Martin Brundle has had his say on Ferrari's 2026 ambitions and whether Lewis Hamilton can get the better of Charles Leclerc after a disappointing debut season in red.
Ferrari are heading to Melbourne off the back of one of their most disappointing F1 seasons ever, after going from 14 points away from champions McLaren in 2024, to 435 points in 2025.
Luckily for the Scuderia, the huge regulation changes in 2026 require every team to work off a completely blank canvas, giving Ferrari a critical opportunity to compete at the front of the grid.
Despite remaining behind Mercedes in the bookies, Ferrari led both the Barcelona shakedown through Hamilton, and the Bahrain test with Leclerc.
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Sky Sports F1 reported that both Ferrari's were the quickest over a race simulation in Sakir, while Leclerc set all of the top five fastest qualifying simulations with a best of 1:31.992.
Speaking exclusively to SPORTbible, Brundle backed the pre-season Ferrari hype but remained cautious over any title talk given testing isn't always the best indicator of true car performance.
"It seems to me Ferrari are in a much better shape than they've been for a number of years now," Brundle said.
"The car seems to be working well, but we're speaking before the first race has even happened.
"We've seen a very cold test in Barcelona, two hot tests in Bahrain, and learning what was the biggest change in the history of Formula 1 in terms of the regulations," he added.
Given the fresh start in regulations, Brundle believes development will be the biggest factor in 2026 with Ferrari's strong start no guarantee they won't be leapfrogged quickly by others.
"Melbourne will be completely different again, we're going to see rapid development of the cars this year," he continued.
"We're going to see a lot of flip-flopping as teams suddenly find an advantage before it gets copied or improved upon.
"But overall, Ferrari seems to have a good car with some good innovation on it, and a strong power unit, and two great drivers.
"I think this could be one of their best years for a while; both Lewis and Charles, I think, have got a chance to win multiple races."
Hamilton has 'his work cut out' vs Leclerc says Brundle
Hamilton suffered his biggest ever defeat to a teammate last year at the hands of Leclerc, finishing ahead of him on just three occasions across 24 grands prix.
"It was early days for Lewis at Ferrari and he was in new territory, a place where Charles Leclerc had been for seven years and he knew the team inside out," Brundle said.
"Leclerc is one of the best drivers on the grid.
"You could argue he's actually the fastest over a single lap, so Lewis had his work cut out and it didn't go well."
Despite holding 27 pole positions for Ferrari, Leclerc has only won on eight occasions during his seven seasons at Maranello, with his last victory coming at the 2024 Austin Grand Prix, where he won from fourth.
However, Brundle was quick to downplay any responsibility on Leclerc's shoulders for the unfortunate record, insisting it's simply the nature of F1 that some drivers get particularly unlucky.
"Well, they [Ferrari] haven't had the fastest car, or a championship-winning car, so he [Leclerc] hasn't had the chance to win a championship.
"He certainly hasn't won as many races as he'd like to have done I'm sure, but that's the way the cookie crumbles in that respect."
If Ferrari are in contention for glory in 2026, Brundle believes Leclerc is the more likely to take advantage but would never rule out Hamilton.
"Charles has been on top of Lewis last year, as was George at Mercedes the year before on top of Lewis but not to the same extent, so we'll see if Lewis has got anything left in the tank," he said.
"Hamilton didn't gel particularly with the car. He looks a lot happier now, I must say, but Lewis is now 41 years old.
"There are so many races these days, the younger drivers have done 150, 200 Grand Prix, they're not kids, Leclerc is super experienced drivers and it's tough for him.
"It's not going to be a question of Lewis just being quite close to Charles or top few or whatever, he's got to be right on Leclerc's pace or ahead of him.
"It doesn't matter how many championships or races you've won in the past, it's all about the future, it's all about the stopwatch, and getting the car to the finish line before everybody else does."
Sky Sports is the home of Formula 1 in the UK & Ireland. Don’t miss the start of the 2026 World Championship live from Melbourne, Australia, March 06-8th, on Sky Sports and NOW.
Topics: Formula 1, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Spotlight
Tom Jenkins