Ferrari announces 2026 F1 car launch plan

Ferrari Formula 1 team boss Fred Vasseur has revealed the Scuderia will unveil its new 2026 car on 23 January, with a shakedown at its Fiorano test track.

Car launches for 2026's new regulation era are kicking off earlier than usual given the demands of F1's busy pre-season, with three tests scheduled in Barcelona and Bahrain between the end of January and the middle of February.

Ferrari chief Vasseur has now announced the Italian powerhouse will unveil its yet to be named 2026 challenger at Fiorano on 23 January with drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton giving the new car its first mileage with a shakedown.

Vasseur has set "aggressive" targets to develop the 2026 car as late as possible, meaning he has pushed back the final assembly until the eve of the Fiorano filming session.

"This will be aggressive for sure, because we will finish the assembly of the car the day before the launch," Vasseur said at Ferrari's traditional end-of-year press conference in Maranello.

"The launch will be the 23rd of January in Maranello. It means that we'll finish the car on the 22nd. And this is aggressive, but everybody will do the same."

Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari

Photo by: James Sutton / Formula 1 / Formula Motorsport Ltd via Getty Images

When asked what Ferrari's first car of the new regulations era will be called, Vasseur remained tight-lipped: "This will be part of the launch and you will discover it a bit later. I don't want to spoil everybody and to spoil everything."

Expanding on Ferrari's pre-season strategy Vasseur says his team's focus is to rack up as many miles as possible at the Barcelona shakedown at the end of January, while worrying about performance items later on in Bahrain.

"I think everybody will do it," he explained. "In this situation, the most important is to get mileage. It's not to chase performance. It's to get mileage to validate the technical choice on the car in terms of reliability. And then to get performance. It means that I think everybody will come in Barcelona with - not a mule car - but let's say a spec A.

"We are not used to having nine test days anymore. The last four or five seasons, we did three [days]. It's an advantage, but it's also a completely different program. It means that the first target in this kind of season is to get the reliability.

"The first races [of the previous power unit change in 2014] you had a huge percentage of DNFs. It means that the first focus in Barcelona will be to get mileage with the car, to understand the reliability of the car, where we have to improve and what we have to react. Because if you understand something in Bahrain, by the second test, you won't have time to react for Australia."