2026 Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 Team

[avantman]

I remember the hype post Silverstone 2024. It was very similar to what we see now. Guess what happened after?
On Leclerc side, if he’s not capable of beating a 41 years old post prime Ham convincingly over the season, whereas Button and Rosberg could best prime Hamilton, that means he is simply not good enough. There cannot be any second thoughts about that.

[DGP123]

On Leclerc side, if he’s not capable of beating a 41 years old post prime Ham convincingly over the season, whereas Button and Rosberg could best prime Hamilton, that means he is simply not good enough. There cannot be any second thoughts about that.

A strange post, that means nothing. Leclerc has already beaten Hamilton over a season, like Button & Rosberg did. Those two named, were bang average, one time world champions. This is just a blip that can happen to any driver.

Hamilton got spanked last year, and now he’s in a regulation he likes and has a car he’s comfortable with. That negates age. Hence, the difference in results. Everyone beats everyone at some point over the coarse of a career. It changes, season to season. I’m not sure what point you were trying to make.

[Sidiamal]

I remember the hype post Silverstone 2024. It was very similar to what we see now. Guess what happened after?
On Leclerc side, if he’s not capable of beating a 41 years old post prime Ham convincingly over the season, whereas Button and Rosberg could best prime Hamilton, that means he is simply not good enough. There cannot be any second thoughts about that.

As I recall after Silverstone he was on the podium the race after and then won the one after that. Don't think anyone will be too bothered by that happening again.

[amr]

I wonder if the moderators would consider creating individual drivers topics in the forum where all this discussion on "X is better than Y" could be contained and where every one could sing out loud how great their driver is and how much the other driver sucks.

I feel like the Team topic (and not only Ferrari's topic) is wasted. You need to sifting through piles of .... replies to find any relevant Team info/news/opinion.

[hollus]

I agree and I think it is a pile of man$&@. Nobody comes to THIS forum to read driver yin-yang, but so many seem to come here to write it!
As mentioned above, humans and those pesky emotions.
The issue has been revisited multiple times by the mod team.
Dedicated driver threads descend to hell so quickly and reliably that we now close them before they take off, more often that not. They also did not protect the team threads, but rather spilled animosity into them.
So the compromise was to box the driver stuff to the team threads (and protect the technical subsections). It is often on topic and interesting enough (Ham and his fetish for CI brake pads), but too often just yin-yang, and the line is not easy to draw. Without poster restraint to keep those useable, I am not sure what can be done. The current compromise is clearly not that great. I for sure don’t have enough hammers to keep that Whack-a-Mole game under control.
Maybe time to revisit?

[erudite450]

What do we expect from the team at the Redbull Ring? It's dominated by medium speed corners and those aggressive curbs. The car has been close to the Mercedes in the slow corners but I'm not sure what the verdict is on medium-speed corners.

[amr]

I hope I'm wrong but I feel that the hybrid part will play the biggest part in the performance so I'm expecting Merc powered cars to do good. Maybe the rumored improvements will be true and enough to give the reds a fighting chance.

[edu2703]

What do we expect from the team at the Redbull Ring? It's dominated by medium speed corners and those aggressive curbs. The car has been close to the Mercedes in the slow corners but I'm not sure what the verdict is on medium-speed corners.

Red Bull Ring is a fast circuit with many straights and medium-speed corners. It should give an advantage to Merc-powered cars.

However, there is an engine upgrade for Ferrari, and this track is one of the best to test how well this upgrade addresses the engine power deficiency. If we do well in Austria, it will be a sign the engine upgrade worked and the power gap was reduced, in addition to the aerodynamic updates. It will be the definitive proof that Barcelona wasn't a one-off and Ferrari will be able to fight for the title this season.

[dans79]

For Austria I think it will depend on a few things.

If the new intercooler rumors are real, then that could help Ferrari.
https://scuderiafans.com/ferrari-pushes ... e-package/

According to paddock reports, the updated engine expected to make its debut in Austria will significantly increase the temperature of the intake air entering the intercooler. Current estimates suggest Ferrari could be targeting operating temperatures between 110 and 115 degrees Celsius.

Even if the intercooler doesn't help make any more power, it means they can run less cooling than other teams and that means less drag and more DF. I've seen some photos suggesting Ferrari ran less cooling than the Merc powered teams from Saturday onward in Barcelona, and that was one of the things that helped them. Since Austria is at altitude how much cooling a team needs to run is very important.

Austria's weather is also very unpredictable.
2020 : track temp 53C
2021 : track temp 54C
2022 : track temp 34C
2023 : track temp 31C
2024 : track temp 47C
2025 : track temp 50C

Imo we are to far out to trust weather predictions, but current predictions are calling for some amount of rain every day.
https://www.bbc.com/weather/2764812

If Ferrari has the most DF and it rains that would likely be good for them.


What would be bad for Ferrari is cool dry conditions.

[catent]

It’s funny to me that people are so quick to write off leclerc and compare him to Hamilton. Why don’t you just support both drivers and want them to do well? Must be exhausting always hating on someone.

Most Lewis/Charles/Ferrari fans are supporting both drivers, I think any hostility is down to other fans (not Charles fans) using Charles' performance last year to bash Lewis and write him off as washed. Truthfully the car was horrendous, especially towards the end of last season and Charles was performing miracles to get any results at all.

