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The words of the Ferrari team principal
SF26 at the top with Lewis Hamilton
Four drivers separated by just three tenths of a second. Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc all completed the Barcelona Shakedown with extremely close lap times, producing an outcome that would have been very difficult to predict on the eve of this five-day test session.
Ultimately, the Ferrari SF26 emerged as the fastest car overall, even if the comparison with the lap time set by George Russell in the Mercedes is not entirely straightforward. Russell completed his running on Thursday, while the benchmark times from Hamilton, Norris and Leclerc were all recorded on Friday, during the final day of testing.
In any case, the main objective for all the teams in Barcelona was reliability, and from this perspective Ferrari can consider themselves more than satisfied. “What is the mood like inside the Scuderia? We are focused on Bahrain,” said Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur, allowing himself a brief laugh. “This shakedown was certainly very positive, we completed a huge number of laps and collected all the data we needed. The weeks ahead of us in Maranello will be quite intense, because we will have to analyse everything carefully. What we will see in Bahrain will be much more representative.”
Frederic Vasseur’s measured reaction to Ferrari topping the Barcelona shakedown underlines a shift in culture at Maranello, where the focus has moved from early-season headlines to long-term reliability and data correlation. While Lewis Hamilton’s pace in the SF-26 provides a promising baseline, the team’s insistence that Bahrain will be “more representative” suggests they are fully aware that the true competitive hierarchy of the 2026 grid is still hidden. The successful completion of their testing program in Spain has granted Ferrari a vital head start in the simulator, ensuring that when the cars hit the desert heat of Sakhir, the Scuderia will be prepared to transform their initial reliability into genuine championship performance.
In short, Ferrari has built a solid foundation in Spain, but the team knows that only the upcoming Bahrain tests will reveal if the SF-26 has the sustained speed to challenge for the title.
Feb 2, 2026
