Ferrari, glass half empty or half full?
The three weeks between the Hungarian GP and the Dutch GP are clearly the perfect moment for a first assessment of the 2026 season, with 11 rounds now behind us.
Ferrari is the second force – both among the drivers with Lewis Hamilton and among the constructors – and can boast 2 wins and a total of 9 podiums as the haul collected so far.
The judgment on the work of Frederic Vasseur’s men is not a simple evaluation, since on the one hand it started from the starting blocks with an obvious gap from Mercedes, but during the course it has closed the gap a bit. Beautiful surprises, compared to expectations, were the victories in Barcelona and Silverstone, while Monte Carlo and Budapest were very disappointing.
In short, growth can be seen as a glass half full and as a source of hope, or the constant chase at the start of the last regulatory cycles – which sees Ferrari at -72 among the constructors and -50 among the drivers – can be judged with the glass half empty.
Vasseur praises the execution
Asked by journalists in the traditional media briefing on the sidelines of the Hungarian Grand Prix, team principal Frederic Vasseur explained: “The first part of the season took place, I would say, probably in two phases. The first lasted until Spain, when Mercedes was unbeatable, having scored about 100 points more than us in four or five races. From Spain, when we returned to the track, we scored more points than Mercedes in these four or five races. If I had to draw a conclusion based on today (the Hungarian GP, ed), I would say that we need to improve execution, but so far execution has been quite good for us since the start of the season.”
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Up to the Monaco GP (6th GP) Mercedes led the world championship with 244 points, with Ferrari at 165, McLaren at 116 and Red Bull at 69.
In the next 5 races, Ferrari scored 142 points, Mercedes 135, Red Bull 108 and McLaren 104.
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