DOHA, Qatar — Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says his decision to pull resources away from the development of its winless 2025 car into the 2026 project in April has hit morale harder than he expected, as the Formula One paddock gathers for the Qatar Grand Prix. He acknowledged being “maybe a little bit too optimistic” to freeze aero upgrades with almost 20 races remaining, telling reporters in Qatar on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025.
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Ferrari’s call in April, Vasseur said, was a response to the painful early setbacks — including a double disqualification at the Chinese Grand Prix and McLaren’s tight grip on the championship — that left the Scuderia convinced that 2025 was an unrealistic target for a title charge. He switched windtunnel and CFD resource onto the 2026 car at the end of April while mechanics focused on reliability fixes and mechanical tweaks to the SF-25, a trade-off he described as “tough”, but one that was necessary to make sure it fully cashed in on the next rules reset, according to Motorsport Week.
The timing means Ferrari has gone for well over half of the season without any significant aerodynamic development, while rivals have been making strides forward, a sobering backdrop to a campaign in which the team still has not won a grand prix. Vasseur is banking on the payoff when all-new cars and power units appear in 2026 – along with changes to tyres and fuel – a transformation he has described as the greatest test facing his engineers as they “start from zero” both chassis- and engine-wise. He also cautioned last year that restrictions on aerodynamic testing could be a “game-changer” and tempt some teams to sacrifice seasons in order to secure extra wind-tunnel time for 2026, as he told Motorsport. com in 2024.
In the garage, that has been easier said than signed off on. Engineers and mechanics – they know that no fresh aero parts will be coming for the SF-25 weekend in, weekend out, while they watch McLaren, Mercedes , and Red Bull all bring upgrades to their cars, something which he acknowledged is “quite tough to manage” with so many races left. But he said the frustration of drivers, such as Hamilton and Charles Leclerc – as well as factory staff – is spreading right across Ferrari and could be a good thing if it spurs them into action rather than accepting where they are.
“I feel ashamed because it’s a mess,” the team principal, Mattia Binotto, said after the race.
Leclerc reiterated that message this week in Lusail, claiming the camp was “more united than ever,” even though Ferrari has slipped to fourth in the constructors’ standings. He said he supported the decision to halt development early on the SF-25 in order to concentrate efforts on their 2026 machine and repeated that his “dream is to win with Ferrari,” but also added that sacrifices made this year should be reimbursed once the new package arrives, in remarks published on Ferrari’s website.
Lewis Hamilton has expressed similar frustration with his first season in red, saying that 2025 is the worst of his career after he failed to finish on the podium and qualified only 18th for Saturday’s sprint race in Qatar. But after he was quoted as saying that he couldn’t wait for 2026 when his career would be over, comments that had been noticed in the aftermath of a trying weekend in Las Vegas, Hamilton clarified during the build-up to this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix that it was borne out of “heat of frustration” and noted there would be a great deal to see from the team in 2023 — one year earlier than previously suggested — while underlining he does not regret moving to Ferrari.
Bet long term and know that Ferrari cannot afford to lose.
Vasseur has portrayed the aggressive early switch as part of the natural progression of a longer-term rebuilding project he embarked on when he joined Maranello in 2023. When he lured Hamilton away from Mercedes for 2025, he billed the move as a “huge opportunity” for Ferrari, and said the seven-time champion’s expertise would shorten its project, even if his team’s title drought extended to 2007 for drivers and 2008 for manufacturers. The Scuderia then reiterated its belief in his leadership by gifting him a new multi-year contract in July, despite the lack of wins and McLaren’s superiority, which the Guardian reported was coming at the end of an expensive relationship.
Those moves highlight just how much Ferrari is pouring into getting it right in 2026. Long, Vasseur has been saying that some teams will probably “go full on the ’26 project” and take their short-term pain for long-term gain – and this season, Ferrari has given us a blueprint for what that mentality would look like by making its pivot towards April the central plank of its rebuild. With engineers already committed to a blank sheet on tyres, fuel, engine, and chassis, the hit to morale from a winless year might be deemed an acceptable price for ending the title drought — or a reckless roll of the dice that left rivals out of reach.
For now, Vasseur and his drivers face a challenging end to the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi as they attempt to maintain morale amid their quest for a good finish in the standings for a car that won’t race again for 13 months. The price for that juggling act, Vasseur concedes, is already being paid within Ferrari – and the dog won’t howl until its 2026 challenger finally gets wheeled out.
