Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur expects the F1 team to introduce B-spec cars at next year’s official pre-season test in Bahrain, following January’s shakedown in Barcelona.
Due to new aerodynamic and power unit regulations, the 2026 model is significantly different from previous models, and five days of testing took place in Spain in late January to run the new design for the first time. As in 2014, reliability will be the main focus ahead of the two pre-season tests in Bahrain, and Vasseur believes two different types of cars will be used ahead of the opening race.
“Yes, everyone would do that,” Vasseur said. “But in this situation, the most important thing is to get the mileage. It’s not about performance, it’s about getting the mileage, validating the technical choices of the car and then getting the performance. I think everyone will come to Barcelona with a ‘spec A’ and not a real car.”
Ferrari is due to unveil its new car on January 23 next year and the Bahrain test is likely to be too close to the first race in Melbourne to do so, so Vasseur said the Barcelona run would allow the team to uncover any potential serious issues that need to be addressed.
“It’s true that we’re no longer used to having nine test days,” he says. “In the last four or five seasons, we’ve had three seasons. That’s an advantage, but it’s also a completely different program. I mean the first goal in a season like this is to get reliability.”
“You remember perfectly the season 10 or 15 years ago, where the DNF rate was very high in the first race. That means you have to get the mileage first. Also, what you want to avoid compared to 2025 is losing to a disqualification (in China) at the beginning of the season. You lose the mileage, you lose the reference, and then you (chasing). It’s a long process.”
“The first focus in Barcelona is that we need to get some mileage on the car to understand the reality of the car and understand where we have to improve and what we have to react to. Because if we want to do something for Bahrain T02, we don’t have time to react for Australia. Our first target, Barcelona rather than a promotion day, but definitely to get more mileage than pure performance.”
