‘The most important thing’ - Ferrari highlights key focus for rest of F1 2026

Ferrari Formula 1 team boss Fred Vasseur says “the most important thing” for the Scuderia in the second half of 2026 will be to keep up its current car development rate.

The Italian outfit comes into the summer break off the back of a strong opening half to the 2026 season.

Ferrari has won two grands prix and currently sits second in the constructors’ championship, while Lewis Hamilton is 50 points down on Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli in second in the drivers’ standings.

Its philosophy towards development so far this season has been constant evolution at each race, rather than introducing major packages, which the likes of McLaren and Red Bull have done.

For Fred Vasseur, maintaining this development momentum is “the most important thing” for Ferrari, which includes making gains with its power unit.

“The first part of the season was, I would say, probably in two stages,” Vasseur said going into the summer break.

“The first one is until Spain, when Mercedes was flying, and they scored something like 100 points more than us in four or five events.

“And probably after Spain, that we came back, we scored more points than Mercedes in these four or five races.

“Where we have to improve is that, if I draw a conclusion based on today [after the Hungarian GP], I would say execution.

“But execution so far was probably a good one for us from the beginning of the season.

“We know that we have to improve on the engine side, and we will do it, even if the inertia on the engine is much higher than the chassis.

“The most important thing will be to be able to keep the pace into the development.

“McLaren did a huge step forward, because they don't have exactly the same philosophy, because they are bringing a big package, and I think the last one was Miami or Canada.

“And for sure, each time that they are bringing something, they are making a huge step.

“But we have a different approach, trying to bring parts every race, and we have to keep this momentum because it's still 12 races to go, or… I don't know if it's 11, 12, or 10, but it's a lot.

“And we have room for improvement on the chassis everywhere, and we have to keep this pace.”

Ferrari has been able to benefit from the first of its ADUO upgrades to its engine, with a second expected later in the season.