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Ferrari, there's confidence around the new SF-26: reasons to smile

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Beware of the new SF-26. From Bahrain, the site of testing ahead of the start of the new Formula 1 season (Melbourne, March 8), comes comforting news for Ferrari fans. Although it is very early days, the new single-seater seems to have significant potential. Both Leclerc and Hamilton are collecting valuable data that is helping the team improve, day by day, the SF-26’s reliability and performance. Everything is still an open construction site but there’s confidence around the new project.

Fabrizio PonciroliFerrari, new season starts with a surprising divorce

Lewis Hamilton is ready to start from scratch.
Having archived an extremely complicated 2025 season, his first in Ferrari, the seven-time world champion approaches the new championship with a renewed spirit.
Important changes, not only on the track, but also within his own entourage.
According to reports in the Daily Mail, in fact, Hamilton has reportedly severed his working relationship with Marc Hynes.

Let’s talk about the historic assistant and figurehead in managing his career.

The separation would be linked to Hynes’ possible entry into Cadillac, a team set to debut in Formula 1 in 2026.
It remains to be clarified whether Hynes will continue to be involved, at least in part, in Lewis’s off-track affairs.
The former Formula 3 driver served as chief executive officer of Project 44, the company that looks after the Briton’s interests, from 2015 to 2021.
Just last year, he had played a central role in the day-to-day management of the Ferrari driver’s racing activities.
After an initial separation five years ago, the two had resumed their collaboration, but the professional relationship now seems to have ended again.

No one wants to get too excited, starting with Hamilton. The seven-time World Champion, back from a negative first season with the Redhead, is taking it with cold feet: “As of today these single-seaters have nothing to do with the previous ones. With the car we have now in hand we are still testing many different things, we are trying to find the window in which it works best, how to optimize the tires, the aerodynamic package, the height from the ground, the balance at the mechanical level. In short, there are so many aspects”.

A lot of work to get to the’beginning of the season with a single-seater that can provide satisfaction. After so many years marked by bitter disappointments, the desire for redemption is great, especially for Hamilton. “Last year something did not go as it should have, but with the right opportunities and the right stimuli I think we will find the Lewis of old times again. I hope it can happen,” Ross Brown, the technical director of Michael Schumacher’s time, recently told Sky Sports.

The testing phase is in full swing. Each team is doing its best to bring itself to the top level. At the moment, it has definitely impressed McLaren, which seems to have already found ways to make its single-seater perform at its best.

Beware also of Verstappen. The Dutchman doesn&#8217t seem to want to spare himself. He is already taking his new Red Bull to the limit to understand its potential and intervene where there are gaps. Many believe the Mercedes has endless potential and may be the best single-seater of the lot.

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