(Motorsport-Total.com) – The SF-26 is a Ferrari that seems stubbornly to evade a final assessment. Among the many factors that make this year’s Scuderia project so elusive, one stands out above all: the difficulty of realistically assessing the car’s true potential.
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On paper, the double-header in Silverstone and Spa should have been a disaster for Ferrari: two tracks with high energy input – precisely the scenario that Maranello considers the least favorable. Instead, the Scuderia left the two race weekends with a total of 81 points. Mercedes collected 56 points in the same period, while Red Bull and McLaren each only managed 36 points.
“It’s true that when we arrived [in Belgium], as in Silverstone, we expected difficult weekends and didn’t expect to be able to compete for victory due to the characteristics of the track,” Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur admits in retrospect.
“You can say that it went pretty well, we did a great job and were able to hold our own in the front positions.” But Ferrari is not yet able to seriously challenge Mercedes in the fight for the most important goals.
Ferrari can put pressure on Mercedes
But the SF-26 is following a development curve that, at least for now, allows the Scuderia to leave McLaren and Red Bull behind. While this is far from the ambitions with which Ferrari started the season, just a few months ago, even this scenario would have been anything but a given.
In Spa, Charles Leclerc was even allowed to dream of a second consecutive victory for a few laps. This scenario was favored by a virtual safety car that came out at the perfect moment for Ferrari’s strategy. Subsequently, however, the combination of Mercedes and Kimi Antonelli restored the balance of power – but only after the Silver Arrow had to pull out all the stops.
“On paper, Spa and Silverstone were two of the most difficult weekends for us,” Vasseur adds, “and overall, we can say that it went pretty well. It’s clear that Kimi had a bit more in terms of pure performance, but the execution of our weekend was good, and that allowed us to compete.”
“In the future, tracks will come that better suit our technical package, but today nothing should be taken for granted, because everyone is constantly developing their cars.” On a track like Spa, the gap between Ferrari and Mercedes in race pace was around two tenths of a second.
Is qualifying the main problem for Ferrari?
In qualifying, however, the gap was even larger. The Scuderia currently seems most vulnerable on a single lap. This weakness regularly forces Ferrari to start races in traffic and thus in “dirty air” – without the ability to exploit the full potential of the SF-26 over the race distance.
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Will that change in the upcoming races? “I don’t think we can make big strides on this front in the near future,” Vasseur explained regarding qualifying competitiveness. “We are practically at the limit.”
“It’s probably a characteristic of the power unit that helps Mercedes a bit more on a fast lap, while it might favor us in the race, even if we’re not absolutely sure about that. There’s not much we can do except continue to develop the car, bring performance, and get closer and closer to Mercedes.”
Ferrari shows strong performance in Belgium
Sunday in Spa also confirmed Leclerc’s growing confidence in the SF-26. The Monegasque’s race was almost flawless, the only minor blemish being the risk taken in contact with Oscar Piastri’s McLaren. And at times, even a double podium for Ferrari seemed possible.
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Hamilton’s race, however, was significantly hampered already on the opening lap by contact with George Russell’s Mercedes. Nevertheless, his balance sheet is also positive: The Brit fought his way up to fourth place and collected twelve championship points, which put him back in second place overall in the drivers’ championship behind Antonelli.
Next weekend, Ferrari travels to Hungary with the aim of once again getting the maximum out of it. On paper, which has been disproven several times this season but whose logic still holds, the Hungaroring should suit the characteristics of the SF-26: slow corners, few straights, and a significantly lower influence of the power unit.
Ferrari team principal warns against excessive optimism
Vasseur nevertheless urges caution: “Next week everyone will bring upgrades, and today it’s impossible to know what the performance picture will look like,” the team principal warns. “Furthermore, we must not forget that a large part of the performance depends on execution: tire management, tire preparation, and the setup probably count more than the track configuration.”
Superstition? Perhaps that also plays a role. “On paper, tracks like Silverstone and Spa were probably more difficult for us than others,” Vasseur concludes, “but we must continue with the same approach and not think that the next race will be easy. It never is.”
The Hungaroring (here the complete schedule) will certainly not be a walk in the park, there’s little doubt about that. However, it’s just as hard to deny that Ferrari travels to Budapest with a realistic chance to fight for the best possible result until the end. Perhaps it will even be enough for the third win of the season.
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