Ferrari’s customer team limitation is becoming a real problem
On one side, Mercedes with customer teams McLaren, Williams, and Alpine. On the other, Ferrari with Haas and Cadillac. Presented in those terms, the contrast is obvious, almost brutal, and from a technical perspective potentially very significant.
One of the major issues affecting Ferrari in this opening phase of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship concerns the consistency and competitiveness of its power unit. This has already been discussed extensively, and there is little need to repeat the same concept endlessly. The reality in Maranello is that there are known issues related to electric power delivery, alongside a clear deficit on the internal combustion side compared to the Mercedes V6 produced in Brixworth.
Attention is now turning to the outcome of the ADUO evaluation process, with the FIA expected to begin providing clearer indications after the Canadian Grand Prix regarding how much each manufacturer will be allowed to recover under the concession system. From that point, power unit manufacturers will begin work on implementing modifications to their engine packages.
Ferrari may have some operational margin to reduce the gap, but it remains difficult to imagine the entire deficit being eliminated during the current season. There are unavoidable technical timelines involved: time for analysis, time for designing the required interventions, time to manufacture updated components, and finally time to validate everything properly on track.
All of that inevitably means several race weekends will pass in the meantime, and during that period Mercedes and the teams powered by the German manufacturer could significantly extend their advantage, perhaps even beyond what already exists today.
Mercedes benefits from the strength of its customer network
Another factor currently limiting Ferrari is the contribution coming from customer teams in supporting development. Mercedes can rely on Williams, which is actively trying to overcome the weaknesses seen in the opening races through a significant upgrade programme. Then there is Alpine: the A526 appears to be a fundamentally strong car that continues to make major progress, regularly finishing inside the top ten and scoring points even with Franco Colapinto. That makes Alpine a genuinely competitive operation capable of extracting strong performance from the Mercedes power unit.
Then there is McLaren, which across the last two races in Japan and Miami has taken major steps forward. Those gains have come not only through the evolution of the MCL40, but also through a better understanding and exploitation of the Mercedes power unit, both in software terms and in overall energy management.
These three teams are delivering meaningful competitive feedback and providing Mercedes High Performance Powertrains with extremely valuable support, effectively amplifying the advantage already created by having what currently appears to be the strongest power unit on the grid.
Haas and Cadillac offer Ferrari less development support
On Ferrari’s side, the picture is very different. Haas is not performing badly, but the American team tends to adopt a more reactive approach, relying more heavily on guidance from Maranello to maximise the performance of the Ferrari power unit. Then there is Cadillac, currently the clear newcomer of the field.
As a rookie team, Cadillac can only offer limited development support at this stage, as its immediate priority is understanding how to integrate its systems, optimise the car package, and establish its broader operational structure as a Formula 1 team.
As a result, Ferrari’s two American customer teams provide fewer data points and fewer competitive performance references compared to the teams powered by Mercedes. Over the longer term, that difference becomes highly significant.
Power unit optimisation is one of the most decisive performance areas in a Formula 1 era where the 2026 regulations have pushed the sport back toward a strongly engine-driven technical formula, perhaps even more than an aerodynamics-and-chassis-driven one.
Ferrari is being asked to close that gap as well, but it remains difficult to imagine that happening during the current campaign. That is why the growing feeling is that the most meaningful recovery in engine performance may now need to be projected toward 2027, a season for which Maranello is reportedly already working on what could effectively be considered a ‘B-spec’ power unit.
Ferrari’s current developmental bottleneck therefore emphasizes the immense strategic value of customer team data under the restrictive 2026 Formula 1 technical regulations. While Mercedes can cross-reference telemetry from four front-running chassis to perfect its hybrid deployment maps, Maranello is essentially fighting a lone war at the front of the field. Relying on the upcoming ADUO framework to level the playing field might offer temporary relief, but it cannot compensate for the continuous stream of high-quality data flowing into Brackley from McLaren and Alpine. If Frédéric Vasseur hopes to mount a genuine championship assault before the next major regulatory shift, Ferrari must find a way to elevate the technical capabilities of Haas and Cadillac, transforming them into true engineering partners rather than passive customers.
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