- Ferrari heads to Monza on April 22 to test a batch of SF-26 updates aimed at Miami.
- The “Macarena” wing has Canada deadline, but a stability flaw still blocks race debut.
- Mercedes leads by approx 20bhp; Ferrari counting on the ADUO system to fight back.
Ferrari will run its SF-26 at Monza on April 22, using a 200km filming day to test a cluster of updates originally spread across two races that no longer exist on the calendar.
The Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix were cancelled due to the geopolitical situation in the Middle East, and that five-week gap has handed Maranello both a problem and an opening.
The problem is a disrupted development schedule. The opening is loads of testing time, and Ferrari intends to use every bit of it.
The session will be significant for the Maranello outfit. Ferrari sits 45 points behind Mercedes in the constructors’ standings, and the gap between the two cars is not just aerodynamic.
The W17 is understood to have a roughly 20bhp advantage in power unit performance, a deficit that has stuck with Ferrari since the season-opener in Australia.
Monza, with its long straights and punishing braking zones, offers a rare chance to study how new components behave under the precise conditions that expose that weakness.
A disrupted development plan
Ferrari’s technical director, Loïc Serra, had a clear idea of how upgrades should work. Small, incremental steps. No radical macro packages that were associated with his predecessor, Enrico Cardile.
It was a measured philosophy, built for a long season.
The cancellations disrupted that plan. Updates that were meant to arrive slowly at Bahrain and Jeddah now arrive together, all at once, at a single 200km filming day in northern Italy.
AutoRacer Italy first reported the Monza test, with journalist Rosario Giuliana also carrying the story for The Race. The session is intended to validate the next technical package before its introduction at the Miami Grand Prix.
The main Ferrari downforce update: a revised floor
The main focus of the Monza test is a revised floor, originally planned for Bahrain. The Race reported it as the primary upgrade in the package.
It is designed to increase overall downforce, improve airflow beneath the car and increase the stability through fast corners.
Ferrari’s engineers built the SF-26 as a strong aerodynamic platform. The car has shown genuine pace through the opening three rounds. But refinement matters as much as raw performance at this stage.
The revised floor is intended to improve the car’s aerodynamic efficiency without compromising the downforce levels already achieved. Monza’s layout will tell the engineers much of what they need to know before committing to Miami.
Additional aerodynamic changes and weight reduction
Alongside the floor, Ferrari will also run components targeting aerodynamic balance and weight reduction.
Front wing adjustments are expected, designed to bring the car’s overall balance into line with its new aerodynamic configuration.
The weight reduction work reflects a quieter but persistent effort inside Maranello. Trimming mass, even by a small margin, improves mechanical grip.
It also gives engineers more freedom when distributing ballast around the chassis. These are not headline changes, but in Formula 1, they add up to something meaningful.
The Ferrari “Macarena” wing: a key test at Monza
No Ferrari component has drawn more attention than the active rear wing the team calls the “Macarena.”
The name came from team principal Fred Vasseur, who watched the wing’s upper element rotate through roughly 180 degrees when deployed and thought it looked like the signature move from the famous 1990s dance. The description stuck.
The wing has not raced yet. Testing in China confirmed what Ferrari’s engineers already suspected, namely that the current specification cannot be used in competition.
Under combined braking with a steering angle, it fails to provide sufficient rear stability. The team needs more from it before it can be trusted on a race weekend.
Work is underway in Maranello to finalise a revised structural specification.
The new version will be lighter than the prototype and will carry aerodynamic modifications. The original target for its race debut was Montreal, and that deadline is dictating the urgency at Monza.
There is a regulatory detail worth noting here. The Macarena wing appeared during First Practice at Shanghai, which means the FIA does not classify it as a new component.
That classification is crucial. Filming days are capped at 200km and operate under strict rules about what can and cannot be run.
Because the wing has already been used in a competitive session, it qualifies for the Monza test. Ferrari will use every lap to identify the small optimisation steps it still needs before Canada.
Planned for Miami: halo wings and cooling-related parts
Two elements of Ferrari’s development programme will not appear at Monza. They are being prepared directly for Miami instead.
The first involves the halo winglets that caused a stir during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend. The small aerodynamic surfaces, mounted to either side of the halo’s central pillar, are designed to manage airflow around the cockpit and deliver performance gains downstream.
They appeared in Shanghai, triggered an FIA inquiry, and were removed. The issue was a material compliance problem: the winglets must be made from the same material as the halo structure itself, and Ferrari’s version did not meet that requirement.
The team has since resolved the issue and plans to return to Miami with a corrected set.
The second group of Miami-only updates covers cooling components. Florida in May is hot and humid, and the SF-26 must be able to operate at its limit in those conditions.
Getting that right is not a glamorous task, but failing at it in Miami would be costly.
A further power unit upgrade (under the ADUO rules) is expected later in the European rounds.
For now, though, Monza comes first, and Ferrari’s engineers will arrive at the circuit on April 22 carrying more questions than they would like, and hoping the SF-26 answers most of them before the paddock reconvenes in Miami.
