Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says the Scuderia will keep developing its SF-26 Formula 1 car, despite its diminishing title chances.
After Lewis Hamilton retired from the Spanish Grand Prix with brake issues, the seven-time world champion is 101 points adrift of championship leader Kimi Antonelli in the drivers’ standings. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc finished just fourth at Madring, meaning Ferrari is 145 points down on Mercedes in the constructors’.
Car development resources have to be carefully allocated in light of the cost cap and the aerodynamic testing restrictions; engine-wise, Ferrari has already introduced the two ADUO upgrades it has been allowed.
While teams are known to be working on their 2027 challengers, Vasseur has no intention to make that Ferrari’s full focus just yet.
“We are not in the situation of 12 months ago,” the Frenchman said, referring to 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.”
Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari
Photo by: Jayce Illman / Getty Images
As far as Ferrari’s title chances are concerned, Vasseur was asked if it was now ‘game over’ against Antonelli and Mercedes – a question he refused to answer directly.
“Two or three weeks ago I told you that I will take race by race. I didn’t change,” he insisted.
The key for Ferrari may be qualifying performance, as Hamilton and Leclerc have both failed to qualify on the front row in any of the four sessions (Zandvoort sprint included) since the summer break. Their average position is fifth, and the SF-26’s deficit to pole has been 0.198s – slower than McLaren and Mercedes, 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,” Vasseur said. “For sure we need to do a better job in quali.
“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.
“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.”
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
Read the full article here