Ferrari has officially unveiled its new Formula 1 car for the 2026 season: the SF-26. Ferrari revealed the car at Fiorano, following the Scuderia’s tradition of combining the official launch with the first shakedown of the season, as Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc took to the track for their first laps.
The goal is clear: to bounce back from a disappointing 2026 season, which ended with fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship. Much of the difficulty stemmed from Lewis Hamilton’s challenging adaptation to Ferrari, with the seven-time world champion failing to secure a single Grand Prix podium for the first time in his career.
Carrying the team’s honor was Charles Leclerc, who achieved seven podiums and finished fifth in the Drivers’ Championship, just ahead of his teammate.
Team Principal Fred Vasseur confirmed an “aggressive” approach to developing the SF-26, with a tight schedule that saw the final assembly of the car completed only on the eve of the launch. This strategy reflects Ferrari’s approach since April, when the team decided to focus entirely on the aerodynamic development of the 2026 project.
Experts already describe the upcoming season as decisive: Ferrari aims to return to the top of the field, while Hamilton, who joined Maranello twelve months ago, seeks to bring the world championship back to the Prancing Horse.
An important question remains: Ferrari has not yet announced Hamilton’s new race engineer after Riccardo Adami left to take a role in the team’s young driver program.
With the presentation of the SF-26, Ferrari becomes the fifth team to reveal its car for the new regulations era, after Red Bull, Racing Bulls, Haas, Audi, and Mercedes. Honda also recently unveiled its new power unit in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, all teams now focus on the next key event: the private Barcelona shakedown (January 26–30), where each team can run for three days at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.