Ferrari targets Tuesday debut for SF-26 in Barcelona, with further developments to appear in Bahrain

Ferrari says it is also planning to miss the first day of running at the Barcelona shakedown next week, and will be adding developments to its 2026 car from the first pre-season test in Bahrain.

The SF-26 hit took to the circuit for the first time at the team’s test track in Fiorano on Friday, as both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc spent time behind the wheel on a filming day. Team principal Fred Vasseur says the focus will be on gathering data in Barcelona next week – when Ferrari plans to complete the first of its three permitted days on Tuesday – before more upgrades are introduced in Bahrain in February.

“Getting the car on track as soon as possible – I think we postponed as much as we can the demo day to have time to develop the car!” Vasseur said. “But we knew the calendar from the beginning. It means that it's a long-term process that we decided to bring upgrades from the next session.

“I think the most important thing at the beginning is the reliability. The most important thing is to be able to do mileage, and that's why we are quite happy today because we didn't have any issues. In Barcelona, the target will be to get the maximum amount of information on the car, maximum amount of data, and then we start the development from Bahrain onwards.”

• Ferrari hits the track with SF-26 at Fiorano

McLaren has also said it won’t run on the opening day in Barcelona, but Vasseur says the pre-season track time will be vital as so many different aspects need to work together effectively under new regulations.

“I think the key for the performance will be a good integration between chassis [and systems]," he said. "For sure development is key, performance of every single area is key, but at the end of the day the biggest challenge will be probably the integration of all the systems together, including the drivers. Honestly, it will be a full reset for them on their approach, it means that they will have to completely change the way that they have to approach the weekend, develop during the weekend, and the way of even driving will probably be a bit different.

“This also for them it will be a challenge, and part of our job will be to give them the good tools to be at their maximum. It’s true that we are all starting from scratch – we are all discovering the challenges. This is a good feeling, I would say, because it's our job – it’s in our DNA to challenge this kind of situation and drivers are part of the equation. I think it's a very interesting challenge for us and for the others.”

Chassis technical director Loic Serra confirmed Vasseur’s comments on how quickly the new car will evolve, but adds the team has also taken another similar approach to McLaren in wanting flexibility to react to different development directions this year.

“This car is coming out of a new regulation, so we tried to extend quite a lot the conceptual phase, because effectively when you have a brand-new regulation you need to be able to go through the loops of development several times, as many as you can,” Serra said. “But at one stage you have to settle down on a solution and then make it happen. So there was quite a big focus on the conceptual phase.

“We also had in mind to make sure that, we know that with this new regulation, car development will be a big topic during the season. So we need to make sure we are not cornering ourselves in the design and that we have enough potential for the car development.”