The director of the Ferrari team, Fred Vasseur, has confirmed that the Scuderia will continue developing its Formula 1 car, the SF-26, even though its chances of fighting for the title have been considerably reduced.
After Lewis Hamilton’s retirement during the Spanish Grand Prix due to brake issues, the seven-time world champion finds himself 101 points behind the championship leader, Kimi Antonelli. At the same time, Charles Leclerc finished fourth at Madring, leaving Ferrari 145 points behind Mercedes in the constructors’ championship.
Vasseur mentioned that resources allocated for car development need to be managed carefully, especially due to the cost cap and restrictions on aerodynamic testing. Additionally, Ferrari has already introduced the two ADUO upgrades that have been permitted.
Despite many teams focusing on cars for 2027, Vasseur has no intention of making the new project Ferrari’s immediate priority. ‘We are not in the same situation we were 12 months ago,’ he commented, referring to the F1 regulatory reform for 2026. ‘The development we are doing now, 80% can be transferred to next year’s project.’
Regarding title possibilities, the Ferrari director avoided directly answering whether it was already too late to compete with Antonelli and Mercedes. ‘Two or three weeks ago, I told you that I would take it race by race. I haven’t changed my mind.’
A key aspect for Ferrari will be qualifying performance, as both Hamilton and Leclerc have not secured a spot on the front row in the last four sessions, including the Zandvoort sprint. Their average positioning is fifth, with a gap of 0.198 seconds to pole, slower than McLaren and Mercedes, but faster than Red Bull.
‘We need to improve that, because during the race we do have a good pace,’ added Vasseur. ‘If we have to focus the team’s attention on something today, it would be on evolving the pace during qualifying, rather than the pace itself, the steps we can take.’
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
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