Ferrari’s biggest problem right now does not appear to be the performance of the SF-26. The Maranello team is going through a complicated period in which the car has repeatedly failed to meet expectations at weekends where it was supposed to perform strongly, yet has sometimes impressed precisely where difficulties had been anticipated. It is an unusual and unpredictable pattern that Ferrari urgently needs to understand and overcome.
The disappointing Dutch Grand Prix result does not mean the SF-26 lacked performance. Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc eventually finished fourth and fifth, but Charles Leclerc fought for victory during the Sprint, while both drivers demonstrated surprisingly strong race pace during their stints on the Medium and Hard tyres. The potential is clearly there, particularly after Ferrari introduced its third SF-26 upgrade package at Zandvoort.
Ferrari SF-26 pace is not the main problem
The speed of the car therefore appears to be only part of the story. There are several areas that Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur now needs to examine closely, starting with the team’s difficulty in consistently optimising its technical package.
At times, a weekend goes badly without an obvious explanation. On other occasions, Ferrari produces a result or level of performance that is unexpectedly strong and equally difficult to explain. Both situations require detailed analysis because a leading Formula 1 team needs to understand not only why it struggles, but also precisely why it performs well.
That challenge was particularly important at Zandvoort, where Ferrari entered the weekend knowing that the Sprint format would leave limited time to perfect the car. Frédéric Vasseur had already stressed the need to maximise every opportunity during the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, making the team’s fluctuating ability to extract the SF-26’s potential even more significant.
Ferrari’s nervous atmosphere is becoming another concern
The second issue is the level of tension inside the team, something that can also influence the relationship between the drivers. What Ferrari needs is a calmer and more relaxed working environment, although achieving that is particularly difficult at Maranello, where mistakes are rarely forgiven and expectations remain enormous.
There may also be an unhealthy fear of making mistakes. That possibility cannot be ignored, but a successful racing team also needs an environment in which people can enjoy their work. Recently, Ferrari has not given the impression of being a team operating with that sense of freedom or enjoyment.
This does not mean the technical work is unimportant. The development and performance of the Ferrari SF-26 remain fundamental to the team’s ambitions. But a fast Formula 1 car can only deliver its full potential when the organisation around it consistently makes the correct decisions and gives its drivers and engineers the conditions required to perform.
Ferrari keeps talking about perfection, but harmony must come first
The third point concerns Ferrari’s pursuit of perfection. During the Dutch Grand Prix weekend, one phrase was heard frequently inside the garage: “We have to work on being perfect.”
It is an admirable and entirely understandable objective for a team with Ferrari’s ambitions. Yet in the current circumstances, achieving perfection appears extremely difficult. Perfection normally emerges from an environment where there is harmony, confidence and clarity, and the Maranello team currently appears some distance from that ideal.
That may be the area Ferrari needs to address before anything else. Building a trusting, healthy and genuine working environment, where people can operate with confidence rather than fear and can approach their jobs with a smile, could provide the foundation for everything else to improve.
The SF-26 has already demonstrated that it can be fast. The more urgent challenge for Frédéric Vasseur is ensuring Ferrari understands why that performance appears inconsistently, learns to maximise it every weekend and creates the internal conditions required to pursue the perfection the team keeps demanding from itself.
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