Ferrari’s F1 car ‘reacted very badly’ to trying Max Verstappen’s first gear downshift trick

Follow us on Google Discover

Ferrari’s new power unit has struggled to copy the high-rev trick that Max Verstappen first showcased at the beginning of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Power units have been one of the big discussion points heading into the 2026 season, with Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Audi and Honda all coming under the microscope for different reasons.

Ferrari appear to have installed a smaller turbo than their rivals after spotting a potential issue with race starts due to the new hybrid power units.

Mercedes’ compression trick might soon be removed, while Honda’s power unit looks to be a long way behind their rivals.

George Russell starts Week 2 at the 2026 F1 Bahrain test on top! But what stood out the most?

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

One interesting quirk of the new battery element of the power unit is how it needs to be recharged during a lap.

Max Verstappen quickly showed that dropping down into first gear on slower corners might be the trick to recharging the battery as quickly as possible.

However, journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm has spotted Ferrari-powered teams struggling to replicate this trick.

READ MORE: Anthony Davidson says Lewis Hamilton now looks ‘at home’ in the Ferrari during F1 testing

Ferrari’s 2026 F1 car ‘reacted really badly’ to trying high-rev first gear downshift

Mitchell-Malm was discussing Ferrari on The Race F1 Podcast and explained: “One of the reasons why I’d really like it if it turns out this week that Ferrari’s right up there is it’ll be quite cool to see something with a definite anomaly in the design doing well.

“One thing from trackside and checking the data is that the Ferraris just do not go near first gear in the way that the other engine manufacturers do.

“And that seems to be because they’ve gone for this smaller turbo design, which should help them on the race starts. If the race starts end up with this slight rush to get everything spun up on the turbo to pull away, but it means that they basically, whether it’s gear ratio and turbo, I’m not entirely sure, but that car definitely rejects the second to first downshift in a way that others don’t.

Name the one driver you think is most likely to lose their F1 seat in 2026 👇

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

“You can hear it because Leclerc tried it once when I was trackside. Ollie Bearman tried it once in the Haas when I was trackside, and it reacted really badly, and they didn’t really try it again.

“So if they’ve got an engine that does work a little bit differently, it might be just different ways of achieving exactly the same end result.

“That would just be quite fascinating because there’s just not really much technical divergence in F1 on that kind of level anymore.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

​​Ferrari attempting first gear downshift during latest Bahrain test after introducing new parts to the car

Telemetry from the beginning of testing on Wednesday suggested that Leclerc was attempting the trick once again.

During three of his first four quicker laps, the Monegasque driver dropped down into first gear in turns one, four and 10.

This suggests that Ferrari are now trying to tweak the power unit to try and maximise the potential of the car’s regeneration.

With Alex Albon suggesting Lewis Hamilton could thrive under these regulations, it all comes down to whether the car can support his and Leclerc’s championship bid.

Ferrari have already brought new parts to this Bahrain test that they believe their rivals can’t copy, and picking up on the tricks other teams are using at this stage of the season will only serve them well going forward.