Ferrari has an early power-unit concern to investigate at the Madrid Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton reported a sudden and significant loss of power during FP1. The issue emerged during an otherwise encouraging opening session for the SF-26, with Ferrari showing good balance and drivability around the new Madring circuit.
The Maranello team was the first Formula 1 outfit to run on the new Madrid venue, having completed a filming day there on 9 July. Contrary to some earlier reports, the event had been requested by Ferrari rather than the organisers inviting the team to use the circuit.
The filming day gave Ferrari an opportunity to test personnel and some of the new facilities while also allowing Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to become familiar with a circuit that was completed at the last moment, both in terms of the track itself and the surrounding infrastructure, ahead of the first official race-weekend sessions.
Ferrari had already sampled Madring before the Madrid GP
Madring is located around five minutes from the airport, close to a railway station and numerous bus routes. That makes the Spanish venue particularly convenient not only for Formula 1 personnel but also for spectators, introducing a concept that could potentially influence how future events are planned.
For the July filming day, Ferrari chose to run its two race drivers. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton alternated behind the wheel of the SF-26, completing around 100 kilometres each and helping the team gather initial data from the new circuit.
Despite the limitations of Demo tyres and the restricted ability to push during a filming day, Ferrari may still have been able to evaluate different tyre behaviours, set-up directions and push laps to some extent. Only the final outcome of the weekend will show how useful those July laps really were, but in terms of data collection and preparation, the Scuderia at least entered the event with a small advantage over its rivals.
Ferrari starts Madrid FP1 with promising SF-26 balance
That slight head start appeared to show from the opening Spanish Grand Prix practice session. The two SF-26s adapted well to the circuit and finished FP1 in third and fourth positions, with a car that appeared balanced and manageable despite the still-green track conditions.
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were also closely matched despite running different Ferrari power-unit specifications. Hamilton was using the newer ADUO-2, while Leclerc had the less powerful ADUO-1 specification after the team decided not to use his ADUO-2 unit following the Monza crash. Ferrari’s decision to keep Charles Leclerc’s ADUO-2 out of the Madrid weekend created an additional technical variable between the two cars.
The encouraging early behaviour of the SF-26 was consistent with the first detailed impressions from Ferrari’s opening Madrid FP1 programme, where the car showed encouraging balance even though further optimisation was still required.
Lewis Hamilton reports “big drop” in power during Madrid FP1
However, everything did not appear to run smoothly on the power-unit side. During the session, Lewis Hamilton reported a sudden loss of power over the radio, prompting Ferrari engineers to begin investigating the cause as the team prepared for the remainder of the weekend.
Hamilton asked: “Can you let me know what to do? Do I need to push? Is there an engine problem?”
Carlo Santi replied: “No, we can push.”
Hamilton then explained: “I had a big drop in power and I locked the rear, so I thought we had a problem.”
Santi responded: “We are investigating.”
At this stage, the radio exchange establishes only that the Briton experienced a sudden power reduction and that Ferrari began looking into it. The cause was not identified in the conversation, making the issue an important area to monitor as the Madrid weekend develops.
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