Ferrari has shown the first public look at its 2026 colours, lifting the curtain on the SF-26 at Fiorano ahead of a shakedown that will be split between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
It’s the sort of launch that, on the surface, is all about paint and presentation — but it also lands as a statement about priorities, because Ferrari effectively began telling the paddock months ago that 2026 was the real target. While others kept one eye on the here and now, Maranello made the call early last season to pivot hard towards the regulation reset and live with the consequences.
Those consequences were painful and very visible. Ferrari slipped from second in the Constructors’ Championship to fourth over the final eight races of the 2025 campaign, and the frustration was impossible to hide. Hamilton, in particular, ended up with the statistical anomaly nobody expected to see attached to his name: his first full F1 season without a single grand prix podium.
Fred Vasseur never pretended it was comfortable, but he has consistently framed it as the only rational move given the points gap to McLaren. In his post-season briefing, he argued Ferrari simply wasn’t in a position to claw back what it needed in 2025, and that reallocating resources was the logical play — even if it came with a significant hit to prize money.
The fascinating bit is that Ferrari didn’t just “lose money” by dropping places. In a cost-capped era with tight limits on what you can do, time is a currency too. The fall down the Constructors’ order brought extra Aerodynamic Testing Restriction allowance — more windtunnel and CFD room than McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull. With 2026 bringing shorter, lighter cars (30kg down), active aerodynamics, and a new power-unit formula with a 50/50 split between electrical and combustion power, that extra development capacity is the kind teams will happily sacrifice cash for. The bet is clear: take the short-term bruises, arrive at the reset better prepared.
As for the car fans will actually see running, the SF-26 livery is an eye-catcher even by Ferrari standards — and not just because it’s Ferrari red. The engine cover is a stark white, with HP branding prominent, and the overall feel leans into nostalgia without going costume: there’s an unmistakable nod to the 312T era in the way the white and red are balanced. It’s an old-school look applied to an era that will be anything but.
Underneath, Ferrari’s 2026 project is also already part of the wider paddock story. The team’s all-new engine has been fired up this month, and it has already been run on track by Cadillac ahead of Ferrari’s own shakedown. That detail matters: in a year where every manufacturer is managing new hybrid demands and new integration headaches, early mileage — from anyone running your hardware — is information.
Ferrari, though, has been careful to temper expectations about what exactly is rolling out at Fiorano. Vasseur had previously talked about an initial “Spec A” car, and the team has effectively confirmed that approach, describing a concept built around “functional simplicity” and “robust and flexible” fundamentals — the kind of language teams use when they want the freedom to move fast once track data starts to arrive, rather than locking themselves into a brittle, over-optimised solution before anyone truly understands the new rules in anger.
The shakedown is only the first domino. Ferrari then heads to Spain early next week for a five-day test behind closed doors, with each team allowed to run on three of those five days. After that, attention shifts to Bahrain, where two official pre-season tests will run from 11-13 February and 18-20 February. Then it’s straight into the real thing: the 2026 season begins with the Australian Grand Prix on 8 March.
For Ferrari, it’s hard to escape the feeling that 2026 is less “fresh start” and more “moment of truth”. They’ve openly paid for this winter in the currency of last year’s results, and they’ve done it with two A-list drivers and a team boss who knows exactly how unforgiving the optics can be in Italy when a gamble doesn’t pay out.
But if the SF-26 comes out of the blocks with genuine pace, those lost places — and all the noise that came with them — will be recast as the price of having the courage to commit early. In a reset year, that’s sometimes the only advantage you can buy.
