Ferrari continued their strong pre-season form in Free Practice 1, where Charles Leclerc topped the timings by half a second. In FP2, however, the dynamics across the field began to shift.
Mercedes, who have been widely suspected of hiding their pace, upped the intensity in Australia’s afternoon session. The Silver Arrows finished FP2 in second and third, only a few tenths behind Piastri – who also found lap-time after a tricky start for McLaren.
The more relevant data came from the race simulations, where Mercedes had a consistent advantage of a few tenths. For Leclerc and Ferrari, this was somewhat expected.
It was clear that Toto Wolff’s team kept their cards close to their chest in pre-season testing. Then again, Leclerc admits the gap to the W18 – particularly on high fuel – is far from ideal.
Leclerc: Deficit to Mercedes “more than I would have liked”
LWOS has written previously about Fred Vasseur’s mentality for these 2026 regulations. In short, the Ferrari team principal believes that mid-season development will make the difference.
Vasseur has insisted that Ferrari’s finishing position in round one will not determine the season’s outcome.
The factory in Maranello have plenty of upgrades in the pipeline, and the current iteration of the SF-26 is fairly basic. A series of more ambitious updates will arrive in the upcoming months – with Ferrari making sure to confirm the accuracy of their wind tunnel correlation.
Still, the Italian squad are obviously aiming for the win this weekend. By extension, a larger initial deficit – to Mercedes or anyone else – will make a later recovery more difficult.
With this in mind, Charles Leclerc was calm – albeit slightly downbeat – when analysing Ferrari’s position:
“FP1 looked positive, but then [in] FP2 the teams are showing little by little, a bit more. Unfortunately, we seem to be on the back foot – especially compared to Mercedes, that seem to be very, very strong.
“I don’t think they showed everything on low fuel, but on high fuel, it was very impressive. I mean it’s the first time probably we see how much [difference] there is to them.
“A bit more than what I would have liked, but it’s the way it is. On the other side, it’s been quite a positive start on the weekend, and we’ll keep working very hard to maximise everything for tomorrow…
“For the rest of the weekend, it’s all about putting everything together. In qualifying, I have the feeling that it can be quite close.
“In the race, it seems that Mercedes has quite a lot of performance coming, but we’ll see.”
Ferrari consistent in their approach
In the first year of the previous regulation change, 2022, it was Ferrari who set the early pace. Quite infamously, the Italian outfit let their early advantage slip away as the season progressed.
Part of this decline was due to reliability failures, with DNFs in Baku and Spain erasing much of Leclerc’s early Championship lead.
As a result, Ferrari know better than to overreact after the first phase of the season. To some extent, these lessons have informed the team’s development philosophy for 2026.
With resources increasingly limited in modern F1, updates carry even more significance.
Every modification and new specification represents a percentage of the wind tunnel hours and CFD time that teams have at their disposal.
This means any miscalculations or false assumptions in mid-season development are extremely costly. As a result, Ferrari are in no rush to squander their wind tunnel hours and bring upgrades immediately.
Over the coming weeks, a significant part of Ferrari’s attention will be dedicated to understanding their existing package and which direction for development was more viable.
Of course, if Mercedes or another team have the early advantage, this measured approach does not automatically guarantee the Scuderia can claw back the gap.
What it does mean, however, is that Fred Vasseur’s team won’t hit the panic button – regardless of what transpires on race day.
