2026 Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 Team

[hollus]

@Anta, was that an AI wall of text?
Full of false conditionals and convincing statementrs based on smoke?
If Leclerc had pitted with that VSC, he would have finished 4th or 5th in all likelihood, 3rd in a miracle absolute best, and would have needed to survive 40 laps on mediuns.

That last part of the post states that “the mistake was that…”. But there was no mistake. He lost nothing, and he could have won a race.

[PlatinumZealot]

This Ferrari car is 3rd fastest at best

Fourth now. Redbull and Mclaren are better.

[atanatizante]

@Anta, was that an AI wall of text?
Full of false conditionals and convincing statementrs based on smoke?
If Leclerc had pitted with that VSC, he would have finished 4th or 5th in all likelihood, 3rd in a miracle absolute best, and would have needed to survive 40 laps on mediuns.

That last part of the post states that “the mistake was that…”. But there was no mistake. He lost nothing, and he could have won a race.

Fair criticism. I probably stated the conclusion too categorically. I’m not claiming Leclerc would certainly have won – or even finished P3 – had Ferrari stopped him under that VSC. A 40-lap Medium stint would obviously have been a major gamble.

My point is slightly different: Ferrari already had a discounted pit stop available, but chose to keep track position and gamble on another SC/VSC arriving later. It didn’t. They could also have considered M followed by the saved new Soft rather than necessarily asking the Medium to survive until the flag.

Russell is relevant here: H29–M14–H14, yet he finished only 0.713s behind Leclerc’s H48–S9. That doesn’t prove Ferrari should have copied Russell, but it shows there were viable alternatives to waiting almost 50 laps for a neutralisation.

So yes, I’ll happily correct “the mistake was…” to “the gamble was…”. Ferrari had a chance of winning if another SC/VSC arrived; it simply didn’t. That’s the strategic debate I was trying to raise.

[atanatizante]

The problem with Ferrari is that they statted with a very good car stuck with a mediocre engine. Now the others have caught up on the car department whereas Ferrari hasn’t made big enough improvements on the PU side to nullify the gap they had there.

Its another dead season for them unfortunately.

McLaren has a better chassis/aero now. RB is not that far behind as well.

I broadly agree. The irony is that Ferrari designed this PU around compromises that were supposed to help the car as a whole: less cooling and more aggressive packaging for an aero benefit, plus the smaller turbo for better response and a launch advantage.

But if you sacrifice too much ICE performance, while a FIA procedural change largely neutralises your launch advantage, the very compromises that were supposed to help the chassis start working against the overall concept.

That probably explains why Vasseur was so cautious about ADUO2: it can improve the PU, but it cannot fundamentally redesign it or bring Ferrari to Mercedes parity.

And the reported 2027 changes are perhaps the clearest indication of all. If Ferrari is already reconsidering major architectural choices – particularly the small-turbo concept – then they clearly see limited development headroom in the current solution.

So yes: Ferrari may have started 2026 with the better car but the weaker PU. Now that McLaren has improved the chassis/aero, the original Ferrari PU compromise is becoming increasingly exposed.

[deadhead]

This Ferrari car is 3rd fastest at best

Fourth now. Redbull and Mclaren are better.

Hamilton will have to work even harder in developing the one for next year because his engineering efforts for this season didn’t really move the needle.

[Darth-Piekus]

Actually it did. The car of 2025 was nowhere near this one. However it's Ferrari who have to improve their game as they tend to waste so much money and their development is horrible.

[MattLightBlue]

This Ferrari car is 3rd fastest at best

Fourth now. Redbull and Mclaren are better.

Hamilton will have to work even harder in developing the one for next year because his engineering efforts for this season didn’t really move the needle.

What do we need Gualtieri and Serra for, if we have Hamilton designing the car?

[PlatinumZealot]

This Ferrari car is 3rd fastest at best

Fourth now. Redbull and Mclaren are better.

Hamilton will have to work even harder in developing the one for next year because his engineering efforts for this season didn’t really move the needle.

Yes. Lots of work to do to make the car dominant, but if he is smart he steers the development towards his style and away from Leclerc's. Even down to the smallest detail because Charles is in his prime and Lewis is not getting any younger.

2027 and 2028. Two more bites of the cherry.

[bluechris]

This Ferrari car is 3rd fastest at best

Fourth now. Redbull and Mclaren are better.

