A fight on two fronts
At the time of writing, Ferrari have used both the dry and wet tyres at Barcelona today. The Italian team clearly believe they can carry out certain tests despite the damp conditions.
With Tuesday’s morning session nearing a close, a brief trip to the gravel from Max Verstappen has been the only interruption. The SF-26 has been on track most of today so far, with Leclerc already accumulating a solid amount of laps. At least on the reliability front, this is more encouraging news for the Italian team.
Extrapolating the limited dated available to any concrete predictions for 2026 would be unwise. For now, however, Ferrari are avoiding any major hiccups.
This is important for a team who, as reported by LWOS, have a series of new components ready for the next first tests in Bahrain. Executing this relatively aggressive development plan requires a sizable amount of mileage.
Looking ahead to the remainder of this week, Ferrari are set to slowly push the SF-26 closer to its limits. Of course, the absolute performance of the Ferrari challenger will not be seen for some time.
Even a low-fuel run this week would not be particularly representative, given that a drastically new version of the SF-26 is scheduled for the Bahrain tests.
Regardless, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton will look forward to slowly building up the intensity of their pre-season schedule. This will give both drivers and engineers a better picture of the car they are working with.
