Ferrari started the season with championship promise but faltered midway through with an “emergency” Formula 1 power unit project.
The Maranello-based team entered F1’s latest era with an air of boisterous optimism.
Charles Leclerc took the SF-26 to its first podium of 2026 at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton followed it up with his maiden Ferrari podium at China, just one week later.
The seven-time World Champion’s sophomore season with the Scuderia crescendoed at Barcelona, as he picked up his first win as a Ferrari driver and consolidated his title credentials against the might of Mercedes.
But it all petered out quickly thereafter. On paper, Ferrari had developed a chassis and aerodynamic concept that was the most competitive off the bat.
That said, as its rivals caught up in the developmental race, one glaring chink in Ferrari’s armour started getting exposed.
Ferrari’s 2026 F1 power unit project was an “emergency”
Heading into the 2026 season, with an all-new engine formula, the works Ferrari power unit project was already in doldrums behind the scenes.
Internal conflicts and the departure of some key figures like Wolf Zimmerman and Lars Schmidt, in the winter, meant the team were already fighting with one arm tied behind its back. And, according to reports from AutoRacer.it, has gone as far as calling Ferrari’s 2026 PU an “emergency project”.
Even with the advantages of ADUO, which allowed Ferrari to bring two upgrades on its 2026-spec engine, Team Principal Fred Vasseur conceded that the team were lacking “pure pace” compared to its rivals.
It only makes sense then, as the team started so far back on its targets this year, that its 2027 power unit, as Vasseur revealed would be a “new engine” altogether.
“We were not expecting to recover [with] ADUO 1 or ADUO 2,” he had said.
“We are doing small steps, but what you have to keep in mind is that if you make a small step on the engine, even if you make a couple of horsepower, it’s a good step on the grid.
“That means that now we will have a new engine next year. For sure, the target is to catch up, to catch up as soon as possible, but I was not expecting that in two months we will recover the delta with Mercedes.”
On track, Hamilton’s bid for an unprecedented eighth F1 title seems to have come to a premature end, at least for this season, after an early retirement for the Ferrari driver from the Spanish GP.
READ MORE – Ferrari faces ‘mega long’ process to fix major F1 speed deficit
Discussion about this post