Hamilton will have to work even harder in developing the one for next year because his engineering efforts for this season didn’t really move the needle.

What engineering efforts? The steering wheel change because Ferrari had different buttons and he wasn't able to used to it or the brakes where he was racing them all his life?

[deadhead]

Actually it did. The car of 2025 was nowhere near this one. However it's Ferrari who have to improve their game as they tend to waste so much money and their development is horrible.

It’s all within their normal deviation between seasons.

2021 - poor
2022 - good
2023 - poor
2024 - good
2025 - poor
2026 - good

No titles.

Nothing to do with Lewis Hamilton.

[bluechris]

Actually it did. The car of 2025 was nowhere near this one. However it's Ferrari who have to improve their game as they tend to waste so much money and their development is horrible.

It’s all within their normal deviation between seasons.

2021 - poor
2022 - good
2023 - poor
2024 - good
2025 - poor
2026 - good

No titles.

Nothing to do with Lewis Hamilton.

According to this, next year will be poor? Nice.

[Sphere3758]

Actually it did. The car of 2025 was nowhere near this one. However it's Ferrari who have to improve their game as they tend to waste so much money and their development is horrible.

It’s all within their normal deviation between seasons.

2021 - poor
2022 - good
2023 - poor
2024 - good
2025 - poor
2026 - good

No titles.

Nothing to do with Lewis Hamilton.

According to this, next year will be poor? Nice.

Honestly, it is quite amazing how the Ferrari cars always seem to have one fatal flaw.
Redbull from 2022-2024 was basically flawless. Only Singapore seemed to trip them a little, but every driver on the grid would take that weakness

Mclaren from Austria 2023 seemed quite flawless. Their only flaws were their drivers and the strategy team.

Ferrari's story is always about compromise: too unreliable / too much degradation / too slow in qualifying / engine not good enough

I can excuse them for the initial engine being off, but they've still not managed to even equal redbull after 2 engine upgrades. One team has made their first engine ever and the other has been building it from the very beginning of Formula 1.

[F1subman25]

The commentators of modern F1 really are rubbish. Ferrari weren’t hoping for a late safety car they were hoping for a red flag from an incident as it would have allowed them to change tyres during the pause.


David Croft and Brundle Roman extent are too long in the tooth, you see things on screen that these guys continually miss.

[MattLightBlue]

The commentators of modern F1 really are rubbish. Ferrari weren’t hoping for a late safety car they were hoping for a red flag from an incident as it would have allowed them to change tyres during the pause.


David Croft and Brundle Roman extent are too long in the tooth, you see things on screen that these guys continually miss.

I agree, they missed also that Lando couldn’t go in during the first VSC lap because he had passed the pit entry when it was declared.
Too centered on the action and not enough on the bigger picture. Some TVs have a third person for this purpose during the race.

[sucof]

It’s all within their normal deviation between seasons.

2021 - poor
2022 - good
2023 - poor
2024 - good
2025 - poor
2026 - good

No titles.

Nothing to do with Lewis Hamilton.

According to this, next year will be poor? Nice.

Honestly, it is quite amazing how the Ferrari cars always seem to have one fatal flaw.
Redbull from 2022-2024 was basically flawless. Only Singapore seemed to trip them a little, but every driver on the grid would take that weakness

Mclaren from Austria 2023 seemed quite flawless. Their only flaws were their drivers and the strategy team.

Ferrari's story is always about compromise: too unreliable / too much degradation / too slow in qualifying / engine not good enough

I can excuse them for the initial engine being off, but they've still not managed to even equal redbull after 2 engine upgrades. One team has made their first engine ever and the other has been building it from the very beginning of Formula 1.

I see this a bit differently. Being the fastest car does not mean you did everything right or the best.
It means, you did most things acceptable/good, and one important thing a lot better then the others.

Let's say, Mercedes made their entire drivetrain better that it gives them 8 tenth of advantage. Then if their chassis is 4 tenth behind, they are still 4 tenth ahead.

Ferrari when had the grey zone engine, had the fastest car, could have won the championship. Red Bull had an exceptional aero when they dominated, etc.

I do not know if it is luck to have an overall good car with one killer part, or they lack something in the company, like location, company culture, leadership, etc... why they lately always stop at around the second position...
But we also have to appreciate that they kinda consistently achieve to be around the top. Not many team is capable of doing this for decades....