We're only two races into the 2026 Formula 1 season, and Ferrari has the best race starts on the grid, a driver lineup that most teams would sell internal organs for and a car that's capable of beating Mercedes on a good day. Scuderia Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur also spent part of his post-race media session in Shanghai drawing a line in the sand over the start procedure controversy. And for once, the Ferrari team principals are completely right to do so.
Backstory matters here. A year ago, Vasseur came to the FIA and said the 2026 start process would be a problem.
“A year ago, I went to the FIA,” Vasseur said in China. "I raised my hand early in the process and said, 'Guys, this is going to be hard.' The answer was clear that we had to design the car fitting with the regulation, not replace the regulation fitting with the car."
Ferrari did exactly that. He created a smaller turbo that spun more efficiently, built a power unit to meet the new regulations, and showed off in Melbourne, with Charles Leclerc going from fourth to first at Turn One. Lewis Hamilton did basically the same thing from the second row in China. Rivals noticed, were outraged, and immediately began lobbying for changes, with George Russell even calling Ferrari "selfish" for preventing further changes in the process.
"We designed the car fitting with the regulation, the five-second change, the blue light story, didn't help us at all," Vasseur said, "but I think at one level enough was enough."
Asked if the case was closed, he didn't hesitate: "For me, yes."
Good. This should be stopped. Ferrari identified a problem, raised it through the proper channels, asked for it to be dealt with, and then went and dealt with it better than anyone else in the paddock. Penalizing competence because your competitors didn't do their homework is not supposed to be the way sporting rules work, and the FIA would now embarrass itself by bowing to that pressure.
Vasseur and the Ferrari project selective outrage
But the thing is, being right about this particular battle doesn't mean that Ferrari's relationship with regulation drama has suddenly become healthy. It's not like that.
The Scuderia has spent the better part of two decades treating the rule book as both a weapon and a crutch, depending on which way the wind is blowing. When the rules are in their favor it's a matter of integrity of the game. When the rules don't do it, it's a political conspiracy. The fact that Vasseur has a legitimate complaint right now doesn't erase the pattern and it's hard to miss the pattern when you're watching it play out in real time.
Mercedes is still ahead. Ferrari is still lagging behind in straight-line performance which matters most at the start. Vasseur candidly acknowledged the deficit, saying the team was "eight tenths off in Melbourne, six tenths off on Friday in China, four tenths off on Saturday" and needed to work on the chassis, tires and engine to close that gap – not just on one parameter. It's honest self-assessment, and it's the kind of conversation that shows Vasseur understands where the real work lies.
Ferrari and this cultural malaise
The problem is that in the broader culture of Ferrari there is a gravitational pull toward lateral performance. Hamilton and Leclerc are two of the best drivers alive, there's real speed in the car, and Japan is coming in 10 days with a circuit that could highlight Mercedes' straight-line advantage in a way it didn't in Shanghai. There are legitimate reasons for optimism in Maranello. None of this has anything to do with the politics of the initiation process.
Ferrari's best path to the championship – their first since 2008 – runs directly through improving Mercedes over the course of the season, not by blocking rule changes that help rivals catch up. Vasseur knows this.
"Racing hasn't changed," he said. "All components of the demonstration are still on the table."
This is the correct framing. Beginners are a weapon right now and there is nothing wrong with using them. Turning them into a season-long narrative, however, is a distraction Ferrari can't really afford.
Win the argument at the start line. Win the season in the wind tunnel. They are not the same thing.
