Ferrari arrived in Canada determined to unlock more performance from the upgrade package introduced at the Miami Grand Prix. That remains the team’s primary objective this weekend: gaining a deeper understanding of the SF-26 in order to extract its full potential in what is becoming an increasingly critical phase of the 2026 Formula 1 season. With the Sprint format leaving virtually no room for error, getting the setup right immediately is absolutely essential, especially with qualifying following almost straight after the only available practice session.
Ferrari tests hybrid setup for Montreal layout
As always in these situations, there is no time whatsoever to waste. With just one hour of practice available under the Sprint weekend format, every single minute becomes extremely valuable, which is precisely why both Ferrari cars headed out immediately as soon as the green light appeared at the end of the pit lane. Both SF-26 cars were fitted with the white-banded Pirelli Hard tyres, a compound particularly useful for evaluating the car with a more stable and consistent grip level over a longer sequence of laps.
The opening laps were understandably cautious, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc taking a measured and disciplined approach on a dirty and very green track surface, conditions that are typical in Montreal when the circuit has not seen significant rubber laid down. One particularly interesting detail in the early running was the heavy focus on hybrid energy usage. Ferrari clearly needed to assess whether the software settings managing the electric side of the power unit were properly tuned for Montreal’s unique stop-and-go layout and fully suited to the characteristics of the SF-26.
For the Canadian Grand Prix, the FIA set an energy deployment cap of 6 megajoules, likely the lowest of the entire 2026 Formula 1 season. This makes Montreal a particularly unusual challenge from an energy management perspective. The key question was whether this measure could genuinely help Ferrari’s Maranello-built power unit, or whether the performance deficit to Mercedes-powered rivals would still remain too significant to offset during both the harvesting and deployment phases across the lap.
Just as the session was beginning to intensify, with Ferrari’s drivers starting to push harder and build confidence, Liam Lawson stopped with a problem at Turn 4, interrupting the flow of the session. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc remained on track for two laps under Virtual Safety Car conditions before being forced back into the pits when the red flag was shown, allowing marshals to recover the VCARB and restore safe track conditions. For Ferrari, this was an early disruption in what was already an extremely compressed and strategically important session.
Ferrari struggling in sector two
Drawing early conclusions about the balance of the SF-26 was far from straightforward. The car appeared reasonably stable overall, particularly considering the low-grip conditions, although both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc experienced moments where the rear stepped out under acceleration. Ferrari’s race engineers reassured the drivers that grip levels were still too low to make meaningful or objective judgments about the true balance of the car.
Another important technical detail concerned tyre warm-up, which once again appeared to be a concern. In both the first and second stints, Ferrari’s drivers were repeatedly seen weaving along the straights in the third sector for at least two laps in an effort to bring the front tyres into the correct operating temperature window. This further reinforced a recurring concern that has appeared before: in cooler conditions, the Ferrari appears to struggle to generate enough thermal energy within the tyre carcass quickly enough.
The downside is that, once the tyres finally reached their intended operating window, they then appeared prone to overheating after only a limited number of laps. The SF-26 also displayed an oversteering tendency through the faster direction changes and chicanes, while occasionally lacking the front-end rotation needed in slower corners like Turn 2 and the Turn 10 hairpin. These are important weaknesses around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where confidence under braking and traction on exit are essential for competitive lap times.
Notably, energy clipping was present in sector three, though that was not where Ferrari was losing the greatest amount of lap time. In fact, Ferrari’s sector-three split was at one stage highly competitive, even the fastest of all the teams. That suggested that outright straight-line efficiency was not the most immediate concern.
The real weakness appeared to be sector two, where the SF-26 looked far less convincing and considerably more vulnerable. Lewis Hamilton was running second at one point but still trailed McLaren by around four and a half tenths, with the majority of that deficit accumulated in the middle sector. Charles Leclerc was encountering greater difficulty, unable to piece together a clean and representative lap across all three sectors. Midway through the session, another red flag interrupted running after Franco Colapinto’s Alpine came to a halt, further reducing already limited track time.
