Looking ahead. Toward 2026, which today, for Formula 1, takes the concrete shape of a calendar with dates and venues for the countries that will host the premier class next year. A provisional calendar, as the organization is keen to emphasize, but a framework of 24 race weekends that propels F1 into the next season even though the current one hasn’t yet reached its halfway point. In fact, Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix will mark the tenth round of the 2025 season, an important milestone.
Before the season began, all teams shared the same outlook: “It will be important to understand the hierarchy before the summer break,” team principals said in unison, “in order to decide when to shift focus to 2026.” That year will bring with it the technical revolution of the next generation of cars, which, at least on paper, will reshuffle the competitive order of all the teams on the grid. “I’ll soon tell the team to focus on next year,” admitted Lewis Hamilton during the last race weekend, clearly disappointed by the performance of the SF-25 so far and already looking ahead to Ferrari’s future. However, that future is far from clearly defined for Maranello. Reports from the paddock indicate widely varying expectations about the 2026 power units across teams, with Mercedes currently rumored to be well ahead in development.
If Ferrari hopes to enter a new era as a dominant force, it will first need to rely on a core group of key figures capable of producing a winning car. The team has not won a Constructors’ Championship since 2008, and team principal Fred Vasseur, now approaching three years in the role, was brought in to lead a deep restructuring. That process has included some significant departures, notably sporting director Laurent Mekies in 2023 and technical director Enrico Cardile. The arrival of new technical director Loïc Serra, who joined Ferrari’s technical group less than a year ago, has not yet yielded immediate improvements. On the contrary, the car has underperformed compared to last season’s results, contrary to the expectations of many fans. Adding salt to the wound is a recent disappointment: Ferrari’s failure to secure the services of aerodynamic mastermind Adrian Newey, who in 2024 seemed very close to joining Maranello before ultimately choosing Aston Martin. There, the British designer has thrown himself into the ambitious 2026 project.
Another problem in this 2025 Formula 1 campaign for Ferrari, undoubtedly linked to the team’s lack of competitiveness relative to pre-season expectations, has been the inconsistency in communication and performance from key figures. The drivers swing between confidence and near-resignation, sending mixed messages, while the team principal presents smiles and optimism despite a clear technical gap to rivals. There’s a tendency to delay the acceptance of difficulties. But stalling only helps if the situation improves—and so far, that hasn’t happened.
The opening months of 2025 have been challenging for Fred Vasseur, with results generally falling well short of expectations and punctuated by tense moments, such as the visible frustration of newcomer Hamilton or the embarrassment of the double disqualification in China. The next three Grands Prix—from Montreal to the Red Bull Ring and then Silverstone—will therefore be decisive, not so much for this year’s championship, which is now firmly in McLaren’s hands, but rather for next season and Fred Vasseur’s future in red. His current contract with Maranello expires at the end of the year.
To ensure project continuity, it would be important for Fred Vasseur himself to carry forward the car that will debut in 2026—a project he is fundamentally the architect of. However, if results by year’s end remain at current levels, the team principal may face an exit from the team. Closing the performance gap to McLaren, or at least showing signs of narrowing it, is now essential for entering the decisive stages of the season with greater confidence. Not so much to prove Ferrari can fight for the top step of the podium today, but to guarantee that—with the current team—it will be possible to do so tomorrow. Because 2026, and its inevitable consequences, have never felt so close for the Maranello squad.
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