Ferrari, at Miami the upgrades are heavy: here’s how the SF-26 has changed
“In Miami we will have a package and a half of upgrades,” had said Frederic Vasseur before the forced break after Suzuka. At the Monza filming day, attention was already focused on the presence of the reverse “Macarena” rear wing—set to debut in Miami. Red Bull is the second team to introduce its own version of a reverse wing, with a different design and flap rotation system.
Beyond the reverse wing discussion, the other updates making up the SF-26 evolution package have finally been seen in detail, confirming the expectation of a significant upgrade. There are no surprises: on the car shaped under the technical direction of Loïc Serra, the updates cover multiple areas. The SF-26 has also undergone a weight reduction thanks to all these modifications.
Front wing updates and aerodynamic refinement
The front wing has been updated in its outer section to clean airflow towards the front tyres. The front suspension covers have also been revised.
The new front wing was immediately noticeable. As expected, there are no visible changes to the nose or the central section of the wing. Ferrari’s engineers in Maranello focused on the outermost part of the endplate area, which this year is much wider compared to the 2025 specification.
Along the area in front of the front wheels, a curved element has been added pointing outward. Its purpose is to shield the front tyre from airflow that would otherwise hit the tyre surface directly, creating drag and reducing overall efficiency.
This is a solution already quite common across the grid, including on the Mercedes W17. However, the side endplate remains relatively simple in design, with Ferrari being one of the few teams not to have introduced the horizontal overhanging element known in technical terms as a “dive plane”.
Ferrari is clearly working to reduce drag and increase top speed on the straights. Redirecting airflow outward away from the front tyre is a key method in achieving this. The shape and angle of the side endplate are also designed with the same objective in mind.
The front wheel corners have also been updated in the area above the Brembo brake ducts. The upper section now appears more elongated, with an upward trailing edge that is slightly wavy, almost partially covering the wheels.
The front suspension features modifications aimed purely at improving airflow management, with in-season refinements to the fairings of the wishbones and pushrod.
A small curiosity concerns the “halettes”, the two extensions on the central column of the Halo that were revised during the filming day and are part of the aerodynamic package. However, no trace of them was seen on either SF-26 during Thursday’s running.
The floor is the most heavily upgraded component
The floor brought to Florida is a combination of several updates, some of which had been scheduled earlier for the now-cancelled Bahrain race. The most visible change concerns the bargeboards: the vertical element followed by horizontal extensions—almost forming a Venetian blind structure—which now shows a more aggressive Ferrari approach.
After a relatively basic design in the first three races, the SF-26 now features three overlapping vertical elements designed to generate stronger vortices along the outer bodywork surface. Clearly, the aerodynamic department is finding a very fertile development area here.
Modifications also affect the horizontal elements closer to the sidepods. Further back along the floor edge, the skirt area has been updated, particularly in the two slots in front of the highly sensitive rear tyre zone. Even the “mouse hole”, which attracted attention during the car launch presentations, has been redesigned in both shape and size. This element plays a crucial role in working in synergy with the diffuser.
The diffuser itself has also been modified, with internal vertical strakes in the extraction channel appearing redesigned at first glance.
Rivals trying to copy Ferrari’s “Flick Tail Mode” as Ferrari evolves it further
Much of the discussion has focused on the solution ahead of the SF-26 exhaust, which partially blocks the exhaust outlet section. Several teams have already tried to study this concept, which provides aerodynamic advantages, although full replication requires a more rearward gearbox positioning.
Copying Ferrari’s efficient solution is effectively impossible this season. In Miami, we have already seen early interpretations, including creative solutions such as Williams’, or more modified approaches like Red Bull’s revised exhaust in order to introduce a “mini FTM”—still far from the effectiveness of the Ferrari SF-26 concept.
“It’s not about copying, it’s about understanding,” said Rob Marshall, referring to Ferrari’s solutions and their potential application at McLaren. Rivals are analysing the concept to potentially follow that direction, while Maranello continues to develop and maintain a clear advantage in this area.
As a result, the SF-26 now features a fully redesigned FTM system, more refined and significantly more sophisticated.
Its purpose is well known and, in theory, it should work even more effectively with the Macarena rear wing, using exhaust “blowing” effects to reduce air density and increase rear wing efficiency on straights.
In this regard, all surrounding components of the system have been revised, including the carbon fibre elements extending from the upper diffuser surface towards the rear end of the car.
The Macarena wing arrives in Miami and is ready for its decisive test
It was expected and immediately spotted inside the garage: Ferrari brought to Miami, as anticipated, the final version of its reverse rear wing, now widely known as the “Macarena” wing. We have already analysed the risks and benefits of a system that Ferrari developed in a highly complex and advanced way from the start.
This required time and additional testing, particularly in terms of reliability. In its latest version, Ferrari has not only made structural and weight-saving changes to the actuator, but also aerodynamic updates, especially on the outer endplates.
These now feature a design more similar to that used by other teams on the grid, including a double rib structure aimed at cleaning airflow from tyre squirt, improving airflow control at the rear of the car.
The system is now fitted on the SF-26 and will certainly be used in FP1, with the hope that this will finally be its full race-weekend debut. As already explained, this solution is crucial at a time when Ferrari needs to reduce straight-line drag and increase top speed to compensate for engine-related limitations.
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