Aggressive developments
The second part of the 2026 Formula 1 season opens this weekend in Zandvoort and Ferrari is ready to resume the chase for Mercedes. The silver arrows remain the benchmark at the moment for having the best car on the grid, but despite this Ferrari has distinguished itself for the ability to develop the SF-26 throughout the season. Unlike what happened in the past with the previous generation of cars, during this championship the Maranello team has often brought technical innovations that have had a great impact on the car’s performance on track.
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Speaking at a press conference in the Ferrari hospitality with journalists present in the Netherlands, Charles Leclerc wanted to emphasize the great work done by the men and women in red, acknowledging a step change compared to the recent past: “Updates? I think [the work done] is really impressive – said the Monegasque – this year we have had a very aggressive approach compared to others. First of all in terms of innovation, and I think this is a very positive sign, because it shows that we are innovating and doing everything to find solutions outside the regulations. Secondly, the very aggressive plan to introduce updates. I think production has done an incredible job in the first half of the season, working at full speed to allow us to receive components as soon as possible. It makes a big difference in a year like this, where we are so early in development and every update made makes a big difference. We will continue to push like this also in the second half of the season”.
A clear program
Then, without obviously exposing himself too much, Leclerc made it clear that Ferrari also has a very clear plan for developments in the second half of the championship, indirectly responding to what Toto Wolff said a few days ago: “There is a very clear development program – warned the #16 in red – and there are still many things we want to improve. It seems clear to me what the main limits were in this first part of the season: obviously the engine and the power we currently have compared to the power units of Mercedes and Red Bull is where we are most lacking, and that is where we focus, but we have a team dedicated to the engine and one to the chassis and aerodynamics, where we are working on very different things”.
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“The program is already defined – Leclerc concluded – we know where we want to get and this is a good thing. I don’t think we had any particularly bad surprises in this first half of the season, unlike past generations of cars, where excessive contact with the asphalt made the situation very difficult. Sometimes it was not possible to achieve the same result as the wind tunnel. This year we did not have this problem and this is very positive for development and for the future innovations we want to bring to the car. So I can’t be so precise about what we are working on and what we want to achieve, but we definitely have a well-defined plan“.
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