Still We Rise

🚨Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have shared Ferrari’s victories this season despite sitting far apart in the championship standings. But according to former team principal Maurizio Arrivabene, now is not the time to establish a number one driver within the Scuderia. A debate is beginning to grow around Ferrari, but at this stage of the 2026 Formula 1 World Championship it seems premature. Only nine of the planned 22 Grands Prix have been completed, unless the two races cancelled because of tensions in the Persian Gulf are eventually rescheduled. Even so, some believe that Fred Vasseur and Ferrari’s management should already decide on a clear number one and number two driver in an effort to challenge Mercedes more effectively.

Mercedes has won seven of the first nine races of the season, with Kimi Antonelli taking five victories and George Russell claiming the other two. Ferrari’s wins, meanwhile, have been shared equally between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. The British driver has enjoyed a period of consistent improvement, allowing him to edge ahead in overall form, while the Monegasque endured a more difficult spell that began after the Miami Grand Prix and only came to an end with his victory at Silverstone.

So what should Ferrari do? Is it already the right moment to back one driver in an attempt to stop the Mercedes challenge? The Brackley-based team remains the benchmark, although recent races have exposed some weaknesses, particularly in terms of reliability. As we highlighted in another analysis, those issues could also be a consequence of the pressure Ferrari is now applying, forcing the German team to push harder in its pursuit of performance. Even so, it still appears too early to argue that Lewis Hamilton should become Ferrari’s undisputed number one driver or, conversely, that he should support Charles Leclerc’s championship campaign, especially after the Monegasque’s immediate response with his Silverstone victory.

🚨Ferrari put together a very specific development strategy long before the start of the 2026 Formula 1 season, and that planning is now paying dividends. Thanks to a key decision taken over the winter, the Scuderia has created room within the budget cap to continue introducing upgrades for the SF-26 throughout the championship. Maranello has a clearly defined roadmap for the remainder of the season. By deliberately making a strategic choice during the winter, Ferrari is now able to dedicate more financial and technical resources to development than many of its rivals. It is a plan designed specifically to maximize performance while remaining comfortably within Formula 1’s financial regulations.

In recent weeks, debate has intensified following comments from Toto Wolff, who suggested that Ferrari would struggle to maintain its current pace of development for the entire season. Team principal Frédéric Vasseur responded with visible irritation. So far, Ferrari has already introduced two major upgrade packages, one at Miami and another in Spain, followed by the ADUO 1 power unit upgrade that debuted in Austria.

The result has been remarkable. The SF-26 has gained an estimated seven to eight tenths of a second in performance, helping Ferrari secure two victories. Meanwhile, Mercedes has struggled both with reliability on track and with the efficiency of its upgrade process. Here is why Ferrari’s technical development strategy, combined with careful budget cap management, has become one of the Scuderia’s biggest strengths.

🚨Max Verstappen’s recent crashes have prompted the FIA to investigate the innovative “Macarena” rear wing concept currently used by both Ferrari and Red Bull, raising questions about whether Formula 1’s governing body could require changes to a design that has so far worked flawlessly on the Ferrari SF-26. Max Verstappen was furious after the British Grand Prix, having suffered his second retirement in the last three races caused by a failure of the rear wing mechanism. A similar incident had already occurred during the Austrian Grand Prix, and once again the Red Bull driver was sent violently off the track after the rear wing failed to close correctly.

Unlike a conventional Formula 1 rear wing, the RB22 features a concept that closely resembles the innovative “Macarena” design first introduced by Ferrari on the SF-26. The solution has attracted considerable technical interest throughout the paddock thanks to its aerodynamic characteristics, but the recent reliability issues experienced by Red Bull have now placed the concept under the spotlight.

According to a report from The Race, Formula 1’s governing body has opened discussions with both Red Bull and Ferrari—the only two teams currently using this particular rear wing concept—to better understand the circumstances behind the incidents.

Over the past few days, the FIA has reportedly called in the technical representatives of both teams to examine the safety implications of the design, despite having approved the Macarena rear wing concept used by both Ferrari and Red Bull before the start of the season.

Max Verstappen’s own comments are also believed to have influenced the decision to investigate, as the four-time Formula 1 world champion openly questioned the safety of the recurring issue.

🚨Back in 2021 at Yas Marina, Lewis Hamilton was leading the race when he chose not to pit, convinced that the Grand Prix would finish behind the Safety Car. At Silverstone, however, the situation was different. Running in second place and battling his former Mercedes teammate George Russell, Hamilton decided not to repeat what he considered the mistake he had made five years earlier. This time he headed into the pits for a fresh set of Soft tyres, hoping to use the performance advantage if the race restarted for the closing laps.

