50 points from Kimi Antonelli and still half a season to go, but above all with a new and enhanced engine that could make the difference. Lewis Hamilton firmly believes in the possibility of winning the world championship, his eighth and the first with Ferrari, on the eve of the first race after the summer break in Zandvoort.
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Despite a clear dominance of Mercedes seen so far, Ferrari has still managed to achieve two wins on the two tracks probably least suited to the SF-26. While Toto Wolff remains convinced that the successes of the Prancing Horse and the contained gap are mostly due to Mercedes’ shortcomings, Hamilton instead sees at the center the great ability of the Scuderia to maximize the package available so far.
The second part of the season will be “very different” for Hamilton
“The management of the season has been incredible so far, especially considering that we probably had three or four tenths of a deficit in top speed and power on the straights”, these are Hamilton’s words reported by Auto Hebdo. “We haven’t brought upgrades for two and a half weekends, but more will arrive soon. So I think the second half of the season will be very different“.
This conviction of Hamilton is mainly linked to the evolution of the thermal engine that Ferrari will most likely introduce at Monza thanks to the ADUO. According to the seven-time English champion, the SF-26 will thus be able to exploit its potential even better, although the behavior of Mercedes with the introduction of its updates will also have to be evaluated.
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Not just the engine: the chassis also matters
Although all attention is focused on the engine at this stage, it should not be forgotten that the development of the chassis has been equally decisive for Ferrari’s good results. On this, Frédéric Vasseur was very clear, explaining how it will be crucial to maintain the same level of development from now until the end.
“We know where we need to progress from the engine point of view and we will do it, but chassis development is equally a priority”, Vasseur recalls. “The important thing will be to maintain the development pace. McLaren, for example, has made a big step forward, but they have a totally different philosophy from ours. They prefer to wait to present a new upgrade. Our approach is different, in the sense that we try to introduce new parts at every race. We have to maintain this dynamic for the remaining races, because we have room for improvement on all levels“.
