Ferrari names its 2026 car SF-26 as Leclerc and Hamilton eye a clean slate
Ferrari has put a badge on its 2026 challenger: meet the SF-26, the first Ferrari to line up under Formula 1’s reset next year, with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at the wheel.
The name is familiar, the context less so. After a bruising 2025 that never really lit up, Maranello is treating 2026 like a hard reboot. New rules. New power unit philosophy. New aero tricks. And, if the whispers are right, a very different Ferrari under the skin.
The car formerly known internally as Project 678 will be unveiled on January 23, just ahead of a private shakedown in Barcelona and before two Bahrain tests in February. Ferrari plans to split its pre-season in two: a conservative launch-spec for early mileage and systems sign-off, then a development-heavy B-spec aimed squarely at performance before Melbourne opens the campaign on March 8.
There’s already noise around the details. Expect pushrod suspension at both ends — a configuration Ferrari hasn’t run at the rear since 2010 — chosen for packaging gains around the new, more complex hybrid power unit and for the aero consistency it can offer with active systems in play. It’s a route believed to be popular among rivals for the 2026 rulebook, which leans into 50 percent electrical deployment, fully sustainable fuels and active aerodynamics.
The engine story is spicier still. Ferrari is rumoured to be pressing ahead with what’s been described as a highly innovative design, including steel alloy cylinder heads — a departure from the aluminium that’s been standard fare for weight reasons. The bet? Higher pressures and temperatures at ignition for cleaner, more efficient combustion under the new fuel and energy constraints. The trade-offs are obvious: weight versus durability versus outright efficiency. But recent durability progress — with outside expertise credited in the background — has reportedly pushed the project from “interesting” to “green-lit.”
Pair that with talk of a lighter, more compact battery and trimmed-down cooling hardware and you get the picture: Ferrari’s chasing a dense, tight power unit install that gives its aero team freedom. For a squad that spent too long nursing an SF-25 compromised by ride-height sensitivities, that matters.
This all lands against a fascinating driver backdrop. Leclerc enters 2026 as the known quantity inside Ferrari and, results aside, the one who could regularly stem the bleeding when the car misbehaved. Hamilton, meanwhile, endured an uncharacteristically lean 2025 and has made no secret of his desire for a clean sheet with the new regs. If Ferrari nails the concept early, the pairing is as sharp as any on the grid.
Team boss Fred Vasseur has been open about the launch-to-test cadence: mileage first, performance second. It’s a pragmatic approach when everything from energy deployment maps to active aero logic will be new territory in year one. Expect Ferrari to ringfence reliability work in Barcelona before rolling out the good stuff in Bahrain.
None of this guarantees a title tilt, of course. 2026 will compress the field in some places and blow it apart in others. Power unit energy flows, aero balance with active elements, drag-reduction strategies — it’s a new puzzle with new edges. The Scuderia’s task is simple to say and fiendish to execute: integrate the power unit and chassis tightly enough that the car’s balance works with, not against, the software-driven aero and hybrid deployment.
One more thing worth saying out loud: the SF-26 you’ll see on launch day might not be the SF-26 that turns laps in anger. Ferrari’s two-spec plan bakes in change. The silhouette could shift. The suspension settings will. And the power unit will spend the month living on dynos as much as on track, searching for that sweet spot between electric boost and combustion efficiency that the 2026 regs reward.
For now, the sticker on the nose is official, the intent is clear, and Ferrari’s winter workload is very real. The rest will be decided in the quiet hours of Barcelona and the glare of Bahrain — and by whether the SF-26 turns those rumours into lap time.
Note: lead image is a fan-made concept render by Hugo Fernández (Instagram: @zordewarchive; X: @zordewfx), not an official Ferrari image.
