{"id":38705,"date":"2026-01-24T05:45:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T10:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=38705"},"modified":"2026-01-24T05:49:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T10:49:22","slug":"ferrari-sf-26-already-close-to-minimum-weight-in-f1-2026-boost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2026\/01\/24\/ferrari-sf-26-already-close-to-minimum-weight-in-f1-2026-boost\/","title":{"rendered":"Ferrari SF-26 already close to minimum weight in F1 2026 boost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ferrari successfully completed their first steps with the SF-26 as their private circuit in Fiorano on Friday, with thousands of enthusiastic Tifosi in attendance. Both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc<\/a> were in positive spirits as they got to grips with their new challenger.<\/p>\n

At a time when Williams<\/a>\u00a0are missing the first week of testing in Barcelona, Ferrari fans can breathe a sigh of relief that the Maranello squad is on schedule.<\/p>\n

Beyond this, there are positive indications about the Italian outfit’s progress on their 2026 package. Vasseur’s team are currently refining a comprehensive and thorough testing plan, thanks to an efficient winter of work.<\/p>\n

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Ferrari on time with 2026 development schedule<\/h2>\n

The last few days have seen more information emerging about this year’s 2026 challengers. With teams participating in their first filming days and shakedowns of the year, a clearer image is forming about what this season will look like.<\/p>\n

Ferrari, much like Mercedes<\/a> in their Silverstone shakedown, showed off some advanced aerodynamic specifications at the SF-26’s debut.<\/p>\n

Crucially, the Italian outfit have a wide range of components and ideas in the pipeline to analyse. Next week’s Barcelona test will see two different versions of the SF-26 on circuit, allowing engineers to conduct comparative data analysis and better understand their next steps.<\/p>\n

However, even before looking at these finer details, there is good news about Ferrari’s 2026 package. As reported by it.motorsport.com<\/a>, the SF-26 is only two kilograms heavier than the minimum 768kg weight.<\/p>\n

When the 2026 begins, few teams are expected to be at F1’s minimum weight. The majority of cars will be over 10 kilograms heavier than the regulatory minimum, an excess which is enough to lose several tenths per lap.<\/p>\n

Ferrari successfully getting the SF-26 to only a few kilograms over the 768kg is an impressive achievement.<\/p>\n

Although aerodynamics has a bigger influence on lap-time than weight, Fred Vasseur’s squad are putting themselves in a good starting position by having a relatively light car. It means that Ferrari can immediately focus on extracting more performance without having to simultaneously shed excess weight to get closer to the 768kg minimum.<\/p>\n

More generally, there are notable similarities with some of the technical solutions on the Ferrari SF-26 and Mercedes W17<\/a>. (cont. on next page)<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Unlike most other teams in their 2026 shakedowns, the Scuderia already have a relatively sophisticated car as their baseline. Considering an entirely different specification will also be available in Barcelona, the Maranello factory is clearly at an advanced stage with their 2026 rollout.<\/p>\n

Assuming they can avoid major hiccups, especially on the reliability front, Ferrari should be on a good path to optimise their trajectory.<\/p>\n

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Big decisions ahead after Barcelona<\/h4>\n

The good news for Ferrari<\/a> is that, up to this stage, there are no alarm bells. Moreover, the car developed by Technical Director Loic Serra clearly consists of some bold ideas and concepts.<\/p>\n

With that said, this is only the first step in what will inevitably be an intense 2026 development race.<\/p>\n

If the SF-26’s technical foundation is solid, and if the team’s factory data accurately correlates with data from the circuit, the Italian outfit still need to optimise several areas.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest challenge for Ferrari is to ensure their power unit is competitive<\/a>. In the context of an increasingly ominous Mercedes, this means excelling with their ICE (Internal Combustion Engine), electrification, energy harvesting and the interaction of Shell’s biofuel with the power unit.<\/p>\n

For obvious reasons, this is a highly complex and demanding challenge to overcome.<\/p>\n

This is why it is so relevant that Ferrari will test different specifications in Barcelona. As Fred Vasseur<\/a> has already explained, the Scuderia will not deplete all of their development budget immediately.<\/p>\n

The Italian team will take a measured and calculated approach to understand what direction to take their SF-26. This means Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s feedback, which has already been instrumental, will be invaluable throughout 2026.<\/p>\n

All in all, the early indications from Maranello are solid enough. Ferrari have managed to navigate a difficult period and meet key deadlines. Then again, it takes more than avoiding disaster to win Championships.<\/p>\n

This is where next week’s Barcelona tests will begin to truly push Fred Vasseur’s personnel.<\/p>\n

Main photo: Ferrari Media Gallery<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ferrari successfully completed their first steps with the SF-26 as their private circuit in Fiorano on Friday, with thousands of enthusiastic Tifosi in attendance. Both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were in positive spirits as they got to grips with their new challenger. At a time when Williams\u00a0are missing the first week of testing in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":38706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2582,84,2591],"class_list":["post-38705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2026-season","tag-ferrari","tag-sf-26"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38705"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38710,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38705\/revisions\/38710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}