(Motorsport-Total.com) – The Formula 1 race weekend for the Austrian Grand Prix started for Ferrari anything but according to plan. Despite the much-discussed introduction of the first ADUO engine upgrade of the season, the SF-26 showed its stubborn side on Friday at the Red Bull Ring (Formula 1 2026 live in the ticker).
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Barcelona winner Lewis Hamilton was only fifth with six tenths of a second behind, Charles Leclerc even only eighth with just under eight and a half tenths behind.
When asked about the parallels to the race weekend in Spain – where Ferrari also struggled on Friday but was able to win the race on Sunday in the end – team principal Frederic Vasseur initially responded with gallows humor: “We are copying Barcelona.” But the Frenchman quickly became serious and emphasized that the current situation on the track is not a conscious strategic conservatism.
“Today we struggled a bit with the conditions, I think similar to Barcelona. With the altitude, with the temperature – the track temperature, the air temperature,” said Vasseur. “I think that’s the same for everyone, but we had big problems. And we have to work on ourselves, work on the setup, the car, the driving style, everything, to do a better job tomorrow.”
Photos: F1: Austrian Grand Prix (Spielberg) 2026
Charles Leclerc, who had to miss the first free practice in favor of Dino Beganovic and only followed the action from the garage, experienced a nasty surprise upon his return to the cockpit. The setup problems manifested themselves in a glaring lack of mechanical and aerodynamic grip, making the car barely drivable.
“Since the first lap I drove, we slid on all four tires,” the Monegasque analyzes ruthlessly. “That’s why it was very, very tricky, and the balance was generally just very unstable.”
Tires good, pace bad
A central theme in Spielberg is, similar to previously in Spain, the extreme heat. However, the technical characteristic of the problems shifts noticeably. While in Spain the sheer tire wear was the decisive factor, Ferrari primarily struggles with pure base pace in Styria.
“In Barcelona we were on the good side of things. I think, regarding actual wear, we are not doing so badly here. The bigger problem is that the pace is simply missing,” says Leclerc. “Maybe we are fast after 20 laps, but being fast only after 20 laps is not good. So we still have a lot to work on the car.”
Vasseur also sees the lack of basic speed for a fast lap as the main shortcoming of this Friday and clearly differentiates between the two race tracks. “The wear in Barcelona was much higher and it was the main factor for performance, at least in the race. But we were also able to fight for pole position in qualifying. At least in terms of pure potential, we were up front,” the team principal recalled.
For Spielberg, however, his interim conclusion is much more sober: “Right now we are far away. Let’s work, that’s for sure. We have to unlock a lot of potential tonight, and then we’ll see tomorrow.”
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Engine upgrade no miracle
A big topic was of course the eagerly awaited introduction of the new power unit. Ferrari benefited from the so-called ADUO regulation (Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities), which allows manufacturers to bring engine updates if they are behind in development.
The expectations of Ferrari fans were correspondingly high, but the reality on the track – at least for now – does not reflect a dramatic shift in power.
Leclerc tries vehemently to dampen the exaggerated expectations of the new unit and instead emphasizes the enormous effort of the factory in Maranello: “We are not expecting miracle weapons either,” he makes clear. “There was an incredible amount of work behind the scenes to ensure that the improved engine was ready for now.”
Ferrari itself had already anticipated the upgrade through the ADUO regulation: “If you looked at our performance curve, we basically expected to get ADUO support,” he says. “So of course we made sure we were ready for this first race to install it directly in the car.”
Vasseur: “Expected what we got”
The Monegasque’s conclusion on the update is pragmatic in the end: “It’s not a revolution, but it’s a step in the right direction. And it really shows the mentality of the team to try to bring everything together and really push the limits of development to make sure we leave no stone unturned.”
“The lead time on engines is huge. For some components, you have months of delay,” explains Vasseur. Above all, the strict financial regulations made this early deployment a strategic gamble: “It was very risky for us due to the budget cap to bring the ADUO upgrade – at least specification 2 of the engine – very early.”
Accordingly, Vasseur realistically assesses the lack of sensation on the stopwatch on Friday: “I expected what we got,” he says. “We did not expect a big step at all for this weekend.”
For Ferrari, the task now is to find the synergy between the new, potentially more powerful engine and an extremely sensitive chassis setup. If the team can solve the balance problems overnight and stop the sliding on all four wheels, Friday, just like in Spain, could end up being just an insignificant footnote on the way to a successful weekend.
Leclerc remains cautiously optimistic: “Not too confident, but I mean, never say never.”
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