact the car is also inherently draggier than Mercedes and McLaren.

I don't buy that. Where were MB all the previous years if they are so good in aero? Imagine them in their many years of engine domination and put on them a Ferrari engine, they wouldn't had won the half of what they did. MB have now again the best power package not only from the ice but from the electrical side also and this drags also McLaren with them. McLaren is behind in aero because they had the smallest allocation for research for the current rules but now they are back. How RB has the best ice according to FIA but they are so far back? The rest of the power unit is bad from them.
For me engine is king and always was. It's not only the ice that holds back Ferrari but the rest items of the power output also and i don't believe the next update will make them equal to MB. They have gone fundamentally wrong in this rules this time. Maybe next year they will catch up but MB got ADUO also.

Ferrari were widely regarded as having the strongest engine from 2022 to 2025. It didn't help them contend for titles outside of the first half of 2022. There's no doubt Ferrari have a good chassis this season but its not some dominant edge that's being masked by a weak engine - just look at their performance in non power sensitive tracks like Hungary and Monaco as a datapoint. Their best races have actually been at higher speed tracks with medium - high levels of harvestable energy like Silverstone and Catalunya suggesting the PU is actually pretty good in certain situations.

As for RBPT they've admitted as much that their harvesting and deployment software is immature which is to be expected as a new manufacturer. There's no chance their MGUK has a lower peak power than anyone else and the overall performance seems the strongest at the most energy starved tracks like Mercedes but there are clearly issues with drivability and the consistency of their energy management which seems to be thrown off by minor deviations from normal lap plans. The car isn't as far back as has been hyped - they're in the best of the rest group behind Mercedes and their competitiveness seems track dependent just like it is for Ferrari and McLaren. The issues they have shown up at tracks where they need to attack the kerbs which is something they've had since the 2024 season. The PU is a strength as seen in races where they seem to always be near or at the top in a straight line. The only reason Max hasn't won a race so far is their strengths are similar to the Mercedes unlike McLaren and Ferrari which means his chances to win depend on issues for both Kimi and George.

[AR3-GP]

slowly it comes out

[mzso]

I just wanted an explanation for the word "trikery" which hears bad in my ears, like they do something outside of the rules. I know what they had done as matter the small wing in exhaust and also the smaller turbo where FIA rushed to nerf them after instructions from "somewhere".
Of course they banned the small wing also from next year..... All the rest teams, especially MB, they do innovations, Ferrari is the trikery team, right.

They are banning small winglets on top of the wing as well. No need to invent narratives for Ferrari. Such unintended stuff always go away, such as DAS.

Because the small winglets are such a game changer... especially compared to the FTM which Ferrari designed the entire rear axle around. It' s a clear legality box in the rules. It's neither "unintended" by the FIA, nor a loophole exploited by Ferrari. DAS was a loophole.
By banning the FTM for next year the FIA just shows their spineless behaviour once again. Same goes for the last-minute change to the starting procedure which they justified with "safety reasons".

That also has a foundation. Everyone but Ferrari sucked. And the biggest almost crash was between an Alpine and a VCARB.

And they clearly didn't intend an FTM, nor more than a DAS. Very much a loophole.

[bluechris]

They are banning small winglets on top of the wing as well. No need to invent narratives for Ferrari. Such unintended stuff always go away, such as DAS.

Because the small winglets are such a game changer... especially compared to the FTM which Ferrari designed the entire rear axle around. It' s a clear legality box in the rules. It's neither "unintended" by the FIA, nor a loophole exploited by Ferrari. DAS was a loophole.
By banning the FTM for next year the FIA just shows their spineless behaviour once again. Same goes for the last-minute change to the starting procedure which they justified with "safety reasons".

That also has a foundation. Everyone but Ferrari sucked. And the biggest almost crash was between an Alpine and a VCARB.

And they clearly didn't intend an FTM, nor more than a DAS. Very much a loophole.

You hear what you say? Everyone but Ferrari sucked, so lets cripple Ferrari who devoted a whole engine design for this gain in starts. FIA at it's finest. Not only that but we still see people getting slow dangerous starts for other reasons but it's ok, its just Sunday. I bet one other team if they had this ability it would had been banned from next year as always for them.

[bluechris]

slowly it comes out

Yeah Toto, we believe you don't worry.

[mzso]

Because the small winglets are such a game changer... especially compared to the FTM which Ferrari designed the entire rear axle around. It' s a clear legality box in the rules. It's neither "unintended" by the FIA, nor a loophole exploited by Ferrari. DAS was a loophole.
By banning the FTM for next year the FIA just shows their spineless behaviour once again. Same goes for the last-minute change to the starting procedure which they justified with "safety reasons".

That also has a foundation. Everyone but Ferrari sucked. And the biggest almost crash was between an Alpine and a VCARB.

And they clearly didn't intend an FTM, nor more than a DAS. Very much a loophole.

You hear what you say? Everyone but Ferrari sucked, so lets cripple Ferrari who devoted a whole engine design for this gain in starts. FIA at it's finest. Not only that but we still see people getting slow dangerous starts for other reasons but it's ok, its just Sunday. I bet one other team if they had this ability it would had been banned from next year as always for them.

It also means the collision risk is significant.

[f1316]

A lot of talk has been about whether Ferrari should back Lewis and subject Leclerc to a support role to win the title. I’m actually usually in favour of a “focus on one driver” team approach but I don’t think Ferrari have picked drivers that would work well in that kind of a system so switching now, with the points gap not exactly gigantic, doesn’t seem right to me.

However, the biggest practical reason I don’t think they should do this is the constructors title: at only a 72 point deficit - which is really nothing across two cars - this is by far their most realistic opportunity of a title this year. With a new engine and a Mercedes driver (Russell) lacking confidence/performance/reliability there’s a strong chance of closing that. But to do so, you need both drivers feeling able to maximise and win when circumstances favour them most - as we’ve seen, it’ll probably wax and wane between them (ala Charles and Carlos in 2024, where we also won the WCC) and we don’t want either to start to get into a “what’s the point”situation.

[PlatinumZealot]

A lot of talk has been about whether Ferrari should back Lewis and subject Leclerc to a support role to win the title. I’m actually usually in favour of a “focus on one driver” team approach but I don’t think Ferrari have picked drivers that would work well in that kind of a system so switching now, with the points gap not exactly gigantic, doesn’t seem right to me.

However, the biggest practical reason I don’t think they should do this is the constructors title: at only a 72 point deficit - which is really nothing across two cars - this is by far their most realistic opportunity of a title this year. With a new engine and a Mercedes driver (Russell) lacking confidence/performance/reliability there’s a strong chance of closing that. But to do so, you need both drivers feeling able to maximise and win when circumstances favour them most - as we’ve seen, it’ll probably wax and wane between them (ala Charles and Carlos in 2024, where we also won the WCC) and we don’t want either to start to get into a “what’s the point”situation.

Rusell will get to grips very soon so I'm not banking on his drop in form to continue.

Ferrari just needs to have a dominant car to win the WCC.

The WDC is actually an easier hill to climb the car seems reliable and can make up a race win or two on Kimi even if it's the second fastest.

[catent]

slowly it comes out

Right, because Toto Wolff is known to be an honest, transparent, apolitical TP.

[AR3-GP]

slowly it comes out

Right, because Toto Wolff is known to be an honest, transparent, apolitical TP.

https://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewt ... 6#p1352566