Are the top teams already setting their sights on 2027? Here’s the situation at Ferrari and Mercedes

The 2026 season is drawing to a close. The Constructors’ Championship is almost certainly in the bag for Mercedes. In the Drivers’ Championship, too, Mercedes are clearly in the lead: Kimi Antonelli is 81 points ahead of George Russell. Antonelli has a 101-point lead over the first non-Silver Arrow driver, Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari). The big question all teams must ask themselves is: at what point will resources for car development be shifted towards next season? A look at the two top teams.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur made it clear in Madrid: “We are not in the same situation as we were twelve months ago. Because what we develop today, we can carry over to next year’s project.” This is because, this time round, the regulations remain largely stable apart from minor modifications.

Last year, the situation was entirely different: 2025 was the final season of the 2022 regulation cycle featuring ground-effect cars. Consequently, Ferrari’s SF-25 was a phase-out model. A completely new set of regulations for the engine and chassis came into force for the 2026 season. Any further development for 2025 was therefore only useful for 2025 – and brought no direct advantage for 2026. Consequently, the scope for carrying over developments from the current season to the next was, as is the case now, virtually non-existent; some teams therefore made the cut early in 2025.

Ferrari is looking ahead to 2026, but can take its knowledge forward

Vasseur on the development currently underway at the Scuderia: “This means that we will continue to work, perhaps on other things, other aspects – a little less in the field of aerodynamics, a little more on other topics. But 80 per cent of the developments we’re working on now will be carried over into next year.” So the resources invested will pay off twice over.

Mercedes has already made the switch

Toto Wolff, team principal at championship leaders Mercedes, says of the developments within his own team: “The 2027 season began some time ago, well before the summer. In the summer, we reallocated resources to next year, which is proceeding according to plan, regardless of where we stand in the championship.” Wolff emphasises, however, that the World Championship is anything but certain. Anything could still happen.

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