{"id":980,"date":"2026-01-18T09:02:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T09:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/?p=980"},"modified":"2026-01-18T09:02:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T09:02:51","slug":"ferrari-vasseur-admits-we-underestimated-the-impact-of-the-2026-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/ferrari-vasseur-admits-we-underestimated-the-impact-of-the-2026-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Ferrari, Vasseur admits: \u201cWe underestimated the impact of the 2026 decision\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has made a rare and candid admission over one of the most controversial strategic calls of recent seasons: the early halt to development of the <a href=\"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/motogp-2025-san-marino-gp-schedule-and-weekend-preview\/\">2025 <\/a>car in order to focus fully on Formula 1\u2019s radical 2026 regulations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While continuing to defend the technical logic behind the decision, Vasseur acknowledged that Ferrari <strong>underestimated its internal consequences<\/strong>, particularly in terms of expectations and mindset within the team. The choice, taken as early as spring, was driven by the realisation that closing the gap to McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes before the end of the 2025 campaign was increasingly unrealistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ferrari therefore committed its resources to the 2026 project, effectively sacrificing any late-season recovery in 2025. A move that inevitably sparked criticism, especially after the Scuderia finished fourth in the Constructors\u2019 Championship, a long way behind the leading trio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking to the media, Vasseur explained that while the strategic reasoning remains sound, the human element proved more complex than anticipated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen we decided to switch focus to 2026, it meant we were not confident we could catch McLaren by the end of 2025,\u201d Vasseur said. \u201cThat was the logic behind the decision, and I still believe it was the right one. What I probably underestimated was the impact such a choice has on people\u2019s expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to Vasseur, knowing that no major upgrades are coming makes it harder to maintain the same competitive tension throughout the season, even if \u201cmotivation\u201d is not the precise word to describe the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The admission comes at a critical moment for Ferrari, which must now prove that sacrificing short-term performance will deliver long-term success. The 2026 project has become the true benchmark for Vasseur\u2019s leadership \u2014 a gamble that will leave little room for excuses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has made a rare and candid admission over one of the most controversial strategic calls of recent seasons: the early halt to development of the 2025 car in order to focus fully on Formula 1\u2019s radical 2026 regulations. While continuing to defend the technical logic behind the decision, Vasseur acknowledged [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[41],"class_list":["post-980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-f1"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":981,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980\/revisions\/981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/giornalemotori.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}