Mercedes, on the other hand, repeated the strategy it had followed in 2021 by leaving Russell out on used Medium tyres. This time, fortune smiled on Toto Wolff’s team. Race Control attempted to restart the race for at least one final lap, but the lapped cars were only allowed to overtake the Safety Car on the penultimate lap. As a result, it became impossible to complete the required procedure in time, meaning the Grand Prix could not be restarted before the checkered flag.

This time, although the FIA initially miscalculated the timing because of a software error, the governing body ultimately applied the regulations correctly. Mercedes secured victory by following essentially the same strategic approach it had used in 2021, while Lewis Hamilton was left to endure another disappointing ending.

The seven-time Formula 1 World Champion simply cannot seem to catch a break when it comes to late-race Safety Car interventions. What might have felt like an opportunity to finally put the events of 2021 behind him instead ended in yet another frustrating chapter.

🚨Former Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene believes the Scuderia should not yet be thinking about favouring either Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc. In his view, Ferrari has a much more important objective at this stage of the 2026 Formula 1 season: staying ahead of Mercedes. Although Mercedes still leads the head-to-head battle by seven victories to Ferrari’s two, the Maranello team has won two of the last three Grands Prix, providing fresh momentum in the championship fight.

Without the technical problem that forced Andrea Kimi Antonelli out, the score would most likely stand at 8-1, with the Italian extending his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship. However, reliability has always been one of the defining factors in Formula 1, and during the opening phase of the 2026 season it has once again become a decisive element, particularly for the Mercedes-powered teams. In the Drivers’ standings, Antonelli leads George Russell by 25 points, while Lewis Hamilton sits 32 points behind the championship leader. Charles Leclerc is fourth, 71 points adrift. According to Maurizio Arrivabene, now is not the time for Ferrari to worry about internal preferences or establishing a clear hierarchy between its two drivers. Instead, the team’s full attention should remain focused on its primary rival.

🚨Ferrari is already working on the third major upgrade package for the SF-26, with the latest developments expected to arrive later this season. Meanwhile, questions are beginning to emerge over whether Mercedes has hit a temporary slowdown in its development programme. The Maranello-based team continues to push aggressively on the upgrade front, with engineers already focused on the third significant package of the year. Here’s the race where Ferrari is expected to introduce it, while Mercedes appears to be dealing with a more complicated situation regarding the evolution of its W17. Thanks to the upgrade packages introduced in Miami and Spain, the SF-26 has reportedly gained around seven to eight tenths of a second in performance. It has been a remarkable step forward, further refined through smaller circuit-specific updates that allow Ferrari to extract the maximum potential from the package. The Austrian Grand Prix proved more challenging because the high altitude prevented the team from fully exploiting the ADUO 1 power unit. Ferrari also paid the price for a setup that placed too much emphasis on front-end performance. At Silverstone, however, the team returned to the aggressive hybrid deployment map first seen in Spain, while also further reducing aerodynamic drag. That combination allowed the Ferrari to reach top speeds that were almost identical to Mercedes, supported by a highly efficient energy management strategy throughout the lap. The latest developments are estimated to have delivered an additional 15 kW of performance, and Ferrari is already looking ahead to its next major upgrade package. According to information reported by Rosario Giuliana for AutoRacer.it, the SF-26 still has considerable room for improvement, especially with the future introduction of the ADUO 2 power unit upgrade. The next step on the engine side is expected to focus on the internal combustion engine, particularly the turbocharger, with that package potentially arriving at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

On the aerodynamic side, Loic Serra’s technical team is already developing the third major upgrade package, which Ferrari is aiming to introduce after the summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort. That is currently the target set by the Maranello factory.

🇬🇧Lewis Hamilton’s third-place finish at the British Grand Prix remained under threat long after the chequered flag had fallen. The Ferrari driver, who had already endured a difficult afternoon filled with setbacks, was called before the FIA stewards following an alleged yellow flag infringement, creating uncertainty over whether he would lose another valuable result. Ultimately, the seven-time Formula 1 World Champion avoided a second sporting penalty. Instead of receiving additional time that would have dramatically altered the final classification, Lewis Hamilton was handed only a reprimand, allowing him to keep both his podium finish and an important haul of championship points.

🚨Ferrari claimed victory at the British Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc after an outstanding weekend in terms of Power Unit optimization. Here’s when the expected ADUO 2 engine upgrade should arrive—and why Mercedes can no longer afford to underestimate the Scuderia. The Maranello team secured its second win of the season at Silverstone, with Leclerc finally looking completely comfortable behind the wheel of the SF-26. Lewis Hamilton finished third, further highlighting just how competitive Ferrari had become on a circuit where expectations had been far more modest. Attention is now turning to the next step in Ferrari’s development programme: the ADUO 2 engine upgrade.

