Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton led the applause in a social media video posted by Ferrari that showed the firing up of its 2026 Formula 1 power unit.
The Scuderia will be looking to bounce back after a miserable 2025 campaign that yielded no Grand Prix wins and a meagre fourth-place finish in the Constructors’ Championship.
Its fightback begins as F1 enters a new era via a fresh regulations cycle, which has reportedly left the Maranello squad to consider a radical gamble to reign supreme.
A unique air intake system and a steel alloy head on the 50-50 V6 hybrid have been mooted as possibilities for what will power the SF-26, codenamed ‘Project 678’.
But whilst speculation is yet to morph into reality, the team has taken to its social media platforms to tease fans of the sound that will emanate from the car.
Leclerc and Hamilton, along with Team Principal Fred Vasseur, are seen listening to the engine, and once fallen silent, are amongst the personnel applauding what presumably was the first – or at least one of the earliest – public firings of the power unit.
The video was posted hours after the team announced that Hamilton’s race engineer, Riccardo Adami, would be shuffled into a new role as head of its Driver Academy and TPC programme.
The engine will be fired in anger for the first time in less than two weeks, when Ferrari and its rivals begin the first of three pre-season testing schedules, commencing in Barcelona on January 26.
Watch the video below
The video was posted shortly after it was announced by the team that Hamilton’s race engineer, Riccardo Adami, would be shuffled into a new role as head of its Driver Academy and TPC programme.
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton set for new race engineer after major Ferrari F1 shake-up
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