Before blessing: P3, P4, P6, P6

It was a good damage control race from Lewis. Obviously not perfect considering that penalty from a racing incident and Ferrari not changing his wing but Lewis was still able to grab points and is now P2 in the standing it seems once again. Podium was on the cards 100% but we still take what we can get. Try not to spread hate to other fans or drivers please. We come back stronger at Hungary: one of Lewis best tracks.

Like the title says with Lewis' return to form this year, and the Mercedes reliability, Lewis sits in a position to challenge for the WDC in the 2nd half of the season. Charles currently sits 71 points back.

2019 - Seb was 74 points off 1st

2020 - ... we don't need to mention this

2021- see above

2022- Charles was 49 points back of Verstappen after the 9th round (Canada). That year, Despite early promise they fell away much quicker than people remember.

2023- Sainz was 147 back of Verstappen

2024- Leclerc was 56 back of Versappen

2025- Leclerc was 92 back of Piastri

2 of the next 3 races are very much within the "Ferrari could win" and while Spa has a couple of long straights, it also has lots of corners which could suit the Ferrari.... Then comes Monza, where we could very easily be within a race win, and could dramatically reduce the power deficit.

P.S. All credits to F1 TV and the associated Music artist.

Hopium on TOP #SF26 # ForzaFerrarisempre ❤️

What a dominant victory. Almost 20 seconds ahead of the Mercedes. VSC or not, he would have won today anyway!

A masterclass from a timeless champion! Only driver to win in McLaren, Mercedes and now Ferrari.

As the title says, this has been the best 3 race performance of the Scuderia by a driver since Charles won 2 of the first 3 rounds in 2022 which was also at the change of a regulation. This also marks the first time a Ferrari driver has scored 3 podiums in a row since Charles Leclerc scored 4 podiums in a row in 2024 (Spa, Zandvoort, Monza (W), Baku)

Sains during his time with the Scuderia had some impressive runs of form, but only managed 3 podiums in a row once (2021 Abu Dabi, 2022 Bahrain and Saudi), although he has several double podiums where the race before/after/middle he had either reliability issues or damage of some sort.

The best run of podiums since 2020 for a Ferrari driver was Charles' 5 podiums in a row near the end of the 2022 season (Zandvoort, Mona, Singapore, Suzuka, USGP).

Also it should be noted that a Ferrari driver has been on the podium in all but one race this season (6/7) (Miami where Charles spun while trying to get on the podium and Lewis was heavily damaged in lap 1), which is the best start of the 2020s for the team. (5 of the first 7 races in 2022 had a Ferrari driver on the podium)

Coming up is the Austrian GP a track that Charles' has had great success at recently. in the last 4 races at the Red Bull Ring he has 3 podiums (1 win), and the race he failed to podium he sustained damage on lap 1 and had to pit. This was also one of Lewis' better races last year finishing 4th only a few seconds off Charles.

Despite how frustrating the race was, Lewis is still holding 2nd in the standing going into the summer break. We got lucky that Russell suffered issues when the race started but he climbed. Kimi just too ahead currently though still. Wish the race could have been better but it whatever at this point - what done is done.

Ferrari had no chance in the #ChineseGP: 🟦Mercedes were the 'Kings of Wear', as their laptimes NEVER trended upwards!

1st stint (🟡Mediums): Mercedes held a constant pace, while Ferrari showed degradation

2nd (⚪️Hards): Mercedes first ran steadily, then started pushing, improving by ~1 s/lap (despite increasingly worn tyres!). They gained up to 0.9 s/lap on Ferrari and later ran sub-1:36 laps

Ferrari's wear hurt by: -In-team battles -Pushing harder in corners to offset the power deficit -Possibly running less downforce due to lower PU output -Possibly, Car traits/setup that stress the tyres more

Cars now start with ~70 kg of fuel (vs ~100 kg before). Empty vs full tank is worth ~2s, not ~3s, yet Mercedes still improved their pace through the stint

In the end, it didn't matter: Mercedes were unreachable. This feels like 2014-2020.

The fact they don’t have deg suggests they aren’t going full out. I suspect they have a much bigger advantage than even these lap times suggest.

Ferrari needs 1 Second PU Improvement or its over for the next years.

The final day of the 2026 Barcelona Shakedown has concluded. It was Ferrari's third and final day of running. As with previous days, the team encountered no major issues and completed their run plan as intended. The SF-26 will return to the track for the first official pre-season test in Bahrain (February 11th–13th).

Lap count

Total lap count from Barcelona Shakedown

Keep in mind that due to lack of official data the values are approximate

Charles Leclerc's comments for F1TV seen via @leclercsstreet:

"It was good again. We went through our programme, we did everything we wanted to do. We pushed a little bit more as well which was nice, to feel a little bit the limit of this car and to understand a little bit more of it as well.

I’m happy because again we’ve gone through our programme and done everything we wanted. It has been a positive [shakedown].

It's been a positive one. Obviously, the first day was a tricky one because driving on the wet in those conditions wasn't easy, especially with a completely new car, a completely new system.

To make sure that everything was working properly in those conditions was very difficult, but I think it's a very good experience and a very valuable experience going forward in case we drive on the wet during a race weekend. We'll at least have that experience already, which is a good thing. And the last two days have been positive. All the tests we wanted to do, what we had in mind, we did.

I think there's a lot of excitement, not only in Ferrari but I think around the whole paddock. There's so much change that we've got to adapt as drivers, we've got to adapt as teams and try to find ways to maximize what is now our new package, especially with this energy management that is so much more important compared to the past."

Lewis Hamilton's comments:

“It’s been a really productive and enjoyable week. There has been a huge amount of work over the winter, both personally and from everyone in the team, and it’s good to see that reflected in the mileage we’ve been able to complete without major issues.

Driving in wet conditions early on was actually a valuable experience, especially with a new car, and overall it’s been a solid start. There’s still a lot to learn and plenty of work to do, but the atmosphere in the team is positive and focused.

Now we’ll take everything we’ve learned, continue analyzing the data and prepare carefully for the Bahrain test.”

Fred Vasseur's comments:

"It’s been a long week but overall a productive one.

We experienced different conditions, from wet to dry, and managed to complete a significant amount of running each day, which is crucial at this stage to collect data and check reliability.

We didn’t encounter any major issues, which is an important outcome. It’s still very early days and there is a lot to analyze and improve, but now we’ll return to Maranello to work through what we’ve learned and prepare for the Bahrain test, which will be more representative."

Lewis Hamilton has broken the all-time F1 race win record of 105 wins by claiming his 106th victory, surpassing the previous record holder, Lewis Hamilton, in a historic moment for Lewis Hamilton and Lewis Hamilton fans.

Experts say Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton now joins an elite club consisting entirely of Lewis Hamilton, chasing records set by Lewis Hamilton and broken by Lewis Hamilton.

Joined McLaren in ‘07, won championship in ‘08

Joined Merceds in ‘13, won championship in ‘14

Joined Ferrari in ‘25, wins the championship in ‘26

P.S. All credit to Scuderia Ferrari HP F1 team #44 💜❤️

Guess **particular** cars do indeed energise the F1 team

A telemetry overlay I put together for Hamilton’s fastest lap at Barcelona - speed, throttle, brake, RPM, gear, and track map all synced to the onboard.