(Motorsport-Total.com) – Ferrari will continue to advance the development of the SF-26 until the last race of the Formula 1 season. Team principal Fred Vasseur has made it clear that the Scuderia does not intend to reduce the pace of development despite the budget cap.
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“The strategy is that we will keep pushing until the end,” says Vasseur in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com, a sister platform of Motorsport-Total.com. “We have a plan. We have no problem with the budget cap, we stick to the plan and will continue like this.”
With this, Ferrari is also responding to the increasing discussion about how long the top teams can continue to develop their 2026 cars. Because while work on the 2027 cars is already underway in parallel, teams must control their spending under the applicable cost cap.
Ferrari relies on small but regular steps
Ferrari has already equipped the SF-26 this season with a variety of detailed improvements. The development has paid off: the Scuderia is still in second place in the constructors’ championship. In addition, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have each won a Grand Prix in the current season.
The next upgrade stage is expected to follow at the home race in Monza. Ferrari will likely introduce smaller aerodynamic improvements there. In addition, after the recent ADUO classification, the second engine update of the season will be added.
Ferrari is deliberately pursuing a different development strategy. Vasseur explains: “McLaren comes with a big package on the car every three or four races, while we try to bring upgrades at every race that are significantly smaller. But in the end, the costs are the same.”
For Ferrari, this approach seems to fit well with its own infrastructure. The combination of wind tunnel and production capacities enables the team to regularly implement smaller development steps instead of bundling improvements into larger packages over several races.
Tight field makes further development especially important
The importance of this strategy is further reinforced by the current balance of power. Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari are now sometimes extremely close together.
Especially on tracks where the 2026 power units have less influence on lap times, the smallest improvements can make the difference.
How close the field is was recently shown in Zandvoort: in the sprint qualifying, Mercedes, McLaren, and Ferrari were within just one tenth of a second. At the same time, about three tenths of a second is now often enough to decide whether a driver is on pole or only in the third row.
Teams that can improve their cars late into the season therefore still have the opportunity to make up ground in the championship fight. At the same time, this creates a difficult conflict of goals: resources must be divided between current development and preparation for 2027.
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Accidents can significantly affect budget planning
Vasseur does not see only the planned upgrades as a challenge. Accidents can also become a significant problem for teams given the cost cap.
“What is probably a challenge is that we are still developing with eleven races remaining,” the Ferrari team principal looks ahead. “And I think an accident like Max [Verstappen]’s in Zandvoort is enormously costly for Red Bull in terms of the budget cap.”
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Especially in a phase where teams have to plan their development until the end of the season, such additional costs are difficult to calculate. A major accident can ultimately require spare parts and additional production capacities, which then are missing elsewhere in the development program.
Mercedes lagging behind Ferrari and McLaren?
While Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull have already introduced several major and minor updates, Mercedes has recently fallen behind in development. The next big upgrade package is expected only at the Malaysian Grand Prix in October.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had stated that his team lacks the financial means for further developments on the car beyond the already planned program.
At the same time, he hinted that Ferrari and other competitors might also be forced to reduce their development pace at some point due to the budget cap. Vasseur does not want to comment on Mercedes’ specific strategy.
Different paths, but similar development pace
“I don’t want to talk about Mercedes because I don’t understand it,” says the Ferrari team principal and emphasizes: “We have found our best approach in bringing upgrades at almost every race. One week it’s about mechanics, the next week about aerodynamics, and so we continue.”
“That fits our production capacities and the capacities of our wind tunnel, and it works well,” he stresses. Vasseur does not rate McLaren’s different approach as better or worse. The differences are mainly due to the respective structure and equipment of the teams.
“If McLaren approaches things differently, they have good reasons for it. The structure of the teams is different, the configuration is different. But ultimately, we follow each other almost step by step in terms of development over the course of a season.”
With the next package in Monza, the next phase of Ferrari’s upgrade offensive begins. Given the tight gaps in the field, each of these small steps could prove decisive until the end of the season.
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