Charles Leclerc has revealed where Ferrari will concentrate its SF-26 development programme during the second half of the 2026 Formula 1 season, identifying the power unit as the area where Maranello currently has the greatest margin to improve compared with Mercedes and Red Bull. At the same time, the Monegasque driver has praised Ferrari’s aggressive approach to innovation and the production effort behind a near-continuous stream of upgrades.
The Prancing Horse has shown no intention of slowing its development programme after introducing numerous changes during the first half of the season. A third substantial package arrives in the Netherlands, featuring significant floor modifications alongside several smaller updates, while Ferrari’s latest SF-26 floor and rear-wing changes represent another step in the team’s attempt to keep improving the car race by race.
Charles Leclerc believes the pace of development Ferrari has maintained this year has been particularly impressive. The SF-26 has received improvements, whether major or minor, at almost every Grand Prix. Loïc Serra had already indicated at the beginning of the season that this would be Ferrari’s approach. By initially working with a simpler baseline and making sure there were no fundamental errors, the team was also able to preserve development resources for use during the championship.
The Netherlands brings the third major upgrade package, a fourth is already being worked on for the autumn, while ADUO 2 is expected to arrive at Monza. Ferrari has also been preparing ADUO 2 alongside its Zandvoort aerodynamic developments as the technical programme moves into its next phase.
Charles Leclerc identifies Ferrari’s main SF-26 weakness
For Charles Leclerc, one of the biggest positives is that Ferrari now has a clear idea of where its development needs to go.
“There is a very clear development programme and there are still many things we want to improve,” Charles Leclerc explained. “It is very clear where the main limitations were during this first part of the season: the engine and the power we currently have compared with the Mercedes and Red Bull power units are the areas where we are lacking the most, and that is where our focus is.”
The assessment makes Ferrari’s priorities clear. The team believes its power unit currently represents the area with the greatest scope for improvement, but that does not mean development elsewhere on the SF-26 will stop. Instead, Maranello has divided the workload across specialist groups responsible for different aspects of the car.
That broader picture fits with Ferrari’s existing analysis of the key areas still available for improvement on the SF-26, where extracting performance from the complete package remains just as important as producing individual new components.
Ferrari has dedicated groups working on engine, chassis and aerodynamics
Charles Leclerc explained that the power unit programme is supported by parallel work on the chassis and aerodynamic side of the project.
“There is a group dedicated to the engine, and there are also departments working on the chassis and aerodynamics on very different aspects,” Charles Leclerc said. “The programme is already established, we know where we want to go and that is a good thing.”
The Monegasque driver also highlighted another important difference compared with previous generations of Ferrari Formula 1 cars: the team has not encountered major unexpected correlation problems during the opening half of 2026.
“I don’t think we have had any particularly bad surprises during this first half of the season,” Charles Leclerc continued. “With previous generations of cars, the fact that they touched the ground so much was very difficult, and sometimes you didn’t get what you were seeing in the wind tunnel. We haven’t really had that problem this year, and that is very positive for development and for the things we want to bring to the car in the future.”
That correlation is particularly valuable in Formula 1 development. When the behaviour predicted by simulation and wind-tunnel work is reproduced on the circuit, engineers can commit to future concepts with greater confidence rather than spending valuable resources trying to understand why expected gains have failed to appear on track.
Ferrari’s aggressive SF-26 upgrade strategy is paying off
Ferrari’s approach of introducing relatively small developments at individual events has not been seen at Maranello with this level of consistency for several years. The SF-26 has become a constantly evolving platform rather than a car dependent solely on a handful of major packages during the season.
Charles Leclerc considers that change particularly significant.
“I think it’s really impressive,” Charles Leclerc said. “This year we have taken a much more determined approach compared with previous years. First of all in terms of innovation, and I think that is a very positive sign that shows how we are innovating and doing everything possible to find alternative solutions within the regulations.”
Lewis Hamilton has expressed a similar view about Ferrari’s technical direction, with the team producing several original concepts that have subsequently appeared in different forms on rival cars. That wider trend has already been visible in a number of SF-26 innovations subsequently explored by Ferrari’s rivals.
Charles Leclerc praises Ferrari production department
Innovation, however, only becomes useful if new ideas can be turned into components quickly enough to reach the circuit. Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari’s production department has made a major difference during the first half of 2026.
“Secondly, there is the very ambitious plan to introduce upgrades,” Charles Leclerc explained. “I think production has done an incredible job during the first half of the season, working flat out to allow us to receive the components as soon as possible.”
For the Monegasque driver, that speed is especially valuable during the early stages of a new regulatory cycle.
“That makes an enormous difference in a year like this, when we are still in the early stages of development and every upgrade we bring is crucial.”
The significance goes beyond simply having more new parts available. The faster Ferrari can design, manufacture, validate and introduce effective components, the more development cycles it can complete during a season in which understanding of the 2026 regulations is still evolving rapidly across the grid.
Ferrari already has its next SF-26 development steps mapped out
The picture described by Charles Leclerc is therefore one of a Ferrari technical organisation that believes it has both identified the SF-26’s main limitations and created a clearer process for addressing them. The engine remains the principal performance target, while dedicated departments continue working simultaneously on the chassis and aerodynamic package.
The third upgrade package at Zandvoort is another stage rather than the end of that process. A further package is being developed for the autumn, while the expected ADUO 2 step at Monza adds another element to Ferrari’s plan for the final part of the championship.
What appears to encourage Charles Leclerc most is the absence of the major correlation surprises that complicated development with previous generations of Formula 1 cars. If Ferrari can continue translating its factory work into reliable gains on the circuit, the aggressive race-by-race development philosophy gives the team the opportunity to keep refining the SF-26 throughout the second half of 2026.
For Ferrari, the objective is no longer simply to understand where improvement is required. According to Charles Leclerc, that direction has already been established. The challenge now is to maintain the production rate, continue innovating and turn those clearly identified development opportunities into performance on track.
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