Ferrari ended Friday practice at the Spanish Grand Prix with cautious optimism. While the Scuderia made encouraging progress with the SF-26, there is still significant setup work to be completed before qualifying.
Adjustments to the differential helped reduce the car’s oversteer tendencies, but tyre overheating remains a major challenge, particularly through the circuit’s high-load corners. As a result, Ferrari’s attention is now focused on improving performance in the first sector, where the SF-26 continues to lose valuable time due to low minimum cornering speeds and tyre preparation issues.
Ferrari makes progress, but more work remains
The opening day of running in Barcelona was largely positive for Ferrari. The Maranello team completed an extensive programme, gathering valuable data while working methodically to optimize the setup of the SF-26.
During the first practice session, the initial setup was not perfect, but it nevertheless provided a solid foundation on which the engineers could build.
Although neither Charles Leclerc nor Lewis Hamilton openly complained about unusual behaviour from the car, the onboard footage revealed a noticeable degree of oversteer in several areas of the circuit. That impression was later confirmed by Ferrari’s setup work. During the session, Charles Leclerc was instructed to increase the differential locking on corner entry.
From a technical perspective, increasing the differential setting creates additional resistance to the car’s rotation. This helps control a front end that is rotating too aggressively toward the apex, reducing excessive rotation that can become problematic when it reaches an extreme level.
Tyre management remains crucial for the SF-26
During FP2, Ferrari focused heavily on refining this setup direction. Charles Leclerc reported over team radio that the changes represented a significant step forward compared to the morning session.
Visually, the SF-26 appeared more stable and less prone to sudden oversteer. However, the characteristic was not completely eliminated and remained evident in demanding corners such as Turns 4 and 12.
In these sections, where the car is subjected to very high lateral loads, the rear tyres continued to struggle for grip at mid-corner. This instability also appeared to be linked to tyre overheating, a weakness Ferrari had already experienced during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend. The hot Barcelona asphalt only magnified the issue. The energy demands of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya transfer a significant amount of heat into the tyres, making temperature control particularly difficult.
All of this suggests Ferrari’s engineers are actively searching for setup solutions capable of reducing overheating, which currently appears to be the biggest obstacle preventing further performance gains.
At present, Ferrari’s deficit in the final sector remains relatively small, although Mercedes continues to look noticeably cleaner and more efficient through that section of the lap.
The first sector remains Ferrari’s weak point
While the middle sector continues to be one of the SF-26’s strongest areas, the opening part of the lap remains its most significant weakness.
It is in the first sector that Ferrari loses the two tenths separating it from the leading teams. The gap appears to stem partly from lower minimum speeds through the long, loaded corners and, quite possibly, from tyre preparation that reaches its optimum window slightly too early.
As Ferrari heads into qualifying, solving that issue could prove decisive. The improvements made on Friday have brought the SF-26 closer to the front, but further gains will depend on finding a better compromise between balance, tyre management and peak one-lap performance.
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