George Russell won in Australia. Kimi Antonelli won in China. And yet, in both races, it was Ferrari that got to the front first, Charles Leclerc surging from fourth to first at the Albert Park lights, and both Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton turning the Shanghai grid order upside down before the first corner was even reached.
Mercedes ultimately had the pace to hunt them down and beat them, but the fact that it had to hunt them down at all tells you everything about why the Ferrari turbo philosophy is not a footnote to the 2026 season.
So far, it has one of the central narratives and one of the biggest contributors to making the first races of the season more intriguing. Without that, Mercedes might have cruised from start to finish in both events.
Speaking in the latest edition of the Motor Sport F1 Show podcast, Mark Hughes explained the mechanism behind Ferrari’s launch advantage in detail.
A smaller turbocharger carries less rotational inertia, which means it spins up faster and responds more immediately to throttle input.
“You get the boost immediately,” Hughes noted, “and you get much better throttle response. It doesn’t take as long to get the whole thing turning and get the turbo acting against the energy.”
Off the line and out of slow corners, the advantage is significant, and it is an advantage that is baked into the hardware rather than a set-up trick or a driver technique.
That advantage has been amplified by the specific demands of 2026’s power unit regulations.
The removal of the MGU-H means teams can no longer electronically spin the turbo to pre-build boost pressure.
Instead, drivers must use the internal combustion engine itself to drive the turbine before a start, a process that has proved considerably easier for Ferrari, whose smaller turbo requires less effort to prepare, than for its rivals.
Leclerc himself has acknowledged that the window will narrow as other manufacturers find solutions, but for now Ferrari is exploiting a gap it had the foresight to anticipate.
Mercedes has gone the other way, and its payoff comes not at the start line but on the straights.
As Hughes explains: “The longer the straight, basically, the more that the big turbo will be able to contribute towards the engine power. And the more power you have from the internal combustion engine, the less you are reliant upon the battery energy.”
That matters a lot under the 2026 regulations, where battery deployment is finite, and its management is the central tactical problem of every lap.
A power unit that leans less on the battery at high speed has more in reserve and more flexibility in how it deploys what it has.
“The races are always good when the slightly slower car is ahead of the slightly faster car,” Hughes said.
Leclerc flew from fourth to first in Australia
Grand Prix Photo
That is precisely the situation Formula 1 has found itself in through the first two rounds: Ferrari moves to the front at the start, then Mercedes has the tools to come back.
It has not only kept Ferrari in the fight, but has also been a huge factor in a race like China producing exciting racing.
Whether Ferrari can keep doing the same will depend, race by race, on the circuit. And that is where the turbo question becomes consequential for the championship.
“I think you will see the Ferrari be absolutely in its element,” Hughes said of Monaco.
The streets of the Principality offer no straights on which the Mercedes turbo can build its power advantage.
The entire circuit plays to the Ferrari’s strengths: instant throttle response, traction out of tight corners, and the ability to accelerate hard from almost nothing.
There is also nowhere to overtake. If Ferrari reaches Sainte Devote first, the race is likely over.
Monza is the sharpest possible contrast, and Hughes is equally direct: “On a fast circuit you will see the Mercedes power unit be absolutely in its element.”
Tracks like Monaco should be Ferrari territory
Grand Prix Photo
Monza is built almost entirely from long flat-out straights punctuated by two chicanes and a pair of relatively slow corners.
The Mercedes big turbo’s advantage at sustained high speed would likely be unbeatable, as Ferrari’s launch becomes largely irrelevant when the race is won and lost at over 300km/h (186mph).
Raidillon, Blanchimont and the Kemmel Straight reward sustained high-speed power; the slow sections are brief enough that they cannot compensate for what happens on the rest of the lap, which suggests Spa tilts towards Mercedes.
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A venue such as Singapore, like Monaco, should suit Ferrari considerably. The Marina Bay street circuit is defined by low-speed corners, barriers, and no meaningful straights.
The same logic that makes Monaco a Ferrari stronghold applies in Singapore, with the added variable that the heat and humidity tend to make energy management more challenging, which could further blunt Mercedes’ ability to sustain its high-speed advantage.
Suzuka this weekend is more ambiguous, and for now sits in the contested middle. The circuit’s mix of fast and slow corners means neither turbo philosophy dominates cleanly. The long run from Spoon to 130R gives Mercedes a window, but it is not long enough to be decisive on its own.
Suzuka may be the circuit that most clearly exposes the underlying gap, or lack of one, between the two packages.
Hughes says, “There’ll be all sorts of circuits in between” the extremes, and at each of them, the two philosophies will be tested in a different way.
As long as the start advantage holds, every race will begin with the same question: can Mercedes outdo Ferrari once it has moved to the front?
