Ferrari’s Monza upgrades cannot lean on sentiment, because sentiment does not make a Formula 1 car faster. When Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc fire up their SF-26s on Friday, the Tifosi will listen for something more convincing than noise.
They want proof.
Ferrari has brought a heavily revised power unit, a stripped-back floor and a lower-drag rear-wing configuration to the Italian Grand Prix. Under the engine cover, engineers have changed the combustion chamber and turbocharger. Shell developed a new fuel mix to help extract more from that hardware.
Along the floor, Ferrari has removed aerodynamic complexity to cut drag. At the rear, it has cleaned up its active-wing arrangement without abandoning the unusual concept that caught the paddock’s attention in testing.
Each change serves the same purpose: keep the SF-26 pulling hard through Monza’s long straights without making it nervous under braking or over the curbs. Ferrari has found more speed on paper. Monza will decide whether that speed can win a race.
Ferrari Cannot Waste This Opening
The timing suits Ferrari. Mercedes has confirmed that championship leader Kimi Antonelli will take a full power-unit change and start near the back of the grid.
Antonelli arrives with 242 points, while Hamilton and George Russell sit level on 183. That leaves Hamilton 59 points behind with 11 Grands Prix remaining.
Ferrari faces a steeper climb in the Constructors’ Championship. Mercedes leads with 425 points, 87 clear of Ferrari’s 338. McLaren has climbed to 263 after winning in Hungary and Zandvoort.
That recent McLaren surge needs context. Across those two rounds, McLaren outscored Ferrari 68–53, cutting 15 points from Ferrari’s advantage over the reigning constructors’ champion. Norris collected both victories, while Ferrari failed to put either driver on a Grand Prix podium.
Zandvoort still offered encouragement. Hamilton finished fourth, Leclerc followed in fifth and both cars crossed the line within 1.4 seconds of the podium. The SF-26 had enough race pace to pressure Mercedes. Poor qualifying and hesitant execution left Ferrari chasing rather than controlling the afternoon.
Monza gives the team another chance, this time with an upgrade package tailored to the circuit and Antonelli buried in the field. Ferrari will not find a cleaner opening.
The New Engine Changes the Calculation
A Revised Combustion Chamber and Turbocharger
The biggest change sits inside Ferrari’s V6.
Engineers have heavily revised the combustion chamber and turbocharger. According to Motorsport.com, the new specification cleared Ferrari’s reliability targets after repeated dyno testing.
Ferrari expects a gain of approximately 15 horsepower. That should halve the deficit to the Mercedes power unit, which teams still regard as the strongest complete package when efficiency, drivability and electrical deployment enter the calculation.
The FIA’s ADUO assessment tells a slightly different story. Its methodology ranked Red Bull as the internal-combustion benchmark and placed Ferrari more than four percent behind. That performance gap gave Maranello two additional development opportunities.
Ferrari introduced its first ADUO step in Austria. The Monza specification pushes further, attacking the power loss that has hurt the SF-26 at high engine speeds.
Earlier Motorsport.com analysis estimated Ferrari’s 20-to-25-horsepower deficit cost around four-and-a-half tenths per lap in China, with almost three tenths disappearing on the straights. Recovering much of that shortfall will not produce the same gain at every circuit, but paddock estimates place its Monza value near two tenths per lap.
At this level, two tenths can separate pole from the third row.
The extra output should also give Hamilton and Leclerc more speed near the end of each straight. Ferrari has not published a precise kilometer-per-hour gain because drag level, battery state and tow strength will change that number. The more important difference will come from how long the car continues accelerating before the braking zone.
Shell’s Fuel Mix Completes the Hardware
Shell has developed a new fuel formulation for the upgraded engine. That sounds like a supporting detail, but combustion efficiency can determine whether Ferrari achieves the promised output without creating fresh reliability or temperature problems.
The fuel must work with the revised chamber rather than simply feed it. Ferrari wants a cleaner burn, stronger peak performance and stable output across a full race distance.
Heat will matter. Monza asks the engine to spend long periods at full throttle, while the low-drag bodywork leaves engineers with fewer easy cooling options. Opening the car too aggressively would increase resistance and surrender some of the gain Ferrari has worked to find.
That makes Friday’s long runs critical. Maranello already trusts the dyno data. Now it needs the engine to repeat those numbers inside a tightly packaged car, in traffic, across varying fuel loads.
Energy Deployment Could Decide the Race
The 2026 power units have changed how teams attack Monza. The MGU-K can now send 350 kilowatts to the rear wheels, almost three times the output available under the previous regulations.
That electrical power creates tremendous acceleration. It also creates a brutal penalty when the battery begins to empty.
Ferrari has to map the energy perfectly so Hamilton and Leclerc do not become sitting ducks at the end of Monza’s straights. A car that deploys too aggressively out of the first chicane may run short before Ascari. Saving too much energy, meanwhile, leaves lap time untouched when the driver needs it most.
The revised engine will deliver its torque differently to improve that distribution. Behind the wheel, Hamilton and Leclerc should not feel one sudden kick. They should get a smoother, more relentless pull as the car gathers speed.
Heavy braking into the Rettifilo chicane gives Ferrari a major harvesting opportunity. The second chicane and Parabolica add more. Yet harvesting can disturb the rear axle if the engine maps become too aggressive, particularly when a driver attacks the brakes with little downforce on the car.
The package therefore needs to do two jobs. It must increase top-end performance while helping the SF-26 recover and redeploy energy without upsetting the driver’s confidence.
Ferrari Has Stripped Back the Floor
Ferrari has brought a track-specific floor to Monza, reducing the floor-board area to a single vertical element to shed drag. The team used that configuration earlier in the season before moving toward a more complex three-element layout.
