2026 Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 Team

[Luscion]

I wouldn't pop the Champagne on Lewis' sim boycott being the magic bullet that suddenly turns the year back to 2018. I'd point out that Lewis has had issues with tire wear this season, probably as a result of sliding around more than Charles. This has flattered him in qualifying and hurt him in the races until now. Canada was a weird anomaly where it was more challenging to keep the tire temps above the bottom of the window (this really hurt Max during the VSC) than it was to keep them from overheating. Lewis' 2026 tendency to over heat the tires helped him a lot on Sunday in the cold temps we saw because he was able to keep his tires from falling out of the window.

I've been thinking the same thing, and Vasseur's comments and Albano's recent article largely confirms as much.

Leclerc was really struggling to get the tires up to operating temperature, while Hamilton was one of the few drivers on the grid who could keep the tires in a good temperature window.

This general trend tracks with what we've observed from Leclerc and Hamilton (going back to last season, too): Leclerc is gentler on the tires, is able to preserve them longer through stints, and these traits compound (in a positive way) in hot conditions. Hamilton, on the other hand, sees more degradation in hotter (or typical) conditions, but when the track cools, the two are much closer in performance because then Hamilton's higher-tire-energy driving style suits the conditions while Leclerc's lower-tire-energy driving style doesn't. We saw this to some extent in China, both in 2025 and 2026: in cooler, cloudier conditions, with relatively low track temperatures, Hamilton was much closer to Leclerc than at other times throughout the season.

I suspect Leclerc's front-happy, lighter-looser-rear preference, and the setup such a driving style demands, also contributes in part to this. Leclerc hates understeer and a rear that doesn't rotate, but in such cold/low-grip conditions, it may be necessary to have a more "planted" rear in order to generate tire temperature.

And then you have the track layout, which further contributes to the situation. Montreal is an extremely rear-limited track, basically no high-speed corners, lots of hard braking and traction zones, which lends itself to a rear-centric setup, and provides very few opportunities to generate tire temperature via cornering. It's a track Hamilton has historically thrived at, and he's more inclined towards a softer/planted rear generally speaking.

Thats not really been the case this year though, going off of ferrari's race reviews on their page, track temps in japan were 19c but lewis suffered really bad with wheel spin and deg where charles was over 3 tenths quicker while in China with a track temp of 38c he was third fastest, behind the Mercs. Either way if he's truly better without the sim id wait for a couple more races as the sample size of him not using the sim is still to small imo.

[AR3-GP]

I don't see a driver specific tire issue. Leclerc struggled at the end in Australia and China. Historically, Hamilton also isn't a high deg driver.

[catent]

I don't see a driver specific tire issue. Leclerc struggled at the end in Australia and China. Historically, Hamilton also isn't a high deg driver.

Leclerc didn't struggle at the end of China - he closed the gap slightly to Hamilton over the final 5-10 laps. Leclerc was solid that weekend; Hamilton was extremely good, a bit better.

[catent]

I wouldn't pop the Champagne on Lewis' sim boycott being the magic bullet that suddenly turns the year back to 2018. I'd point out that Lewis has had issues with tire wear this season, probably as a result of sliding around more than Charles. This has flattered him in qualifying and hurt him in the races until now. Canada was a weird anomaly where it was more challenging to keep the tire temps above the bottom of the window (this really hurt Max during the VSC) than it was to keep them from overheating. Lewis' 2026 tendency to over heat the tires helped him a lot on Sunday in the cold temps we saw because he was able to keep his tires from falling out of the window.

I've been thinking the same thing, and Vasseur's comments and Albano's recent article largely confirms as much.

Leclerc was really struggling to get the tires up to operating temperature, while Hamilton was one of the few drivers on the grid who could keep the tires in a good temperature window.

This general trend tracks with what we've observed from Leclerc and Hamilton (going back to last season, too): Leclerc is gentler on the tires, is able to preserve them longer through stints, and these traits compound (in a positive way) in hot conditions. Hamilton, on the other hand, sees more degradation in hotter (or typical) conditions, but when the track cools, the two are much closer in performance because then Hamilton's higher-tire-energy driving style suits the conditions while Leclerc's lower-tire-energy driving style doesn't. We saw this to some extent in China, both in 2025 and 2026: in cooler, cloudier conditions, with relatively low track temperatures, Hamilton was much closer to Leclerc than at other times throughout the season.

