Ferrari and McLaren target Mercedes with Zandvoort upgrades

Ferrari’s development push resumes

The development battle moves back into focus at Zandvoort, where Ferrari and McLaren will introduce significant upgrades as the season resumes. The circuit will provide an immediate test of whether both teams can translate recent progress into performance against Mercedes.

That second element is particularly important. Ferrari wants the SF-26 to remain competitive at twistier circuits, where long straights and outright top speed are less decisive. Zandvoort therefore represents a direct assessment of whether the latest floor addresses that requirement.

The upgrade was reportedly not originally scheduled for the Dutch Grand Prix. However, analysis from the Austrian and British Grands Prix—circuits with virtually opposite characteristics—highlighted further areas for improvement. At the Red Bull Ring, partly because of the chosen setup, the SF-26 could not match the performance it had delivered two weeks earlier in Barcelona.

Ferrari responded by modifying the floor and sending the required parts into production before the mandatory two-week shutdown. The speed of that process is likely to strengthen rival teams’ view of Ferrari’s development and production capabilities.

Power-unit progress follows at Monza

The floor is only the opening move in Ferrari’s wider second-half development programme. The updated power unit remains scheduled for introduction at Monza through the second ADUO window.

Its most significant change is a larger-diameter turbine, intended to improve the internal combustion engine’s performance on the straights. The precise gain at maximum RPM is difficult to quantify, and the upgrade is not expected to immediately eliminate the gap to Mercedes HPP and Red Bull Powertrains. Ferrari will have to wait until 2027 for that.

Even so, confidence at Maranello is described as high. The data gathered so far suggests that combining aerodynamic gains with a narrowing engine-performance deficit could give Ferrari a solid platform from which to challenge Mercedes in the second half of the season. The wider Zandvoort upgrade picture is covered here.

McLaren completes its response

McLaren will also bring a new floor for the MCL40, completing the development package introduced in Hungary, where the team won for the first time this year.

The Woking-based outfit has identified the car’s weaknesses, although some are rooted in design choices that cannot be changed during the season. The short wheelbase, for example, makes the MCL40 highly sensitive to setup changes and complicates the search for the right balance.

McLaren nevertheless believes its latest development direction can finally unlock the car’s potential—a potential that remained largely untapped through much of the first half of the campaign. Zandvoort will show whether that belief can withstand a compressed Sprint-weekend evaluation window.