Ferrari Set For Radical 'Multi-Version' Car to Boost Lewis Hamilton Title Hopes
Ferrari are reportedly working on a 'multi-version' car concept ahead of the 2026 season.
The Scuderia finished a lowly fourth in the 2025 Constructors' Championship, with drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton failing to win a full Grand Prix - Hamilton did win the China sprint - between them.
Leclerc dominated the qualifying and race head-to-heads, winning 19-5 and 18-3 respectively, but both drivers aired their frustrations over the car's lack of performance.
Both drivers were required to lift and coast often during races after Ferrari identified a design flaw on the floor that risked potential disqualifications for excessive plank wear.
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At other circuits, Ferrari struggled with tyre temperatures - particularly in Qatar, where the Scuderia had, at times, the slowest car on the entire grid.
After signing his multi-year contract with Ferrari - there are contrasting reports over whether it will last for a guaranteed two or three years - ahead of 2025, Hamilton will have held hopes of lifting an eighth Drivers' Championship with the Italian team.
Leclerc, meanwhile, has been with Ferrari since 2019 and, despite eight wins and 50 podiums, is still awaiting his first title.
Next season will see a raft of new regulation changes, mainly affecting aerodynamics and power units, that are designed to promote closer racing, make the cars harder to control and to further meet F1's sustainability targets.
Teams have already been presented with several hurdles to jump over in order to complete their car designs in time for the season-opening Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Under two months stand between the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix of 2025 and the opening 2026 test in Barcelona.
That test will be held privately between January 26-30, with Bahrain hosting the second test between February 11-13.
As per RacingNews365, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has told Scuderia staff that the car which the team sends to Barcelona will not be the finished product.
Instead, Ferrari intend to use the five days in Spain as a 'test platform' to 'focus on validating packaging solutions, fluid dynamics, and the electronic management systems for the new power units'.
Performance is described as not being a 'priority', with Ferrari instead taking the learnings from their initial running time and using it to inform the latter part of their work on the new aerodynamics system.
It is claimed that other teams will take a similar approach to the private test, meaning it will be in Bahrain that fans will start to get the very earliest of gauges of how ready teams are for the 2026 season to get underway.
Topics: Ferrari, Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc
Ryan Smart