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With the rules overhaul, Fred Vasseur admits that mileage will be the focus of the opening ‘closed’ test in Barcelona.
Other than six – count ’em 6 – days of pre-season testing in Bahrain in mid-February, the teams are also set for a ‘behind closed doors’ test in Barcelona at the end of late January.
Coming off the back of its first winless season since 2021, when it still managed to finish third in the standings, Ferrari heads into the sport’s new era heeding the old F1 adage of ‘to finish first, first you have to finish’.
Other than the double disqualification in China, the only time the Scuderia failed to see the chequered flag was at Zandvoort, where both drivers crashed out, and again in Brazil where both drivers suffered accident damage… if nothing else Lewis and Charles do things in unison.
Though reliability wasn’t really an issue with the SF-25, Fred Vasseur is aware that reliability is vital and therefore the opening test offers the opportunity to get as many miles on the clock as possible, vital at a time all the teams (and manufacturers) are stepping into the unknown.
“I think everybody will do it,” says the Frenchman. “In this situation, the most important thing is to get mileage. It’s not to chase performance. It’s to get mileage to validate the technical choice on the car in terms of reliability. And then to get performance.”
As it happens, this year’s three-day test in Bahrain saw the Maranello outfit sixth in terms of mileage (1,284 miles), just ahead of McLaren (1,281), while Mercedes (1,540) topped the table and Red Bull was tenth (1,022).
Ferrari’s 2026 contender will be unveiled on 23 January, followed by the traditional shakedown at Fiorano, however, the Frenchman admits that the car revealed to the accompaniment of pounding rock music and a light show as Charles and Lewis pull back the covers will not be the same as we see in Melbourne or even testing.
“I think everybody will come to Barcelona with, not a mule car, but let’s say a spec A,” he says.
“We are not used to having nine test days anymore,” he continues. “The last four or five seasons, we did three. It’s an advantage,” he adds, “but it’s also a completely different program. It means that the first target in this kind of season is to get the reliability.
“The first races you had a huge percentage of DNFs,” he says of the 2014 rules overhaul. “It means that the first focus in Barcelona will be to get mileage with the car, to understand the reliability of the car, where we have to improve and what we have to react. Because if you understand something in Bahrain, by the second test, you won’t have time to react for Australia.”
Revealing that the car won’t be fully assembled until 22 January, he admits that the development targets have been “aggressive”.
“Aggressive for sure, because we will finish the assembly of the car the day before the launch,” he says. “The launch will be the 23rd of January in Maranello. It means that we’ll finish the car on the 22nd. And this is aggressive, but everybody will do the same.”
Indeed, it is already taken as read that, as has been the case in recent years, most notably this year’s much-hyped event at the O2, that all we’re really going to see at the various launches is the liveries… and even they are now subject to change throughout the season.