This does not mean Ferrari has abandoned its recent development direction. The Monza floor combines the low-drag element with the newer platform introduced at Zandvoort.
The Dutch Grand Prix update revised the front floor boards and diffuser. The Race estimates that package carries around 0.15 seconds per lap of potential performance when Ferrari finds the right operating window.
Monza demands a different compromise. Engineers need enough floor load to stabilize the car through the Lesmos, Ascari and Parabolica, but every unnecessary vortex costs straight-line speed.
The floor also has to survive Monza’s brutal curbs. Hamilton and Leclerc will hammer the red-and-white surfaces through both chicanes, particularly in qualifying. If the floor stalls or the platform begins bouncing, Ferrari may have to raise the car or add wing, giving away the efficiency it came to find.
Maranello has delayed a more substantial lateral floor-edge development until sometime between Baku and Austin. This weekend’s version remains circuit-specific: less drag, fewer unnecessary elements and enough control to keep the SF-26 settled under load.
The Macarena Wing Is Real
The name sounds like paddock mischief, but Ferrari’s Macarena rear wing is real.
The concept first appeared during Bahrain testing. Instead of moving from an angled position to a flatter one, the upper element flips completely upside down in Straight Mode. That creates a much larger opening for the airflow and cuts drag.
Haas driver Ollie Bearman initially thought something had broken when he saw the wing move. Hamilton later called it Ferrari’s “flip-flop” wing, although the Macarena nickname stuck because of the element’s dramatic rotation.
Ferrari will bring a more efficient version to Monza, according to Motorsport.com. The team will also remove the additional hanger flaps used with its higher-downforce specification.
There will be no major front-wing redesign. Ferrari instead wants to clean up the existing bodywork and rear-wing arrangement, allowing the floor and active aero to carry more of the efficiency burden.
Engineers considered removing the small winglet positioned ahead of the exhaust outlet. They tested that approach in Austria but decided to retain the device at Monza.
The winglet uses the exhaust flow to strengthen the airflow around the rear of the car. Removing it would cut a little drag, but Ferrari would also lose rear stability through Monza’s fastest corners.
That decision reveals the package’s wider philosophy. Ferrari has not removed downforce blindly. It has tried to cut resistance where the drivers can afford it while protecting the rear end where confidence matters.
Hamilton and Leclerc Must Convert the Package
Ferrari’s technical department can deliver more power and aerodynamic efficiency. The drivers still have to place the car correctly at more than 330 kilometers per hour.
Hamilton enters Monza with a genuine, if difficult, championship opportunity. Antonelli’s penalty gives him a chance to recover a meaningful portion of that 59-point deficit. Russell, Norris and Leclerc will prevent the weekend from becoming straightforward.
Leclerc knows how to handle this pressure. He won at Monza in 2019, then repeated the achievement in 2024 by stretching a one-stop strategy while faster McLarens chased him.
Ferrari has managed only three victories in the past 19 Italian Grands Prix. Leclerc delivered two of them. Fernando Alonso claimed the other in 2010.
Qualifying remains the immediate concern. Neither Ferrari driver has taken pole this season, and Monza’s tow games can wreck even a quick car’s session. Traffic builds before Parabolica, drivers slow to create gaps and one badly timed run can leave a contender starting sixth.
Race management also needs sharpening. At Zandvoort, Hamilton spent several laps behind Leclerc while believing he had more pace. Strategy calls then added to his frustration.
Ferrari cannot repeat that hesitation at home. If both cars reach the front group, the pit wall must make clean decisions before Mercedes or McLaren forces its hand.
Monza Will Reveal Whether Ferrari Has Changed
Ferrari will learn quickly whether the new package works. Friday’s speed traps will show how much the revised engine and cleaner aero have added. Long runs will expose any problem with rear temperatures, battery deployment or floor stability.
Qualifying will provide the harder verdict.
If Ferrari trims the car too aggressively, Hamilton and Leclerc may fly down the straights but fight a nervous rear end through Ascari. Carry too much wing, and Russell or Norris could drive away each time Straight Mode activates.
The target sits between those extremes. Ferrari needs a car that attacks the braking zones without bleeding speed on the approach.
Antonelli’s grid penalty clears one rival from the front, but it also sharpens the pressure. Ferrari has to strike now, before Mercedes’ pace, McLaren’s momentum or another execution error turns its best opening into another missed chance.
The new power unit offers meaningful extra muscle. The floor should cut drag. The revised wing can create a larger low-drag opening without stripping away every ounce of cornering support.
None of that guarantees victory.
By Sunday afternoon, the Tifosi will not care what the dyno predicted or how elegant the floor looked in the garage. They will watch Hamilton and Leclerc charge toward the first chicane and ask the only question that matters: has Ferrari finally built enough speed to win at Monza?
READ MORE: Ferrari Confirms Crucial F1 Engine Decision for Italian GP
FAQs
What upgrades is Ferrari bringing to Monza?
Ferrari has revised its engine, floor, rear wing and fuel package to increase power, reduce drag and improve energy deployment.
How much power will Ferrari’s Monza engine upgrade add?
Ferrari expects approximately 15 additional horsepower from its revised combustion chamber, turbocharger and Shell fuel.
What is Ferrari’s Macarena rear wing?
The Macarena wing flips its upper element upside down in Straight Mode, creating a larger opening that reduces drag.
Why will Kimi Antonelli start near the back at Monza?
Mercedes plans to install a full new power unit in Antonelli’s car. The resulting grid penalty will send him toward the rear.
Can Ferrari win the 2026 Italian Grand Prix?
The new package improves Ferrari’s chances, but Hamilton, Leclerc and the pit wall still need a clean qualifying session and race.
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