Ferrari’s 2026 F1 title hopes remain alive after two victories, nine podium finishes and 307 points from the opening 11 Grands Prix, but further power-unit gains and much cleaner race execution will be essential if the Maranello team is to challenge Mercedes throughout the second half of the season.
The championship has reached its halfway point, or almost, with 11 of the 23 races currently expected to be held already completed. The final number could still change if the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is recovered. For now, however, the summer break offers Ferrari an opportunity to assess the progress made with the SF-26 and the weaknesses that continue to cost Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc valuable points.
Ferrari’s 2026 F1 title hopes remain supported by the numbers
Ferrari have collected 307 points across the opening 11 races, placing the team second in the Constructors’ Championship and 72 points behind Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton occupies second place in the Drivers’ Championship with 169 points, exactly 50 behind leader Kimi Antonelli. Charles Leclerc is fourth on 138 points, leaving him 81 behind the Mercedes driver and 31 adrift of his Ferrari team-mate.
Those are unquestionably positive figures. Two victories and nine podiums represent a meaningful return, while Ferrari were the only team to interrupt Mercedes’ dominance during the first ten rounds before McLaren also achieved the feat at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Such progress was far from guaranteed at the beginning of the campaign, especially after pre-season testing clearly identified the Mercedes W17 as the car to beat.
Nevertheless, the results also explain why Frédéric Vasseur described Ferrari’s first half of the campaign as encouraging but still not enough. The Scuderia remain within reach of both championships, yet several missed opportunities have prevented the gap to Mercedes from becoming considerably smaller.
Effective SF-26 upgrades have become Ferrari’s greatest strength
Ferrari’s most important achievement has arguably been its ability to introduce effective upgrades that work immediately and provide a genuine advantage to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Unlike in several previous seasons, the SF-26 has responded well to the development work led by technical director Loïc Serra.
The car has proved adaptable, allowing the engineering group to address its limitations progressively rather than waiting for a single transformative package. That capacity to develop the SF-26 throughout the campaign has become one of Ferrari’s most valuable assets.
Maranello have introduced two or three significant development steps, while also bringing smaller circuit-specific changes to almost every Grand Prix. Nothing has been left to chance, and Ferrari intend to continue with this race-by-race development strategy during the remaining rounds.
Frédéric Vasseur has repeatedly argued that the 2026 championship will ultimately be won by the team that prevails in the development battle, and he is not alone in that assessment. The new regulations effectively provided every constructor with a blank canvas, interpreted according to its own design philosophy. Consequently, there is still considerable potential for the competitive order to evolve.
Ferrari’s power-unit deficit remains a title concern
Despite the encouraging progress, two areas continue to demand particular attention. The first is the power unit. Ferrari designed its hybrid turbocharged V6 with a steel cylinder head, a solution believed to be slightly heavier than some rival concepts. That choice has contributed to a power deficit compared with the leading competition.
The ADUO data now also reflects the limitation. Ferrari’s internal combustion engine is not the strongest on the grid, while the complete power unit has yet to establish itself as the outright benchmark.
Integration with the electrical system has created further difficulties at certain races, particularly in managing the deployment of electrical energy. Ferrari’s first minor ADUO step, introduced at the Austrian Grand Prix, delivered some benefits, but attention has already shifted towards the second upgrade, which is expected to be homologated at Monza.
Only after that development arrives will Ferrari be able to determine whether it can genuinely recover ground in the engine battle. Without a meaningful step forward, it will be difficult to imagine the Scuderia becoming fully established as a title favourite, even though it remains mathematically and competitively involved in the fight.
That makes Ferrari’s planned Monza power-unit upgrade particularly important. The objective is not simply to find more performance for the Italian Grand Prix, but to reduce the deficit without sacrificing the reliability that has served the team so well during the opening half of the season.
Race execution continues to cost Ferrari valuable points
The second weakness is execution. Ferrari have repeatedly failed to maximise promising weekends, and the Hungarian Grand Prix demonstrated that the required improvement has not yet been achieved.
Lewis Hamilton received another penalty after exceeding the pit-lane speed limit by only 0.1km/h. The infringement was enough to produce a five-second time penalty and cost the seven-time world champion a position to Charles Leclerc. It was the latest incident in a sequence of penalties that have frustrated Lewis Hamilton during recent race weekends.
Ferrari’s handling of the Virtual Safety Car caused even greater concern. The team appeared to play its strategic hand poorly by bringing both drivers into the pits, a decision that contributed to the loss of a possible podium. Replicating Max Verstappen’s decision to remain on track and attempt to defend a stronger position may have produced a better result.
These seemingly small execution details have been spread across the opening 11 races, but together they have cost Ferrari an extremely valuable number of points. The late drama at the Hungaroring provided the clearest recent example, turning a weekend that had promised a victory challenge into fourth and fifth positions.
Reliability gives Ferrari a strong foundation
It is important to emphasise that Ferrari are still only 72 points behind Mercedes. That is not an insurmountable deficit after 11 Grands Prix and four Sprint races, particularly because the Mercedes W17 has continued to experience reliability problems that the SF-26 has rarely suffered.
Ferrari’s retirements caused by technical failures have been extremely limited. In practical terms, Charles Leclerc’s retirement in Spain stands as the only significant example. Reliability therefore provides one of the foundations upon which Maranello can build its championship pursuit. Poor execution, by contrast, has been the factor responsible for surrendering the greatest number of points.
Ferrari must now change gear. The mandatory shutdown prevents teams from working on their cars, but the break will still offer personnel an opportunity to reset, gather their thoughts and step away mentally before the championship resumes.
The required improvement must involve both drivers, as Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have each made small mistakes that contributed to the loss of points. It must also extend to the pit wall, which needs to deliver clearer and more precise decisions during the defining phases of each Grand Prix.
Monza upgrade and cleaner weekends could keep Ferrari in contention
If Ferrari can put together more complete race weekends while also improving its power unit, the team can continue pursuing its title ambitions. Monza is approaching quickly as the second Grand Prix after the summer break, making the home race a potentially decisive point in the SF-26’s development programme. The remaining rounds on the 2026 Formula 1 calendar still provide time to close the championship gaps.
The evidence from Hungary, however, also delivered a warning. Ferrari emerged as only the fourth-fastest team in race conditions despite arriving at Sunday with indications that it could be the team to beat. The Scuderia’s own leading figures believed the car possessed the potential to win, making the final outcome particularly costly.
Ferrari’s second half of the season must therefore feature a more complete, precise and decisive team across every phase of a Grand Prix weekend. The SF-26 has shown clear development potential, its reliability has remained strong and the championship numbers have not yet ruled the Scuderia out. Whether the title dream survives will now depend on turning those strengths into cleaner execution and closing the remaining power-unit deficit.
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