2026 Ferrari F1 car launch: SF-26 revealed ahead of shakedown

Ferrari has revealed its 2026 Formula 1 car, the SF-26 which carries the championship hopes of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, as well as a team that has underperformed in recent seasons.

It effectively wrote off the second half of last season — ending the year without a single victory — and ploughed its efforts into 2026’s car, in the hope of leapfrogging rivals as F1 enters its next era, where updated regulations require all-new cars and power units.

In common with other F1 teams, Ferrari looks to have unveiled digital images of a basic-spec car, lacking design details that its rivals could copy before the start of the season.

However, it is also running the car at its Fiorano test track in a shakedown, which could reveal more.

The images released by the team do show a distinctive jagged edge to the shark fin above the engine cover, and a greater expanse of white, reminiscent of the legendary Ferrari 312T of the mid-1970s. Gilles Villeneuve, Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni all won grands prix in the cars, which ran with a white airbox.

For the Maranello squad, 2026 will not simply be another season, but its biggest opportunity to finally put an end to a championship drought now extending nearly 20 years.

Ferrari has produced quick cars in recent seasons, but none have allowed its drivers to mount a real title challenge.

The 2025 campaign followed a too-familiar story, as the Italian team underdelivered on the promise of fighting for the crowns after a promising end to 2024.

Instead, Ferrari ended the year without a single victory and dropped to fourth in the standings.

On top of that, there was the much-publicised arrival of Lewis Hamilton, a partnership that quickly turned from dream into nightmare as the seven-time world champion endured his worst season in the series, finishing the year without a podium for the first time in his career.

Ferrari’s challenge for 2026 is operational as much as it is technical.

The incoming regulations offer a rare opportunity to break a cycle of defeats that stretches to 2008, when it last won the constructors’ title. Its last drivers’ crown came a year before that.

A clean sheet, new power unit architecture, and a fundamentally different aerodynamic philosophy mean every team starts from zero, and Ferrari, with its resources, has an opportunity it can’t miss.

Ferrari’s in-house power unit programme gives it a structural advantage, but only if the organisation can execute without the lapses that have cost it so dearly in the turbo-hybrid era.

Hamilton’s presence brought more than just driving talent. It brought a decade of experience winning titles with a team that rarely made mistakes.

That influence didn’t help Ferrari last year, and both parties will be looking to change that in what will be one of the season’s most compelling questions.

For Charles Leclerc, 2026 represents the chance to be rewarded for his loyalty and patience, and the Monegasque is unlikely to be happy with anything that’s not a championship-challenging car after years of frustration.

Ferrari 2026 F1 car reveal: live stream

Ferrari will unveil digital images of its 2026 challenger on Friday, providing the first concrete look at how the Scuderia has interpreted the new technical regulations.

Scroll to the top of this page to watch the live stream.

Ferrari 2026 shakedown and testing schedule

The Scuderia will complete a shakedown for the SF-26 later on Friday; it’s a modern tradition for the team to complete a run at Fiorano following the unveiling.

The launch event will be just three days before the start of testing at Barcelona, where Ferrari will be kicking off its preparation alongside the rest of the teams.

Ferrari’s 2026 car

Ferrari enters the new regulatory era carrying both the burden of expectation and the advantage of experience, having navigated every major rule change in Formula 1 history with varying degrees of success.

The Maranello-based operation has undergone subtle but significant shifts in its technical leadership structure, with the engineering team now tasked with delivering on the potential shown in flashes during recent seasons while eliminating the operational weaknesses that have cost championships.

The team will, of course, field its own power unit, with Ferrari’s unmatched experience in building naturally aspirated and turbocharged engines giving it a foundation few rivals can match as the series transitions to new hybrid architecture.

Ferrari’s 2026, the SF-26, challenger represents a clean break from the design philosophy that brought competitiveness but not consistency, with the Scuderia having redirected development resources to this project aggressively in pursuit of a regulatory reset that could finally end its title drought.

Ferrari 2026 F1 driver line-up