At the end of the Barcelona tests, a well-known face from Sky commented on Ferrari’s performance, explaining what looks positive ahead of Bahrain in terms of power unit reliability and lap times.
There was a lot of anticipation around Ferrari during the Barcelona tests. Not so much to already get a clear picture of the true level of the SF-26, but rather to evaluate the work carried out in Maranello on the power unit side. As is well known, the new regulations have introduced substantial changes to the engine, with teams particularly concerned about reliability.
Why Ferrari can smile after the Barcelona tests
And yet at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, at least among the top teams, reliability-related issues proved to be marginal and, in some cases, completely absent. This was also highlighted by Matteo Bobbi, a familiar figure from the Sky Sport F1 team, during one of his latest videos published on YouTube.
“Ferrari, with 432 laps overall and 170 completed in a single day, is the second team that managed to complete the most laps. When it comes to the power unit, the total distance covered amounts to 4,578 kilometres, which is only around 500 kilometres less than Mercedes. This is a very important figure, because at this stage the key priority, especially for engine manufacturers, was achieving reliability. That is an absolutely non-trivial topic because everything is completely new. It was therefore really important to be able to run,” the former driver stated.
“On top of that, it seems to me that Ferrari arrived very, very well prepared, and I repeat: that was far from obvious. They were already well prepared at Fiorano and that was confirmed again in Barcelona. They did not encounter any major issues: the ones they had were minor and could be resolved in a short time. The car ran consistently and on the final day they also wanted to try and ‘scan’ it a little more in slightly more aggressive modes. This does not mean that Ferrari on the final day was already running in qualifying mode, but they did manage to raise the bar slightly, and it is important to understand how the car behaves when you take it a little closer to the limit,” Bobbi then added.
The Sky commentator, who will once again be involved in the live coverage of the Bahrain tests, also commented on the first lap time references recorded in Barcelona.
“As far as lap times are concerned, in my opinion, for all of the teams at the front, they are very good. Honestly, I did not expect them to be this fast straight away. If we consider that during free practice for the Spanish Grand Prix the fastest time was around 1:13.6 to 1:13.7, the times they achieved are already very quick, especially considering that they were certainly not running in full attack mode, the environmental conditions were not ideal and it was very cold,” Matteo Bobbi concluded.
The technical feedback from the Barcelona shakedown suggests that Ferrari has successfully navigated the most treacherous part of the 2026 transition by delivering a Power Unit that is both robust and immediately competitive. By racking up over 4,500 kilometers with minimal disruption, the SF-26 has allowed Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to move past basic systems checks and into the crucial phase of limit-testing much earlier than anticipated. As Matteo Bobbi noted, the surprising proximity to previous qualifying benchmarks—despite the sub-optimal winter temperatures in Spain—indicates that Maranello’s simulation work has translated effectively to the asphalt. While the true pecking order remains hidden behind varying fuel loads, Ferrari’s ability to “raise the bar” without triggering mechanical failures provides a vital psychological edge as the focus shifts to the final pre-season preparations in the heat of Bahrain.
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