Ferrari’s race pace looks more encouraging on heavy fuel
With 15 minutes remaining in the only practice session, Ferrari returned to the circuit, once again using the same white-banded Hard tyres from the previous stints. On his first flying lap, Charles Leclerc nearly lost the car exiting Turn 9, but a sharp and instinctive correction prevented what could have become a costly spin. Despite the scare, the Monegasque driver still managed to improve his lap time and move ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Due to the repeated interruptions caused by the red flags, the FIA decided to add 15 extra minutes to the session. This gave teams at least some opportunity to recover lost track time, although the fragmented nature of the session still made structured preparation difficult.
Shortly afterwards, Ferrari switched to high-fuel running in order to evaluate the SF-26’s race pace with a heavier fuel load onboard. This phase is particularly valuable because it can provide insight into tyre degradation, balance consistency, and general competitiveness over a race-style stint.
Another revealing technical detail emerged when the drivers were instructed to manually disable straight-line mode in sector two. This referred specifically to the fast Turns 8-9 chicane, where the rear flap actuator appeared too slow in restoring the required level of rear downforce after low-drag operation. This kind of setup or operational issue can significantly affect driver confidence, especially in a fast change-of-direction section where rear stability is critical.
During this phase, multiple instructions were given over team radio to refine the car’s handling and improve driver confidence around the Montreal circuit. Discussions focused on gear selection, corner approach, and setup techniques for specific sections of the track. These conversations suggested Ferrari was still actively searching for the most effective operational window for the SF-26 rather than running with a fully settled baseline setup.
Overall, however, the stint remained relatively short, lasting only seven to eight laps, making it difficult to draw fully definitive conclusions about Ferrari’s long-run competitiveness. That said, the initial impression was not especially negative, suggesting that the SF-26 may be more competitive over longer runs than over a single qualifying-style lap.
Ferrari still a mystery over one lap
The closing phase of the session was dedicated to qualifying simulation work, arguably the most important segment of the day given the Sprint format. Charles Leclerc headed out first, this time on Soft tyres. He completed tyre preparation and began his push lap, which was not especially clean despite the absence of any major or obvious mistakes. Even so, the gap to the front was deeply concerning: nearly one full second behind the two Mercedes cars.
Lewis Hamilton initially fared even worse, finding himself more than 1.3 seconds adrift of the benchmark. That sort of deficit is significant under any circumstances, but particularly alarming given how little time remained to make adjustments before competitive running.
After a cooldown lap, both Ferrari drivers attempted another run. Charles Leclerc was advised to use the left-hand toggle in Turn 1 or Turn 2 to improve front-end rotation and extract more responsiveness from the car. His next attempt, however, was interrupted by a yellow flag caused by Pierre Gasly’s Alpine, preventing a representative improvement. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, managed to complete his lap and reduced the gap to approximately seven tenths. While this was clearly a step forward, Ferrari still looked some distance away from the leading pace.
At that point, sector three had evolved into Ferrari’s most problematic area, with the team also continuing to lose time in the opening sectors. The fluctuating weaknesses suggested a car that remained difficult to consistently place in the optimal operating window, rather than one with a single isolated weakness. With six minutes remaining, another red flag was triggered due to debris on the circuit. At that stage, the session had become so heavily disrupted that extracting meaningful comparative data became increasingly difficult for all teams.
Based on how fragmented and stop-start the session became, introducing the Sprint format in Montreal may not have been the most practical decision, particularly on a circuit where setup confidence is so important and conditions can evolve rapidly. Once the track reopened, there was only enough time for practice starts.
Ferrari therefore heads into qualifying without any genuinely clear performance reference points, which is far from ideal on a Sprint weekend where preparation time is already minimal by design. The most striking conclusion from the only practice session, however, is that the upgraded Mercedes package appears exceptionally strong around the Canadian circuit, while Ferrari still has several unanswered questions surrounding the true potential of the SF-26.
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