Ferrari Formula One team boss Fred Vasseur revealed that Scuderia will launch its new 2026 car on January 23 and conduct trials at the Fiorano test track.
Given the demands of F1’s busy pre-season, car launches for the 2026 new rules era are starting earlier than usual, with three tests scheduled for late January to mid-February in Barcelona and Bahrain.
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Ferrari CEO Vasseur has now announced that the Italian powerhouse will unveil its yet-to-be-named 2026 Challenger model at the Fiorano circuit on January 23, with drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton testing the new car for the first time since its launch.
Vasseur set an “aggressive” goal of developing the 2026 car as late as possible, meaning he delayed final assembly until just before filming in Fiorano.
“It’s certainly aggressive because we will have the car assembled the day before the launch,” Vasseur told Ferrari’s traditional year-end press conference in Maranello.
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“The launch will take place in Maranello on January 23rd. That means we will have the car finished on the 22nd. It’s radical, but everyone does it.”
Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari
Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari
When asked what the first car of Ferrari’s new era of rules would be called, Vasseur remained tight-lipped: “It will be part of the launch and you will find out later. I don’t want to spoil it for everyone and I don’t want to spoil everything.”
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Expanding on Ferrari’s pre-season strategy, Vasseur said his team’s focus is on racking up as much mileage as possible in the Barcelona test at the end of January, while worrying about performance in Bahrain later on.
“I think everyone does it,” he explains. “The most important thing in this case is getting the mileage. It’s not about chasing performance. It’s about getting the mileage to validate the technology choices of the car in terms of reliability. And then getting the performance. That means I think everyone will come to Barcelona with – not a mule car – but an A-spec.
“We’re not used to nine days of testing. Over the last four or five seasons we’ve done three [days]. That’s an advantage, but it’s also a completely different program. This means that the primary goal of such a season is to gain reliability.
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“The first game [of the previous power unit change in 2014] The proportion of you playing DNF is very large. This means Barcelona’s primary focus will be to get mileage on the car, understand how reliable it is, where we need to improve and how we have to react. Because if you understand something in Bahrain, by the time the second Test comes, you won’t have time to react for Australia. “
Also read:
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