Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has confirmed the Scuderia will continue developing its SF-26 Formula 1 car despite fading championship prospects following a difficult Spanish Grand Prix.
Championship deficit grows after Barcelona
Lewis Hamilton retired from the Madrid race with brake issues, leaving the seven-time world champion 101 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the drivers’ standings. Charles Leclerc managed only fourth place, resulting in Ferrari trailing Mercedes by 145 points in the constructors’ championship.
Resource allocation remains constrained by the cost cap and aerodynamic testing restrictions. On the power unit side, Ferrari has already deployed both of its permitted ADUO upgrades for the season.
Development focus remains on current car
While rival teams shift attention toward 2027 regulations, Vasseur insists Ferrari’s immediate priority remains the SF-26.
“We are not in the situation of 12 months ago,”
the Frenchman said, referencing F1’s regulatory overhaul for 2026.
“Today, what we will develop, we will be able to carry it over on next year’s project. We will continue to work, but perhaps on different things, different aspects. The development that we do now, 80% will be carried over.”
Vasseur refuses to concede title fight
When asked if Ferrari’s championship challenge was effectively over against Antonelli and Mercedes, Vasseur declined to answer directly.
“Two or three weeks ago I told you that I will take race by race. I didn’t change,”
he insisted.
Qualifying performance identified as key weakness
The team principal highlighted qualifying pace as the primary area requiring improvement. Since the summer break, neither Hamilton nor Leclerc has qualified on the front row across four sessions, including the Zandvoort sprint. Their average grid position stands at fifth, with the SF-26 trailing pole position by an average of 0.198 seconds — slower than McLaren and Mercedes but quicker than Red Bull.
“This we need to improve, because I think when you have a look on the pace, during the race the pace is there. For sure we need to do a better job in quali.”
Vasseur noted a consistent pattern across recent events.
“If you take Zandvoort and this one, the profile of the event is a little bit the same for us. We had a decent pace in quali, but we didn’t put everything together on the last attempt, and race pace is OK.”
Focus on qualifying evolution
The Ferrari boss emphasized the need for better progression through qualifying segments rather than raw single-lap speed.
“If I have to put the focus of the team on something today, it would be the evolution of the pace during the quali – more than the pace in quali, the evolution, the steps that you can do. We were there on run one Q3, the potential is there, we just have to adapt everything further on.”
