Italian engineer Luigi Mazzola, who worked at Ferrari from 1988 to 2009, commented on the debut race of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton’s SF-26 in the 2026 Formula 1 season.
The first of the rest
At the season opener with the new regulations, Mercedes was undoubtedly the best car on the track. Only Ferrari managed to challenge the Silver Arrows in the early laps, thanks to an excellent start that allowed Charles Leclerc to lead the pack ahead of George Russell, who would eventually win the race. Charles Leclerc’s third place and a recovered Lewis Hamilton in fourth are a solid start for Ferrari, with the awareness that an update race lies ahead and the team has a huge potential margin for improvement.
FormulaPassion.it asked Luigi Mazzola—who spent 21 years at Maranello in various roles, including head of the test department during the Schumacher era—his opinion on Ferrari’s chances of closing the gap to Mercedes over the course of the season.
An SF-26 that inspires optimism
Based on data from Australia—and as confirmed by Lando Norris in his post-race comments—the Ferrari SF-26 appears to have a strong chassis foundation.
Is it possible for Ferrari to bridge the gap with Mercedes in terms of engine and energy management to keep the championship dream alive? Luigi Mazzola commented: “I agree, Ferrari is off to a good start. Beyond being off to a good start, they were especially ready. They used the testing period very effectively and were able to validate all components and procedures. The fact that both drivers performed well shows that the car is solid overall, with good balance, aerodynamics, braking, and traction. From this perspective, Ferrari proved to be the second strongest team in this Grand Prix. The others were a level below—only six drivers finished on the same lap. Let’s not consider Max Verstappen, who started far back, but Norris clearly showed all the limits compared to the top two teams.”
So is there reason for Ferrari fans to be optimistic, or does Mercedes leave no room for hope? Luigi Mazzola explained: “There’s definitely reason to be optimistic, because these cars are still raw—they don’t come from years of development. I think there will be a lot of development on these machines, so optimism is entirely justified. You can’t expect that after the first Grand Prix with completely new regulations, we can immediately predict who will be world champion or which team will win—it’s absurd.
Normally, in more traditional situations, at least three or four races were needed to understand the performance ranking. Here, even more races will be necessary, because different types of circuits are required. Depending on the track, cars will face varying challenges in maintaining electric power availability and in charging the batteries efficiently. The optimism is entirely justified. Today we saw that one team is clearly ahead, and that’s a fact. They performed best and did everything they needed to. Ferrari worked very well, but in Australia they were not at Mercedes’ level. The others were far behind.”
The evolution of the SF-26’s energy recovery systems will be the primary focus for the engineers in Maranello. If Ferrari can maintain their strong chassis balance while unlocking more sustainable power from their hybrid unit, the gap to the Silver Arrows may prove to be far narrower than it appeared at Albert Park. While Mercedes holds the early advantage in the 2026 championship, Luigi Mazzola’s analysis suggests that Ferrari’s strong baseline and the rapid development curve of the new regulations provide plenty of reasons for fans to remain hopeful for a season-long battle.
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