F1 | Ferrari SF-26, Vasseur: The upcoming updates will be important
Ferrari dominated the final day of Formula 1 testing in Bahrain, yet Frédéric Vasseur urged calm: to win the World Championship, development will be decisive.
The chequered flag has fallen on the Bahrain F1 tests, with Ferrari dominating the final session of running. However, the tone from Maranello remains measured, as Frédéric Vasseur places the emphasis firmly on the future development of the SF-26. At the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, it was once again Charles Leclerc who set the pace, the only driver to dip below the 1:32 barrier, clocking a 1:31.992. The lap time came at the end of a demanding programme totalling 132 laps overall, once again confirming the strength and reliability of the Maranello power unit.
“If I am happy? Of course, but it has nothing to do with performance,” Frédéric Vasseur told Canal+. The Ferrari team principal had repeatedly stressed over the past few days that chasing headline lap times was a relative and secondary objective. The true priority was data collection and the in-depth study of the numerous innovations introduced on the Ferrari SF-26.
“We need to put the importance of testing into perspective. When we arrived here, we set ourselves a goal: to complete many kilometres and gather as much information as possible, and we achieved that objective. Today’s relative performance has nothing to do with Melbourne. We do not know the fuel levels or engine mappings of the others, we did not use the same tyres as the others at the end, so I am not getting carried away by all this.”
Ferrari SF-26: the key to success will be updates
The objective in Maranello is clear: to understand the car as thoroughly as possible in order to quickly direct the next stages of development. The World Championship will be won by the team that, before anyone else, manages to improve and optimise the performance of these new-generation single-seaters.
“The objective of the season will be to develop quickly. We must maintain the ability to innovate and, above all, the ability to produce rapidly and bring upgrades to the track in a short time, because the championship will be decided on that.”
In Melbourne, however, Ferrari will still be aiming for victory: “We want to win, but so do McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull. We know very well that the results of the Bahrain tests are not necessarily representative of the season. We must remain calm, and that is exactly what we did today. I am satisfied, especially satisfied to have completed many laps, and then we will see in Melbourne.”
While Ferrari looks like a formidable contender on paper, the team is acutely aware that the 2026 grid is still hiding its true hand. Fred Vasseur’s focus on the “capacity to innovate” suggests that the SF-26 we see today is merely the baseline for a long and intense technical battle ahead.
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