I suspect Leclerc's front-happy, lighter-looser-rear preference, and the setup such a driving style demands, also contributes in part to this. Leclerc hates understeer and a rear that doesn't rotate, but in such cold/low-grip conditions, it may be necessary to have a more "planted" rear in order to generate tire temperature.

And then you have the track layout, which further contributes to the situation. Montreal is an extremely rear-limited track, basically no high-speed corners, lots of hard braking and traction zones, which lends itself to a rear-centric setup, and provides very few opportunities to generate tire temperature via cornering. It's a track Hamilton has historically thrived at, and he's more inclined towards a softer/planted rear generally speaking.

Thats not really been the case this year though, going off of ferrari's race reviews on their page, track temps in japan were 19c but lewis suffered really bad with wheel spin and deg where charles was over 3 tenths quicker while in China with a track temp of 38c he was third fastest, behind the Mercs. Either way if he's truly better without the sim id wait for a couple more races as the sample size of him not using the sim is still to small imo.

The nature of the track surface/tarmac plays a really big role, too. Montreal is notorious for being a low energy surface, very smooth, making it hard to generate energy in the tire.

Take that type of tarmac surface, combine it with a track layout with virtually no high-speed corners, and throw on top cold ambient temperatures, and you get a situation where it is very hard to generate tire temperature.

Suzuka, on the other hand, has a more abrasive/coarse tarmac and many more medium/high-speed turns, which allows tire temperature to be built via cornering.

So even with similar ambient air temperature, two different tracks can be wildly different in how they allow (or limit) tire temperature to be managed.

Albano also referenced China as an example of this same phenomenon, mentioning the lower temps seen there. Albano is regarded as a reliable reporter, so I tend to think it's relevant if he's also bringing it up.

[Fakepivot]

so about monaco will we see older rear wing or is current macarena wing better?

[AR3-GP]

so about monaco will we see older rear wing or is current macarena wing better?

There's no SM zone in Monaco. So this is an interesting question.

[catent]

so about monaco will we see older rear wing or is current macarena wing better?

There will be no SLM at Monaco, so the front/rear wings will not be opening/deflecting at any point during the sessions. Overtake mode will still exist, however.

What that means for Ferrari's rear wing, I'm not sure. If the original rear wing and the updated macarena rear wing have otherwise identical designs and downforce levels, I assume they'll continue to run the macarena. If there are meaningful differences between the rear wings beyond just the SLM opening, then they'll likely use whichever has more downforce.

My hunch is that the two rear wings are identical (besides the SLM opening) and that they will run the macarena wing at Monaco (but it will not open in SLM at any point, as per the track design/layout). That is a guess, though.

Edit: @AR3-GP beat me to it!

[dans79]

Imo, the simulator (or not) is not decisive for his performances. Hamilton never said there was anything wrong with Ferrari's simulator. He said it was a very good one. He's just not a simulator guy and the way things line up, he got a get out of jail free card to never touch the simulator again.

It might not be bad, but it didn't help him!

https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/hami ... nadian-gp/

Hamilton expressed his displeasure with Ferrari’s simulator in Miami, saying it was "sending me in the wrong direction".

"So then all the other times, it's not quite perfect, but it is a powerful tool. I just think that since the last year, I used it every week. And more often than not, I felt, you do all the work on the sim and you get to the track, you find a set-up that you're comfortable with, you get to the track, and it's everything's opposite.

"So then you're undoing the things you've learned, some of the ways you've approached the corners, you have to shift and adjust set-up that you felt that was good on the simulator is not the same at the track sometimes. Sometimes it is. And so it's kind of hit and miss."

[sucof]

Will the teams remove the wing actuators to save weight now for Monaco?

[214270]

Calm response despite the off, lol. Santi chatting away in the braking zone:

[PlatinumZealot]

Calm response despite the off, lol. Santi chatting away in the braking zone:

He is getting along very well with the Saint. It's a symbiotic relationship and they will both strengthen to be very formidable if they play thier cards right.