Vasseur admits SF-26 still chasing Mercedes as Barcelona mileage piles up

Racking up mileage at the Barcelona circuit, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur concedes that at some point performance is going to become “crucial” with the SF-26 lagging behind Mercedes’ benchmark lap time.

The Formula 1 teams are in action at the Circuit de Catalunya this week for a five-day shakedown during which the teams are permitted to run on three of the five days. Ferrari opted for Day Two, Four and Five.

Heavy laps in Barcelona but Ferrari knows speed will soon matter

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Traditionally, as Mercedes showed on Thursday when it completed its third and final day, the last day is not only about mileage and reliability, it’s also about performance.

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli both clocked their fastest times on their last day, the Briton breaking into the 1:16s with a 1:16.445. That put him six-tenths up on his teammate, and 1.8s ahead of Ferrari’s fastest time set during its first two days, Charles Leclerc’s 1:18.223.

Leclerc added a further 79 laps to his tally on Friday morning and upped his pace to a 1:16.653.

But while the Monegasque driver was behind the Mercedes teammates, Ferrari has been concentrating solely on getting the laps in, gathering data and learning about the new SF-26.

However, Vasseur acknowledges that soon performance is going to become “crucial”.

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“Yeah, for sure that it’s an important milestone to be able to run, to put mileage and so, but at the end of the day, we’ll have to keep in mind that performance at one stage will become crucial,” he told the official F1 website.

“But the target was to be able to accumulate mileage, and we did that.

“The learning process will be long, but we still have two sessions in Bahrain. I think that everybody on the grid is in the same mindset to discover almost everything on the car and feeling is good.”

“I think we can’t do more,” he added with a chuckle. “At one stage, you have to stop to refuel. It would have been difficult to do more.”

Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton both completed race distances on Thursday, 83 and 87 laps respectively to go with the 63 and 53 they did on a wet Tuesday.

“This is important for the team, for the reliability, to accumulate mileage, to learn about the car,” said Vasseur. “It’s a huge challenge for everybody and the more mileage you are doing, more you are learning.

“This is good, but still a lot of to do. It’s still a long way, a long way before Melbourne and the season.”

Out and about in Barcelona ✅💪 pic.twitter.com/dtCADsuEjK

— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) January 29, 2026

Wrapping up in Barcelona on Friday, Ferrari will next head to Bahrain for two three-day tests. The two outings will be the final preparation for the all-new cars hit the track in Melbourne for FP1 on 6 March.

There’s still a lot for Ferrari to learn about its new car and its new engine, which runs on a 50/50 split between electrical and combustion power. Between that, boost mode and overtake mode, Vasseur highlighted the importance of learning about the power unit’s energy deployment.

“You have tons of topics to scan on the car, from mechanical to engine – energy deployment is a big talk for everybody,” he said.

“It means that you have to scan every single parameter, and it’s taking time, and the best way to do it is to stay on track. It’s where we are pleased with the session is that we stick to the program, and it’s a good first one.”

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