{"id":39319,"date":"2026-03-17T05:09:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T09:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=39319"},"modified":"2026-03-23T05:28:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T09:28:33","slug":"ferrari-prepare-blockbuster-upgrade-package-to-catch-mercedes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2026\/03\/17\/ferrari-prepare-blockbuster-upgrade-package-to-catch-mercedes\/","title":{"rendered":"Ferrari prepare blockbuster upgrade package to catch Mercedes"},"content":{"rendered":"

The beginning of 2026 has seen Mercedes<\/a> establish themselves as the fastest team, with only Ferrari emerging as potential challengers. In both Australia and China, the SF-26<\/a> managed to give the W17 some headaches – even if Mercedes ultimately had enough pace in hand.<\/p>\n

From an aerodynamic perspective, Ferrari have developed a very strong package. In fact, the SF-26 has shown the best performance in low and even medium-speed corners to start the season.<\/p>\n

Mercedes, however, predominantly create and maintain their advantage in a straight line. The W17’s power unit gives Toto Wolff’s team<\/a> a big enough cushion to counteract the efficiency of Ferrari’s chassis.<\/p>\n

To combat this, Fred Vasseur’s technical team are working to bring a massive set of upgrades in the upcoming rounds.<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/p>\n

Vasseur and Ferrari commit to bold upgrades<\/h2>\n

Before the season began, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur was crystal clear in his approach for 2026:<\/p>\n

“It won\u2019t be all about the classification in Australia. It will be a lot about the capacity for quick development.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe season won\u2019t be over in Australia for sure, it doesn\u2019t matter if we are P1 or P10. But it will be a long way until the end, it will be a long way for everybody.”<\/em><\/p>\n

By extension, the Frenchman has spoken extensively about the importance of being assured and confident when introducing upgrades.<\/p>\n

The 2022 regulations, perhaps more than ever before in F1 history, saw teams bringing upgrades to the circuit that were either ineffective or even counter-productive.<\/p>\n

Inaccurate data correlation between the factory and circuit therefore became a massive weakness in the last regulation set.<\/p>\n

Conscious of this, Ferrari<\/a> opted to start the 2026 with a relatively basic version of the SF-26. More aggressive and ambitious components are incoming, with the intention of increasing downforce and improving drivability.<\/p>\n

Unlike last year’s package, Ferrari’s current package is kind to the drivers. Both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have been extremely complimentary of the SF-26 and its handling.<\/p>\n

Moreover, from pre-season testing to the Chinese GP, the engineers in Maranello have been satisfied with the accuracy of correlation data.<\/p>\n

The predicted behaviours and characteristics from the wind tunnel are materialising on track with very little deviation.<\/p>\n

In short, the conditions have been met for Ferrari to implement sweeping new upgrades. Vasseur’s technical team have had updates in the pipeline for several weeks – and they are now in the production stage.<\/p>\n

As reported by it.motorsport<\/a>, a major upgrade package is scheduled for the fourth round of the season in Miami.<\/p>\n

Ferrari were always planning to bring a substantial set of improvements to the first US race of the season. However, due to the cancellations of the Grand Prix in Jeddah and Bahrain, there will be a one-month gap between Japan and Miami.<\/p>\n

The Italian outfit are taking this as an opportunity to be even more aggressive with development. The changes being planned are expected to see significant revisions across numerous areas of the SF-26.<\/p>\n

Given the early Mercedes advantage, Fred Vasseur<\/a> believes this philosophy is necessary:<\/p>\n

“Of course, we are still a long way off Mercedes and we need to work very hard in the coming weeks. <\/em>(cont. on next page)<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“We are working on all elements of our package, although it is a bit more difficult on the power unit as it is frozen at the moment.<\/em><\/p>\n

“So we need to make progress in different areas,”<\/em> Vasseur underlined.<\/p>\n

Ferrari engine upgrade and circuit-specific strengths<\/h4>\n

For the time being, aerodynamic updates will be the priority for teams across the field. Given how the freshness of these 2026 regulations, there is immense room for improvement – both in terms of peak downforce and set-up optimisation.<\/p>\n

With that said, power unit development will perhaps be of even greater importance.<\/p>\n

Under the regulations, engine upgrades are permissible under ADUO – Additional Design and Upgrade Opportunities. This mechanism has been implemented to allow manufacturers to overturn any early deficits.<\/p>\n

In order to be eligible for ADUO, an engine must be more than 2% slower than the fastest. This means that Ferrari’s power unit deficit to Mercedes<\/a> must exceed this margin to introduce improvements mid-season.<\/p>\n

The FIA measures this 2% figure across different parts of the season – rounds 1-6, 7-12 and 13-18. After each of these phases, a decision will be made to determine which manufacturers fall within the criteria.<\/p>\n

To some extent, this is why speculation has emerged that Mercedes still aren’t running their engine at the highest mode – even on race day.<\/p>\n

After all, minimising their perceived advantage can limit the manoeuvrability for rivals to develop and close the gap.<\/p>\n

Still, at least for now, Ferrari expect to fall within this eligibility. This is why the factory in Maranello is working diligently to make improvements to the battery and ICE of their 2026 power unit.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, conscious that bigger overhauls require more time, the Scuderia are working on more transformative alterations for 2027. In traditional fashion, Formula 1’s development race will consist of battles on multiple fronts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The beginning of 2026 has seen Mercedes establish themselves as the fastest team, with only Ferrari emerging as potential challengers. In both Australia and China, the SF-26 managed to give the W17 some headaches – even if Mercedes ultimately had enough pace in hand. From an aerodynamic perspective, Ferrari have developed a very strong package. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":39320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":true,"sfio_embed_code":"<\/smartframe-embed>","_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":[2582,84,121],"class_list":["post-39319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2026-season","tag-ferrari","tag-mercedes"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39319","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=39319"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39325,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39319\/revisions\/39325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}