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Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur has confirmed the Italian squad will introduce further engine upgrades in the second half of the season as it attempts to keep Lewis Hamilton's world championship hopes alive. The seven-time champion sits 50 points behind Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli after 11 rounds, with Ferrari acknowledging both power unit development and race weekend execution must improve if Hamilton is to mount a credible title challenge.
Vasseur told Sky Sports that Ferrari has closed the gap to Mercedes in recent races after a difficult start to the campaign, but the SF-26 continues to fall short of its rival's overall package. The constructors' championship also remains within reach, yet Ferrari's deficits in both performance and operational consistency have left the team playing catch-up at the summer break.
Mercedes dominance broken, but Hungary exposes cracks
Ferrari's season has unfolded in distinct phases. Mercedes controlled the opening races, but the Scuderia clawed back ground through the middle portion of the calendar. "Until Spain, Mercedes was clearly the strongest. After that we recovered and in the last four or five races we scored more points than Mercedes," Vasseur explained. The Frenchman pointed to Ferrari's ability to extract points consistently as a key strength, though the team's missteps in Hungary, where Hamilton finished fifth after multiple errors during the weekend, underscored the fragility of that progress.
Vasseur identified race execution as a critical area for improvement. "If I look at Hungary, we need to get better in execution above all. At the same time, we must not forget that we have done that quite well from the start of the season," he said. The balance between maintaining operational discipline and pushing development has become central to Ferrari's second-half strategy, particularly with 12 races still to run.
Engine upgrade confirmed, chassis development continues
Ferrari will press ahead with engine development despite the longer lead times required compared to chassis updates. "We know we have to work on the engine and we will do that. Developments on the engine just take much more time than improvements to the chassis," Vasseur confirmed. Ferrari has already used a homologation concession available to power unit manufacturers deemed to be underperforming by the FIA, allowing the team to introduce upgrades mid-season.
Several rival teams have noted that Ferrari possesses one of the strongest chassis packages on the grid, yet the power unit remains a relative weakness. Vasseur, however, stressed that chassis development will not be neglected. "The most important thing is that we maintain our development pace. McLaren chooses a different approach and sometimes brings a big package, while we prefer to introduce new parts almost every race. We have to keep that momentum, because there are still twelve races to go. On the chassis we can still improve everywhere," he said.
Ferrari's dual-track strategy hinges on balancing incremental aerodynamic gains with the more disruptive work required to extract performance from the power unit. Whether the team can deliver both in time to reel in Antonelli and Mercedes will define Hamilton's first season in red and determine if Ferrari can sustain a credible title bid through the final third of the campaign.
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