Ferrari, glass half full or half empty?
After four races of this 2026 season, Ferrari has accumulated 110 points and is second in the constructors’ championship, 70 points behind the leader Mercedes. There have been two third places with Charles Leclerc and one with Lewis Hamilton, but the SF-26 has never yet started from the front row. In the two Sprints, Leclerc achieved a second and a third place, while Hamilton took another third.
The “one and a half package of upgrades” announced for Miami did not provide the hoped-for boost compared to rivals, the drivers do not miss the chance to highlight the horsepower deficit of the current power unit, Hamilton pointed out how the setups decided in the simulator did not work on track.
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Is what we have seen so far enough to judge Ferrari’s start to the championship disappointing? Which aspect in particular can be considered disappointing?
FormulaPassion.it wanted to ask Pino Allievi – a prestigious motorsport writer and contributor to our publication – and Francesco Cigarini – at Maranello for over 20 years and present on Instagram and YouTube.
Pino Allievi: “I expected more from the upgrades, but the ADUO…”
“Nothing about Ferrari disappointed me, if anything I was surprised by the many ideas, later copied by others, that I saw in the SF26, a car excellent in its behavior on track. I expected more from the first evolutionary step seen in Miami, that’s for sure. Instead, it was in Miami that it was noticed how the developments brought by others, Alpine included, were more effective in terms of performance. The choice of the type of Power Unit was made jointly by the entire technical staff of the Scuderia and so it is not the time now to put the engineer Gualtieri’s team on trial. A misjudgment? We will understand in the next three races and so I refrain from judgments. As for the ADUO, I am strongly against it: F1 has always lived on hierarchies, why reward those who are less skilled to equalize the values on the field? Ferrari should have been the first to oppose a rule that goes against the values of sport.”
Francesco Cigarini: “It will be a disappointment if development is not aggressive and effective”
“To date there is no particular element that has disappointed me.
If you look at the progress compared to last year, the car is more competitive, it has peculiarities that put it at the top in some situations, they have brought updates and technical ideas to the track that other teams have noticed and brought to their cars to update them. So the flow of ideas seems to be unlocked and in some areas they are the benchmark.
It will disappoint me if they do not continue to develop aggressively and effectively, because at that point they will lose competitiveness and contact with the top of the standings.”
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We also invite you readers to tell us your opinion – within the 200-character limit in the comments (I have personally reported complaints, please be lenient…) -: is it too early to be disappointed by Ferrari’s start to 2026?
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