Ahead of the start of the 2026 F1 season, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has stated that the Australian GP will give the team the opportunity to gauge their competitiveness against the grid.
The 2026 F1 season will introduce a new regulation cycle. To prepare for these changes, F1 teams, including Ferrari, tested their 2026 cars for an extended period ahead of the season-opening 2026 Australian GP. Teams had the opportunity to test their cars on three days at the Barcelona shakedown and six days of Bahrain F1 testing. During these first outings, Ferrari experienced no major issues and looked competitive. Lewis Hamilton recorded the fastest time during the Barcelona shakedown, and teammate Charles Leclerc hogged the top spot during the final day of F1 testing in Bahrain, setting one fastest lap after another.
Despite positive signs in overall reliability and competitive lap times, the team, headed by Vasseur, remained cautious, as testing provides little representative data on the pecking order of the F1 grid. However, the extended testing period provided Ferrari with valuable data that helped the team understand the 2026 challenger ahead of the 2026 Australian GP.
2026 F1 Australian GP “first real opportunity” for Ferrari to judge competitiveness
In a statement published on the team’s website, team principal Fred Vasseur reckoned that the 2026 F1 Australian GP would provide Ferrari with the “first real opportunity” to judge the competitiveness of the SF-26. Given the unknowns furthered by the new regulation cycle, Ferrari will approach the weekend with “focus and humility,” says Vasseur.
“We did a good number of kilometres at the Bahrain tests, which produced plenty of data to help us understand the SF-26. We worked methodically on various key areas, gathering a great deal of useful information.
“Conditions at testing are never really representative, and Melbourne will be the first real opportunity to assess how competitive we are compared to our opponents. As usual at the start of the season, there are a lot of unknowns, and we will approach the weekend with focus and humility.”
