Lewis Hamilton has emphasised the scale of the challenge facing drivers and teams as Formula One enters a new season with a regulation reset that the British driver described as the biggest of his career, as his Ferrari team look to a new start after a disappointing 2025.
The Scuderia launched their new car, the SF-26, with Hamilton driving it at the team’s test track at Fiorano for the first time on Friday. He was optimistic, having been involved in the development of a Ferrari for the first time but acknowledged that a huge task lay ahead.
“The 2026 season represents a huge challenge for everyone, probably the biggest regulation change I have experienced in my career,” he said. “Being involved from the very start in the development of such a different car has been a particularly fascinating challenge, working closely with the engineers to help define a clear direction for it.
“It will be an extremely important year from a technical perspective, with the driver playing a central role in energy management, understanding the new systems and contributing to the car’s development.”
The scale and complexity of what the teams are building, including entirely new engines split 50-50 between combustion and electrical energy and the use of active aerodynamics, was made strikingly clear on Friday when Williams, who finished fifth in the championship last season, announced they were not ready to take part in the first test in Barcelona, beginning on Monday.
Williams said they would instead run a virtual test-track programme next week and expect to make the second test in Bahrain, but it is an inauspicious start to what will likely be a frenetic championship.
Indeed, the Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur, emphasised that he expected the new cars to be developed at a furious rate as the season progresses and also highlighted how the drivers would have to adapt extensively to driving them.
“The biggest challenge will include the integration of all the systems together, including the drivers, it will be a full reset for them on their approach,” he said. “They will have to change completely the way that they approach the weekend. Even the way of driving will probably be a bit different. This also for them will be a challenge and part of our job will be to give them the good tools to be at their maximum.”
Ferrari was one of the teams, alongside Audi and Honda, who had written to the FIA, the governing body, expressing concerns that Mercedes and Red Bull had gained an advantage in their engine design by using thermal expansion of components to increase their compression ratio. The row over the design will almost certainly now carry on into the season, after a meeting between engine manufacturers and the FIA on Thursday did not resolve the issue.
The question over when the compression ratio is measured, currently when the car is “cold” and not running, against on track when thermal expansion can be exploited is central to the argument. However with no agreement reached – perhaps understandably from Mercedes and Red Bull – if they do have an advantage that might amount to as much as 0.3seconds a lap they will carry it into the start of the season.
Enrico Gualtieri, the Ferrari power unit technical director, maintained that they remained in a dialogue with the FIA. “We are still discussing with them,” he said. “We are going to have an additional meeting in the next days. We are trusting them for managing the topic in the proper way, going through the procedures and the governance that is in place by regulation. We completely trust that the process could come in the next days and weeks.”
