F1 News
Vasseur on 2026 development: 'We'll have to make a decision'
- Savannah Lenz
Extra wind tunnel time is important for the teams who lost the constructors championship. However, it isn't as beneficial as one may believe. Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur isn't of the mindset that it will help them this upcoming season.
As Ferrari did not manage to secure the 2024 World Constructors' title, they have received more wind tunnel time. But according to Vasseur, that won't be much help for the 2025 season.
Wind tunnel time vs. 2026 development
When speaking to the media, including GPBlog, during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend, Vassuer talked about the wind tunnel time and if they would benefit from it. "It will be probably more for '26 because it's '25 that we end the season, 31st of December is when we will turn on the next slot for the FIA, I would want to say that all the job will be done because we will continue to develop at the beginning of 2025, the car of 2025, but we will all be fully focused on 2026, quite early into the season."
Vassuer and the entire Ferrari team will be faced with the million dollar question, do they stop working on the 2025 car for 2026? Or do they continue to push for a championship under the last year of the current regulations? The decision, he says, is a part of the development they have to do. It is a decision that currently weighs heavy on all of the Formula 1 teams as they were granted approval to start working on the 2026 car on 1st January 2025.
He continued, "This will come with the development and the project of 2026 that we'll have to do. I don't want to go deeply into detail, but I think we'll do all the same the first two or three months, and it's more by the end of March that we'll have to make a decision".
However, Vasseur already has an idea of what to do. He asks himself, "Do you want to stay focused a little bit or not at all on 2025?" His answer? "I think we’ll all do the same as usual".
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