So now there is definitely some pushback in the other direction that this performance by Lewis is real, there is no luck involved or any external factors beyond driving performance to explain the way Lewis has outperformed Charles in 2026.

But there is no hostility, I would think most Hamilton fans (myself included) are wishing Charles well and only want to celebrate how well Lewis is driving.

There is never any justification for toxic dialogue. It’s always wrong.

As for: “there is no luck involved or any external factors beyond driving performance to explain the way Lewis has outperformed Charles in 2026.”

This isn’t true. Leclerc is down 25+ points due to mechanical issues alone - the brake issue in Monaco and the hydraulic failure in Barcelona. Without those DNFs, he’s tucked right behind Hamilton neck-and-neck.

The only race in which Hamilton has been decisively quicker on raw pace over the entire weekend was Montreal; both drivers were roughly on par in Australia, China, Barcelona, while Leclerc appeared to have a pace advantage at Suzuka, Miami, and Monaco.

Leclerc has lost 8-15 points due to his two mistakes (Miami GP final lap + Barcelona qualifying). As mentioned above, he’s lost far more points (25+) due to the brake issues in Monaco and the hydraulic failure at Barcelona. To say the gap between the two teammates has nothing to do with luck isn’t accurate.

[LM10]

What do we expect from the team at the Redbull Ring? It's dominated by medium speed corners and those aggressive curbs. The car has been close to the Mercedes in the slow corners but I'm not sure what the verdict is on medium-speed corners.

Ferrari has been and is the class of the field in slow corners.

[venkyhere]

There have been pages and pages of HAM v LEC fan debates/wars in this thread, alongwith some good 'analysis' posts regarding the same. I wonder whether anyone posted what Sainz said, regarding Hamilton's resurgence :

"You go to a team with a car you don't like and spend three years there without adapting, or without the car adapting to you. You end up looking one-dimensional. Then you go to a team with a car that suits your style and you look like a god. It's a much more complicated sport than people think, and Lewis has credit for turning things around. The change in regulations was his luck. If he was still driving last year's car, we wouldn't be seeing this version of Hamilton."
https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/sainz-po ... s-his-luck

Some of us (incl yours truly) had posted the same opinion in 2025, in this very thread - that HAM needs a car that's soft enough to 'dive' under hard braking to make his corner rotation, because he's a driver that's always preferred optimizing the entry into a corner rather than the exit out of. That 'late braking style' is baked into his driving, and with these 2026 era car, he is reaping the benefits of it. Hamilton has always made bold but well-informed career choices, and though Sainz uses the word 'luck' (sour grapes perhaps) I would rather say it was because he was told by Ferrari what kind of car and how well tailored it would be towards his needs, that drove his decision. Well done, Hamilton. (I also think he would have been absolutely at ease with the W17 as well, had he not switched teams).

[Just_a_fan]

Some of us (incl yours truly) had posted the same opinion in 2025, in this very thread - that HAM needs a car that's soft enough to 'dive' under hard braking to make his corner rotation, because he's a driver that's always preferred optimizing the entry into a corner rather than the exit out of. That 'late braking style' is baked into his driving, and with these 2026 era car, he is reaping the benefits of it. Hamilton has always made bold but well-informed career choices, and though Sainz uses the word 'luck' (sour grapes perhaps) I would rather say it was because he was told by Ferrari what kind of car and how well tailored it would be towards his needs, that drove his decision. Well done, Hamilton. (I also think he would have been absolutely at ease with the W17 as well, had he not switched teams).

Absolutely. Hamilton uses weight transfer and centre of pressure movement to rotate the car to a greater degree than many do. Both of these things were engineered out of the "tunnel" cars simply because the cars didn't work if you allow the CoP to move around. Interestingly, when Hamilton and Rosberg were at Mercedes, I remember Hamilton admitting that at some circuits Rosberg was quicker simply because he naturally carried speed through the corners where Hamilton didn't - Hamilton's lap time was found in the braking and rotation zones of the corners. Rosberg would have probably shone with the tunnel cars just as Russell did. Likewise someone like Button who also had a very traditional approach to corners. Russell has also admitted that he's not getting on with the current cars because they don't suit his style.

There is form for this in years passed - Vettel absolutely monstered the blown diffuser gap cars because it suited his style of getting the car turned and throttle down AASAP - with the blown diffuser gap, hitting the throttle hard, early, actually helped the rear at a time when traditionally you're waiting for the rear to settle. Webber never really got on with it - and was slower than Vettel once this blowing scheme was fully implemented. And conversely, once the blowing was removed, Vettel absolutely struggled - very reminiscent of Hamilton's woes when the tunnel cars came in. It reminds me of Mansell and Patrese in the FW14B - Patrese never got to grips with the way the car responded where Mansell just took it on faith that the thing would grip. The lack of traditional feedback to the driver caused by the suspension took away one of the things Patrese needed to feel the grip. Mansell just bullied the car in to corners and believed.

[Fakepivot]

what is charles style? i know he likes oversteery car, but he seem to get on with this car just fine..

[Sidiamal]

Weather forecasts are never particularly reliable this far out but with Spielberg having a rainy spell the chances of a wet weekend in Austria are respectable. Should be a great test of this car.