Ferrari chasing Mercedes in the early 2026 F1 season
Three wins, including two one-two finishes, three pole positions in the opening three races, and a growing advantage in both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships: it is impossible to deny that Mercedes has made an outstanding start to the 2026 Formula 1 season. Even so, a few minor technical issues encountered by George Russell between Shanghai and Suzuka have slightly reduced what could have been an even more dominant opening phase.
However, according to former Mercedes and Ferrari engineer Jock Clear, the gap is far from impossible to recover for the chasing teams. In fact, he believes it is almost natural to expect that rivals will have both the time and the opportunity to close in over the course of the season. This stands in clear contrast to what happened at the beginning of the turbo-hybrid power unit era in 2014, when Mercedes established a level of dominance that proved extremely difficult to challenge.
Jock Clear’s view on the current competitive picture
“There is a new regulation set and Mercedes,” explained Jock Clear to Ignition Casino, “has come out of it slightly ahead, just like in 2014, but this is not at all the kind of dominance that, in my opinion, we saw back then. I was working at Mercedes during that period and in the early races we didn’t even push in qualifying because it simply wasn’t necessary. Now, however, they have to give it everything, with Ferrari close enough to potentially beat them. And, of course, they know that off the line Ferrari will probably get ahead into the first corner, so they absolutely need to start on the front row. They are pushing as hard as they can, but I don’t think they have anything extra up their sleeve, which suggests we are talking about an advantage of around three tenths of a second.”
Jock Clear is convinced, though, that such a gap is far from insurmountable: “In a normal year, we would be talking about almost a full season of development, but with the current regulations and the ongoing minor tweaks, teams will certainly continue refining their cars from race to race and will learn a great deal along the way. I expect those three tenths to disappear quite quickly. Some teams will make development gains during the season and that will reduce the gap on the grid, while I don’t see Mercedes being able to turn those three tenths into six. I am much more confident that Ferrari, and perhaps Red Bull as well, can take steps forward and close the gap to Mercedes.”
“With the break after Japan, there is a real opportunity for this to turn into an exciting Formula 1 championship, as teams will have time to evaluate what they have and continue developing their packages,” he concluded.
Leave a Reply