Ferrari Fast-Tracks SF-26 Upgrades for Zandvoort

Ferrari will introduce a major new floor on the SF-26 at the Dutch Grand Prix, using a Sprint weekend at Zandvoort to begin an accelerated second-half development push aimed at cutting its gap to Mercedes.

The new floor is a further evolution of the version Ferrari first brought to Barcelona in June. Its target is to generate more downforce through the bodywork and improve the car’s competitiveness on twistier tracks, a weakness Ferrari is trying to address as the championship resumes. Zandvoort, with its corner-heavy layout and limited emphasis on outright top speed, gives the team an immediate test of whether the SF-26’s operating window has widened.

The aggressive timing makes the move more significant. With the Sprint format, Ferrari will have only one practice session before qualifying to understand the new parts and lock in the setup for Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.

Fred Vasseur, Ferrari team principal, said that risk will not change the team’s approach. “We want to bring new developments to every race. Our rivals bring very big packages, preferring a different strategy from ours. There are still many races to be run this season and we have plenty of room for improvement at chassis level, so we will keep pushing.”

Ferrari’s decision to bring the revised floor to Zandvoort was not part of the original plan. Reporting from RacingNews365 and analysis from Paolo Filisetti said data from the Austrian and British Grands Prix, two circuits with very different characteristics, showed where the SF-26 still needed work after it failed to reproduce its Barcelona form at the Red Bull Ring. Ferrari then approved the modification and put the parts into production before the mandatory summer shutdown.

That floor is only the first step. Ferrari is also preparing an updated internal-combustion engine for Monza under the second ADUO window, built around a larger-diameter turbine to improve straight-line performance. The update is part of the same effort to close on Mercedes, with Ferrari returning from the break 72 points behind in the constructors’ standings, even if the broader power-unit gap is not expected to be fully erased before 2027.