Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur reckons “pure efficiency” is sort of irrelevant on the first pre-season check for the 2026 Components 1 season because of the regulation change coming in.
The 2026 marketing campaign will introduce modifications to each the facility unit and chassis, as automobiles will grow to be lighter and smaller and there’ll be extra emphasis on electrical energy.
With an enormous regulation swap for the upcoming yr, there might be three separate pre-season assessments: Barcelona (26-30 January), Bahrain (11-13 February) and Bahrain once more (18-20 February).
Barcelona is even a personal check to present groups the chance to adapt to the brand new guidelines with out the beady eye of the general public, forward of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on 6-8 March.
“We aren’t used to 9 check days,” mentioned Vasseur. “The final 4 or 5 seasons, we did three. It is a bonus, however it’s additionally a very completely different programme.
“It signifies that the primary goal in this sort of season is to get the reliability. First we have to get mileage. It is also what we need to keep away from in comparison with 2025, is that once we had been misplaced originally of the season with the disqualification, we misplaced mileage, we misplaced reference, after which you’re operating after this.
Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari
Photograph by: James Sutton / Components 1 / Components Motorsport Ltd by way of Getty Photographs
“It is a lengthy course of. It signifies that the primary focus in Barcelona might be to get mileage with the automotive, to grasp the reliability of the automotive, the place we’ve got to enhance and what we’ve got to react to as a result of in case you perceive one thing in Bahrain, you will not have time to react for Australia.
“Barcelona might be, for positive, to get mileage, greater than pure efficiency.”
The Ferrari workforce principal even thinks that everyone will arrive on the first check “with not a mule automotive, however let’s say a spec A” that ought to look very completely different to the one which hits the Melbourne monitor.
It’s such growth which Vasseur subsequently thinks will outline the upcoming regulation period, as Ferrari bids for its first title for the reason that 2008 constructors’ championship.
“Subsequent yr it will not be concerning the first image of the season, it will not be all concerning the classification of Australia, it will likely be so much about growth and capability of fast growth,” mentioned Vasseur, whose workforce completed fourth within the 2025 standings.
“That season will not be over in Australia for positive, it does not matter if we’re P1 or P10, however it will likely be a good distance till the tip, it will likely be a good distance for everyone.”
Extra reporting by Stuart Codling
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