Ferrari pays for a disappointing 2025 to invest everything in the technical revolution of 2026. But will it be enough to return to the top?
Ferrari arrives at the final race of the season determined to move past the disaster in Qatar and try to close the year with an encouraging signal. While Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri fight for the World Championship, the Scuderia at least aims to rejoin the battle at the front on the circuit of Abu Dhabi. But regardless of the final result, one truth has now become clear: a large part of the 2025 season was sacrificed in order to concentrate every resource on the 2026 project.
The return to medium tire-pressure values in Lusail did not hide the SF-25’s limitations. And Fred Vasseur explained it with no hesitation: “The cars are running on balloons,” he said after the race. He added: “Without developments on the SF-25 we were able to think more about the 2026 car.” A strategy that has divided opinions, especially because many observe that the other top teams managed to carry out a double program, continuing to develop the current car while preparing the future one.
The French team principal has come under the spotlight for how he allocated resources and for a technical communication style considered by some to be not fully transparent. Meanwhile, the drivers – despite president John Elkann’s invitation to avoid public outbursts – once again voiced their frustrations after Qatar, openly speaking about issues related to steering, overall feeling and internal technical correlation.
A 2025 almost “reset” in order to understand 2026
The SF-25 could not be significantly recovered, and for this reason Maranello chose a drastic approach: stop development and use 2025 as a technical laboratory for 2026. Among the solutions tested was the evolved rear suspension, useful above all for understanding where the correlation between simulations and track data had collapsed. It would not bring victories, but it was fundamental to support Loïc Serra in his future decisions.
With the definitive abandonment of the 2025 project, all the work shifted toward the new regulations. The result was a season poor in satisfaction but rich in experimentation: studying a new double push-rod suspension layout, testing mechanical combinations race after race and gathering an enormous amount of data to define the chassis and drivability of the 2026 car.
According to internal analysis, giving up the potential 0.2–0.3 seconds per month of improvement on the new 678, instead of the half-tenth available this season, was not an option. The gap to McLaren could not be closed. The new car, designed in extreme secrecy by Fred Vasseur, Loic Serra, Diego Tondi and Enrico Gualtieri, promises completely new solutions. Thanks to more hours in the wind tunnel compared to rival teams, Ferrari will have a continuous development program led by Frank Sanchez, with updates planned for every race.
In the meantime, while Aston Martin will present the first Adrian Newey-influenced project on February 9, the work in Maranello is coordinated by a very small and highly reserved group. The new Ferrari will have an earlier presentation date and a continuous race-by-race development plan directed by Frank Sanchez. Moreover, thanks to a higher aerodynamic time allocation, it can count on two to three extra wind-tunnel sessions per week compared to the teams ahead in the standings.
Only one question remains for Maranello: will writing off 2025 actually pay dividends in 2026? The answer should start to arrive within the first six or seven races of the new era.
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