Ferrari issues Project 678 update as Charles Leclerc experiments come to light

Fred Vasseur, the Ferrari team principal, has declared that Charles Leclerc’s experimental setup at the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will have no impact on the development of Project 678 for the F1 2026 season.

Having fallen just two points short of the 2024 constructors’ title, Ferrari ended last season a massive 435 points adrift of runaway champions McLaren.

Charles Leclerc Ferrari experiment to have no influence on Project 678 for F1 2026

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Leclerc was restricted to just seven podiums across the campaign, with teammate Lewis Hamilton failing to record a top-three finish in his first season with the Scuderia.

Leclerc tried what was described as an experimental setup at the 2025 season finale in Abu Dhabi, where he finished fourth after applying pressure on McLaren driver and new world champion Lando Norris.

Asked if Leclerc’s setup choice for the final race of 2025 could inspire Ferrari’s development direction with its F1 2026 car – codenamed Project 678 – Vasseur offered a reminder that “half of the car” will be different under the new rules.

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Vasseur told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets: “I think the philosophy of the car [in 2026] will be completely different.

“Half of the car won’t be the same and the issue that we have all [2025] won’t be there next year, but we’ll have other issues for sure.

“Tyres were a key factor all the mid-season.

“[Abu Dhabi] is a bit different due to the layout of the track, but in Mexico you had a tendency that everybody was taking on the outlap and it was crucial sometimes for 5kph on the outlap you were out or in the window.

“This is making a difference of one or two tenths on the quali lap.

“But one or two tenths, once again, is the difference between a very good or a very bad result.”

Vasseur went on to reveal that Leclerc’s experimental setup came in response to “a drama” at the start of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend after Ferrari started the weekend slowly.

He explained: “It happened two or three times [in 2025] that we struggled with the initial setup on Friday morning.

“When you start and the setup is not perfect, you quickly move from P4 or P5 to P14 and it’s becoming a drama.

“We are speaking about tenths of seconds, but it’s becoming a drama [in terms of the] position.

“But thanks to the job done at Maranello and on track, I think the recovery was good.

“But if you miss one or two sessions you leave on the table a couple of hundredths in two or three corners and it’s enough for you to move from P2, P3 to P5. I think it’s what’s happened for us [in Abu Dhabi].

“If you have a better start, you probably do a better qualifying and perhaps it’s just one tenth – but one tenth is a game changer for Charles and for Lewis.

“But I’m not complaining at all because it’s the same for everybody.

“For me, as a fan of F1, it’s part of the championship.”

Ferrari announced last month that Project 678 will be officially launched on January 23, three days before the start of the first pre-season test in Barcelona.

The Barcelona test will be held behind closed doors with teams allowed to run on any three of the five available days from January 26 to January 30.

As reported by PlanetF1.com in November, Ferrari is expected to have a pushrod suspension at both the front and rear of the car for F1 2026.

If so, Project 678 will be the first Ferrari F1 car to have a pushrod suspension at the rear since 2010.

Red Bull is also expected to have a double-pushrod suspension on its new RB22 car, driven by four-time world champion Max Verstappen and new recruit Isack Hadjar.

It emerged earlier this week that Ferrari will effectively produce two different cars for pre-season in F1 2026, with a launch-spec version of Project 678 set to appear in Barcelona.

This will be deployed to verify design choices like engine packaging, as well as the electronics of the complex new power unit, before a B-spec car arrives for the final two tests in Bahrain in February.

Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher

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