Ferrari has introduced plans to launch its F1 automotive in 2026.
The Scuderia is predicted to announce its 2026 challenger on January 23, earlier than finishing shakedown driving on the Fiorano check monitor.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are set to debut their as-yet-unnamed 2026 F1 automotive on monitor three days earlier than the primary behind-closed-doors check in Barcelona begins on January 26.
“It will undoubtedly be aggressive, as a result of we end assembling the automotive the day earlier than the launch,” Ferrari group boss Fred Vasseur admitted on the group’s conventional year-end press convention in Maranello.
“The presentation will happen in Maranello on January twenty third, which suggests we’ll full the automotive on the twenty second. That is aggressive, however everybody will do the identical.”
Ferrari begins testing with a easy idea
Vasseur mentioned Ferrari would begin testing with a really fundamental automotive design and give attention to gaining as a lot mileage as potential in a non-public check in Barcelona earlier than worrying about efficiency later.
Vasseur mentioned this method will likely be adopted by most grids.
“I believe everybody would try this,” he insisted. “On this state of affairs, crucial factor is to get the mileage. It isn’t about chasing the efficiency. It is about getting the mileage to validate the technical selections of the automotive from a reliability perspective. And getting the efficiency. So I believe everybody will come to Barcelona in a Spec A, for instance, and never in a mule automotive.”
“We’re not used to doing nine-day assessments anymore. Within the final 4 or 5 seasons we have been doing three-day assessments. It is a bonus, but it surely’s additionally a totally totally different program. The primary aim in a season like that is to get reliability.”
“Within the first race (of the earlier energy unit change in 2014) we had a really excessive charge of DNFs. Which means the primary focus in Barcelona is to get some mileage within the automotive, to know the reliability of the automotive, the place we’ve got to enhance, what we’ve got to react to. As a result of if we perceive one thing in Bahrain, we cannot have time to react for Australia earlier than the second check.”
2026, and the beginning of F1’s new rule period, will likely be an enormous second for Ferrari, who fell from second to fourth within the constructors’ standings throughout a dismal and winless 2025 season.