The SF-26 remains one of the most innovative cars on the grid, introducing original aerodynamic and chassis concepts that have often been copied by rival teams. The work carried out in Maranello by Loïc Serra, Diego Tondi, Frank Sanchez and the rest of Ferrari’s technical staff has been exceptional.

The team’s two major upgrade packages are believed to have improved the car by around seven to eight tenths of a second. On top of that, Ferrari continues to introduce smaller updates almost every race weekend, including the medium-to-low-downforce floor specification and revised rear brake ducts. It is hardly surprising that Wolff has begun paying closer attention. The Mercedes team principal recently pointed to Ferrari’s aggressive development programme, suggesting that the Scuderia would eventually run into the constraints imposed by the budget cap. Fred Vasseur was reportedly irritated by those comments, especially considering the long-standing friendship between the two team bosses.

At the moment, Ferrari’s only clear weakness remains its Power Unit.

🚨Ferrari’s decision to bring the Briton into the pits during the late Safety Car period was based on the expectation that racing would resume. Fresh tyres would almost certainly have given the seven-time Formula 1 world champion an excellent opportunity to attack George Russell for second place and potentially even pressure Charles Leclerc depending on how the restart unfolded. Instead, the race ended before those scenarios could develop, leaving Lewis Hamilton unable to capitalize on Ferrari’s aggressive strategy. Even so, the British driver still secured a valuable podium finish after recovering from an eventful afternoon that included a five-second penalty and an early struggle with the balance of the SF-26.

Lewis Hamilton also emerged from a post-race investigation into a possible yellow-flag infringement without further penalties, allowing him to retain his result and continue his climb in the Drivers’ Championship. His Silverstone podium enabled him to reduce the gap to championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 15 points, although George Russell also strengthened his own title challenge by finishing ahead.

🚨🇬🇧There are only two possible explanations. Either Ferrari completely misled everyone right up until the eve of the British Grand Prix, or something almost unimaginable happened—something that can only be described as a miracle.

Even Charles Leclerc himself, victorious at Silverstone after finishing eighth in Austria just two weeks earlier and trailing the Mercedes by 45 seconds, seemed unable to explain what had happened. The result defied logic, ignored the rigid calculations that usually define Formula 1, and contradicted the precise simulations that teams rely on to predict every detail before arriving at the circuit. Above all, seeing two Ferraris on the podium—with Lewis Hamilton taking third after running a race that, yellow flag debates aside, arguably deserved second place—was a wonderful surprise that virtually nobody had predicted. Not even the most optimistic people inside the Scuderia truly believed such a result was possible.

If there is one secret behind this memorable Sunday, it lies in Ferrari’s relentless work to erase the performance gap to Mercedes. Unlike in previous seasons, the team’s upgrades have consistently delivered race after race, culminating in the breakthrough at the Spanish Grand Prix, where Lewis Hamilton’s victory showcased the true potential of the SF-26.

It seemed only a matter of time before Andrea Kimi Antonelli would overtake Charles Leclerc and secure yet another victory. But once again, Mercedes paid the price for its mechanical fragility. Reliability has become an expensive weakness, and Ferrari was perfectly positioned to capitalize.

The Scuderia had controlled the race from the opening laps, with both drivers displaying impressive pace throughout. Although Andrea Kimi Antonelli slipped from pole position to third at the start, his Mercedes gradually showed signs of having the stronger overall package, even if the advantage was nowhere near as overwhelming as it had been at previous races.

When Antonelli extended his first stint and Charles Leclerc inherited the race lead, there was hope that the Ferrari driver might build a decisive advantage. Instead, with fresher tyres, the young Italian immediately began closing the gap. Within roughly seven laps he appeared destined to pass Leclerc, until a mechanical failure dramatically changed the race.

The problem forced him back to the pits, and although he attempted an impressive recovery, a time penalty ultimately ruined any realistic chance of fighting back. What should have been another triumphant afternoon for the young driver from Bologna instead turned into a disaster.

George Russell, helped enormously by circumstances, inherited second place despite a weekend in which he had once again looked slower and less convincing than his teammate. Thanks to an enormous slice of good fortune, the British driver suddenly finds himself firmly back in the championship battle.

Charles Leclerc’s joy was shared by everyone who has watched him dedicate himself wholeheartedly to Ferrari over the years. His race was that of a true champion, complemented by the artistic brilliance of his qualifying performance.

Since signing his contract extension, Charles Leclerc has endured a difficult season. He has struggled to adapt to the characteristics of the SF-26 and has also made mistakes of his own. His Silverstone triumph therefore feels like a richly deserved reward—not only for this weekend, but for everything he has given Ferrari over recent years, far more than for what he achieved during the opening eight races of the 2026 campaign.