Team Principal Fred Vasseur has shared his thoughts on how Ferrari fared in the first half of the 2026 F1 season, how their development philosophy differs from that of McLaren, and where he sees the clearest room for the SF-26’s improvement following the summer break.
As it stands, the Italian outfit sits second in the Constructors’ Championship standings—72 points adrift of Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton remains the only driver on the grid to have completed every racing lap so far. He has 1 victory and 4 more podiums under his belt. The seven-time world champion currently finds himself second in the Drivers’ standings—50 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli.
Meanwhile, having suffered back-to-back DNFs in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, Charles Leclerc has secured 1 win and 3 more podiums in the first eleven rounds of the campaign and is fourth in the championship table.
The first half saw two stages
When Antonelli emerged victorious in Monte Carlo, Mercedes held a 79-point buffer over Ferrari. However, the Maranello-based squad have marginally slimmed down the deficit to 72 points in the subsequent five race weekends leading into the summer break.
Speaking in a print media session post-Hungarian GP, Fred Vasseur reflected on the first half of Ferrari’s 2026 F1 season and the ground they have recovered so far.
Assessing the first half of the campaign in two distinct stages, the Frenchman noted how Mercedes had managed to build a comfortable cushion before Ferrari started to claw back some of that advantage from the Barcelona-Catalunya GP onwards. It was the very race where Hamilton claimed his first Grand Prix victory in red.
“The first part of the season was, I would say, probably in two stages.
“The first one was until Spain, when Mercedes was flying. They scored something like 100 points more than us in four or five events.
“After Spain, when we came back, we scored more points than Mercedes over the next four or five races.”
Vasseur comments on where Ferrari can still improve in the second half of the 2026 F1 season
With regard to whether Ferrari have further scope for optimisation as they gear up for the remaining rounds after the F1 summer break in 2026, Fred Vasseur identified three specific areas that require more attention.
While claiming that they have been operationally sound since the first race, the 58-year-old conceded after their relatively underwhelming showing at the Hungarian GP that they have to refine their execution going forward.
Vasseur also admitted that they are counting on their second ADUO-influenced power unit update to compensate for the horsepower they lack in comparison to Mercedes.
Additionally, the Ferrari team boss stated that the challenge they now face pertains to maintaining a steady development rate across the second half of the season.
“What we have to improve is that if I draw a conclusion based on today, I would say execution, but execution so far has been a good one for us from the beginning of the season.
“We know that we have to improve on the engine side and we will do it. The inertia on the engines is much higher than on the chassis. The most important would be to be able to keep the pace into the development.”
Ferrari and McLaren following different upgrade philosophies
Ferrari’s upgrade frequency, which Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has questioned already, undoubtedly differs from that of McLaren, who have opted for fewer but larger upgrade packages this season.
Drawing a clear distinction between the development philosophy of Ferrari and McLaren in 2026, Fred Vasseur reiterated that their objective is to sustain the momentum of regular upgrades and further reinforce the SF-26’s chassis and other components with plenty more races to go.
“McLaren did a huge step forward. But they don’t have exactly the same philosophy because they are bringing big packages, and I think the last one was Miami or Canada.
“For sure, each time they are developing something, they are making a huge step. But we have a different approach, trying to bring parts every two three race.
“And we have to keep this momentum because it’s still 11 or 12 races to go…you know, it’s a lot. We have room for improvement on the chassis and everywhere, and we have to keep this pace.”
