There is a Ferrari that beats Mercedes in F1: it is the one for pit-stops

The best, once again

Ferrari 98 points, Mercedes 62, this is the ranking after three GPs. No, we haven’t fallen into a parallel universe where the Maranello team was the one to nail the perfect car at the advent of the new regulatory cycle, nor into a ‘buggy’ video game where the values of the SF-26 are oversized compared to those of the W17. This ranking is real and concerns F1, but it is the one for pit stops. The mechanics of the red team are indeed confirming themselves even in this start of the season as clearly the best on the grid, after managing in 2025 to break the hegemony of the Red Bull crew that had lasted for eight seasons.

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Between Australia, China, and Japan no fewer than five of the seven fastest pit stops were performed by the men in red who have finally been able to revive the myth of Ferrari pit stops from the early 2000s, when an important component of the Schumacher era triumphs was precisely the efficiency and speed of the pit stops. In the last race before the forced spring break, at Suzuka, the Ferrari mechanics performed what are so far the two fastest stops of the season: 2.13 seconds for the tire change on Charles Leclerc’s car and even 2.00 flat for the same operation on Lewis Hamilton’s car. This last stop is almost two-tenths faster than the fastest seasonal stop performed by Mercedes.

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While waiting for the official decisions on the ADUO, the expected developments on the SF-26, and any regulatory interventions, there is already a Ferrari that wins: it’s the one in the pit lane.

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