Ferrari Formula 1 team boss Fred Vasseur is expecting to see rapid in-season development as squads get to grips with the new regulations and doesn't believe the pecking order will remain static after the opening race in Melbourne.
The 2026 regulations change, encompassing new power units, energy deployment and aerodynamics, is one of the biggest rule resets in F1 history, and presents Ferrari with a chance to start on the front foot after it wasn't able to mount a credible title challenge in the outgoing rules' era.
To boost its chances Ferrari fully shifted its aero development to the 2026 car from April onwards, which meant it paid a price through the latter half of the 2025 season as it slid to fourth in the constructors' standings after a season without a grand prix win.
After he and the team faced mounting pressure and scrutiny back in Italy this year, Vasseur is under no illusions about what is expected from Ferrari in 2026.
But he also stressed that teams have so many performance differentiators to develop that the road to success next year is about in-season improvements rather than the pecking order at the very first race in Melbourne.
"Next year it won't be about the first picture of the season, it won't be all about the classification of Australia, it will be a lot about the capacity for quick development," Vasseur cautioned. "The season won't be over in Australia for sure, it doesn't matter if we are P1 or P10, but it will be a long way until the end, it will be a long way for everybody."
Asked about how his 2025 choices will pay off, the Frenchman replied: "I have no clue. Our sport is a comparison. I can do a good job, but if someone did a better job, I look stupid. We are pushing at the limit, and we are trying to do the best, and for sure, the more time you are spending on the project, the better you will be.
"But I don't know if McLaren, Red Bull or Alpine is in front of us. Nobody knows, and I think the most important thing is not to spend time to try and understand if the others are in front or behind."
According to Charles Leclerc, the new era is "now or never" for Ferrari to fight for championships with him, with the Monegasque delivering one of his best F1 campaigns in 2025 without having anything to show for it – Leclerc still waiting for his title shot since joining the Scuderia in 2019. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton is due a winter reset after a bruising first campaign at Maranello which was more difficult than he had anticipated.
Does Vasseur share the same sense of urgency as Leclerc about Ferrari having to step up its game? "No, not urgency, no. But when you ask him if he's happy with the session when he's P2 or when he's P6, it's not the same Charles, for sure.
"But if you ask him the Thursday after: 'What do you want to do with the team?', then I think the approach is always the same. It's always constructive to try to do better, even if in P1. We are just trying to do a better job on every single pillar of the performance, on the engine, on the gearbox, on the aero, on the set-up, on the simulator, and this is the DNA of what we are doing.
"But it's not that just one team is waking up in the morning like: 'Ah, we are not doing a good job, we have to push'. Trust me, I think Max [Verstappen] is pushing the team at the limit, Lando [Norris] is pushing the team at the limit, and honestly, as an F1 team, it's also what we are expecting. If Charles and Lewis were very happy with the car and with everything, I would be desperate! This is more positive than anything else."
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