How worried should Ferrari’s F1 rivals be about its progress and engine upgrade?
by Filip Cleeren · AutosportAs the Ferrari Formula 1 team backs up its huge aerodynamic improvements in Barcelona with a first engine upgrade in Austria, its closest rivals are showing varying levels of concerns over the threat in red
As Formula 1 descended on the Styrian mountains for round eight of the 2026 season, there was no escaping the heatwave that engulfed Europe in recent days.
On track, Ferrari has been turning up the heat, too. A relentless upgrade push, headlined by a major development at the Barcelona Grand Prix, helped Lewis Hamilton banish his demons to take a popular 106th grand prix win.
Just like that, Hamilton now finds himself only 41 points back from championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who retired in Montmelo with power unit troubles, despite Mercedes having won every previous grand prix until that point. Charles Leclerc is another 40 points back in fourth, split from Hamilton by the second Mercedes of George Russell.
Hamilton's convincing Barcelona win, and especially his scorching final stint, led McLaren team boss Andrea Stella to declare the SF-26 as the "best chassis" in F1 right now. It also prompted Lando Norris to suggest Ferrari would be dominant if it had a power unit that was on par with the Mercedes that is in the back of the works car and the McLaren. "We're lucky that Ferrari don't have a better engine at the minute. If they had a better engine, they'd be dominating."
One race on, that scenario will be partially realised. Having long anticipated it would get help from the controversial ADUO engine upgrade scheme, Ferrari is ready to roll out the first of its two in-season power unit upgrades in Austria.
It is understood Ferrari has tweaked the combustion chamber of its V6 engine to crank up its power output, while it is already plotting a new, larger turbocharger design for after the summer break, as the second of two in-season upgrade opportunities.
A reality check for Ferrari's rivals?
So, how concerned should Ferrari's rivals be over the continuous uptick in form? Russell felt Barcelona was already a "reality check" for Mercedes as Ferrari found more straight-line speed, and that was before its V6 upgrade.
"I definitely think it’s a reality check, because Ferrari have clearly had a great chassis this whole season," Russell said in Spielberg on Thursday. "Their power unit has been quite a bit behind us, but suddenly in Barcelona they seem to have made a step forward. They were much closer to us in terms of their straight-line speed."
Championship leader Antonelli was also wary of Ferrari's rate of improvement, but thinks McLaren and the upgraded Red Bull will be in the ballpark as well. "I think this is going to be a weekend where all the top four teams will be super close because Ferrari is bringing a new engine, a bit more powerful engine," Antonelli said. "Red Bull is bringing a big, big upgrade, which should give them a lot of performance and also McLaren, they've been there ever since Miami."
Ferrari is trying to manage expectations over exactly how much it will gain from its new power unit, and not everyone is convinced the Scuderia will now suddenly take over from Mercedes as the benchmark. McLaren's Norris and Oscar Piastri still reckon Mercedes has the best overall package, but are intrigued to learn if Ferrari can confirm its Barcelona pace.
"Ferrari obviously brought quite a few upgrades in Barcelona, but I think Mercedes are still the benchmark," Piastri said. "Maybe not as far ahead in those conditions, but still the benchmark.
As far as Norris was concerned, Ferrari had always been a threat from the start of the campaign anyway. "I don't think they've made a lot of progress since the beginning of the year," he said. "I think they were one of the best teams the whole season so far. It's not like they've suddenly turned up and stepped up. They've had one of the best cars in a lot of places so far.
"It's still clear that the Mercedes is probably the best all-around car. I don't know how much the engine upgrade is going to help [Ferrari] this weekend, but it's clear that the biggest time-loss is the straights. Probably half of it is power. A good amount of it is drag. And the fact that they're better in the corners is also because they're a little bit more draggy in the straights.
"They have the ability, if they make a big step with the engine, to easily become the favourites. They're already title contenders, so it's not even a question if they are now. They've been the whole season."
Has Ferrari peaked early?
One question that has come up is whether or not Ferrari will be able to sustain its relentless upgrade schedule under F1's cost cap, or if it has already front-loaded a lot of its development resources while Mercedes has appeared a bit more cautious about when to cash in on its aero development.
"They’re bringing a lot of upgrades, which has been quite surprising for us," Russell conceded. "We’ve brought one upgrade this season so far. We’ve got some in the pipeline, but Ferrari and McLaren, every couple of races, are bringing bits to the car.
"It’s very challenging with the cost cap. You could always decide to pull the trigger and start bringing an upgrade in a couple of races’ time, but you also need to be strategic about when is the optimal point in the season and if you can afford to bring more upgrades or not within the cost cap. Maybe they’ve got a slightly different approach.
"At the end of the day we’re still the team to beat, so this will be another good weekend to see if Ferrari are still in that good form or if that was a one-off."
Leclerc: "Mercedes remains the target"
Hamilton's landmark victory in Spain has inevitably triggered an early bout of championship fever in Britain and Italy, but as far as the seven-time world champion is concerned, the team has to continue chipping away at Mercedes' lead race by race rather than being swept away by the excitement over its return to form.
"The team has worked incredibly hard to take a step with the engine," Hamilton said. "It's not the whole step, but it's one foot forward. And that's what we've got to keep doing, just continue to put one foot in front of the other."
Leclerc, who has struggled more than Hamilton to extract performance out of the SF-26 in recent events, was also buoyed by Maranello injecting a lot of innovation into its car design, but still felt Mercedes is the team to beat with its superior power unit package.
"In overall competitiveness I believe Mercedes will be the fastest car, but with the heat we were pretty good on tyres, so I hope we can keep that strength going into this weekend," he said. "However, there are longer straights, so the power unit of Mercedes is better at the moment and so I expect to pay the price a bit more. So I think Mercedes remains the target.
"We also need to be careful, because things move one way or the other very quickly. Three or four weeks ago we all had a very different picture of what our season looked like, and now it looks like everything is coming together.
"Every upgrade can make a big difference. You can feel like you're on the right trend until the next team is coming with a huge upgrade, and then that ends up looking like you are on the back foot."
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