Ferrari leaves Singapore second in the 2026 constructors’ standings with 444 points, 134 behind Mercedes. That gap sits beside a season that has still produced Lewis Hamilton’s Barcelona-Catalunya win, Charles Leclerc’s victory at Silverstone and a Singapore weekend where both Ferraris reached the Sprint podium before Leclerc finished second in the Grand Prix. The SF-26 has already proved it can win. Ferrari has not proved it can produce that level every weekend.
Second Place Is Hiding a Much Bigger Gap
Hamilton is third in the drivers’ standings on 229 points, while Leclerc is fifth on 215. Ferrari therefore does not have a driver problem or a car trapped in the midfield. Consistency is the issue. After Leclerc finished second at Spa in July, Ferrari went five consecutive Grands Prix without a podium before Hamilton recovered to third at Sepang, while Mercedes kept adding points at the front.
Baku Exposed the Straight-Line Problem Again
Ferrari’s weakness on the straights has followed the SF-26 since the opening part of the season. Vasseur acknowledged it after Japan and again before Baku, where Leclerc qualified second but could not defend effectively once the race settled down; he eventually finished fourth, with Hamilton sixth. Ferrari has sometimes reduced wing to protect itself on long straights, but that comes with an obvious cost in cornering grip. Hamilton also pointed to tyre warm-up in Azerbaijan, where finding the right operating window remained difficult throughout the weekend.
Development Has Its Own Clock
Ferrari brought its largest aerodynamic update of the year to Barcelona in June, revising the front wing, floor and sidepod area. More changes followed in Austria, while the power unit received development permitted under the FIA’s 2026 Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities system. The limits are not all the same: chassis development sits inside the teams’ financial regulations, whose 2026 baseline cost cap is $215 million before applicable adjustments, while power-unit manufacturers operate under separate financial and technical controls. By September, Hamilton was saying rival teams had taken another step, and Ferrari arrived in Baku without a fresh aero package.
Friday Pace Can Move the Price Quickly
Ferrari’s weekend swings are visible well before Sunday’s start. An adult who chooses to download the Melbet app (Arabic: تحميل تطبيق MelBet) can see a Ferrari market move after qualifying, a tyre-temperature problem, or a weather forecast changes the likely race picture. Those odds still include the bookmaker’s margin, and Friday speed does not guarantee the same pace over a full Grand Prix distance. A fixed bankroll suits a season where Ferrari can qualify on the front row and still finish outside the podium places.
Singapore Showed How Points Still Slip Away
Singapore gave Ferrari enough pace to fight near the front, but it also produced another expensive decision. Leclerc qualified only 0.054 seconds behind Max Verstappen and finished second, while Hamilton was running in podium contention before choosing to stay out during a late Virtual Safety Car despite Ferrari calling him in. His tyres faded, and he fell to sixth; Hamilton later took responsibility, while Vasseur said the decision had cost a podium. One week earlier at Sepang, Ferrari had started both cars on slick tyres on a track that still favored intermediates, although Hamilton and Leclerc recovered to third and fourth.
Mercedes Has Made Good Weekends Routine
Mercedes has 11 Grand Prix victories from the first 17 races of 2026 and leads Ferrari 578-444 in the constructors’ championship. Ferrari’s two wins show that the performance ceiling is high enough to beat it on the right weekend, but dominance is built from the ordinary rounds as much as the spectacular ones. Mercedes has accumulated points when Ferrari has fought tyre temperatures, straight-line speed or strategy calls.
Ferrari last won the constructors’ championship in 2008, one year after Kimi Räikkönen secured its most recent drivers’ title. The 2026 regulations reset the chassis, power unit, battery, and aerodynamic rules at the same time, giving every manufacturer a fresh development problem. Ferrari has moved back toward the front, but closing a 134-point gap requires fewer Baku-style compromises and fewer Singapore-style missed opportunities, not another isolated fast weekend.
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