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Ferrari fans will be hoping that the intra-team battle between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc this season decides the drivers’ championship.
A Ferrari driver hasn’t achieved that feat since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, but the new regulations offer the tifosi another reason to get excited after a turgid campaign last year.
Charles Leclerc secured all seven of Ferrari’s Grand Prix podiums in 2025, and he beat teammate Lewis Hamilton by 86 points in the standings.
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There are signs that Hamilton is getting to grips with the driving style needed to maximise the potential of this year’s Ferrari.
However, Leclerc is a far more capable driver than his current F1 stats suggest, and if the SF-26 is a championship contender this year, he’ll be gunning for his maiden title.
Journalist Nelson Valkenburg was closely watching the first three days of testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.
He’s spotted signs that Leclerc might already have an advantage over Hamilton when it comes to the characteristics of the car.
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Valkenburg was a guest on The Race F1 Podcast and explained: “A transformed car, if you look at the car characteristics from day one.
“It looked so limited at the rear. In any corner, it was just side-swiping all the time, and today it looked well put together.
“They clearly made a step on setup. His [Leclerc’s] time should have been quicker because he made a bit of a mess of the final sector. It should have been a 1:33.8 or 1:33.9 early on in the day.
“And that power unit is racking up the miles. Haas are doing well. I must say Cadillac are doing a lot better in terms of mileage.
“They’re [Ferrari] just not talked about as much as the whole Red Bull and Mercedes saga, but they may be a bit of a, no pun intended, dark horse in this one. Ferrari, it’s not looking that bad.
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“We don’t know how much is in the pipeline in terms of development to come to Melbourne, but I assume, in terms of the power unit, there’s a huge amount of development in drivability and implementation.
“So they’re going to learn so much from every lap. They’re not in a bad spot, and it could very well turn out very well for Charles Leclerc.
“Hamilton yesterday looked despondent, and I’m worried there. That initial interaction with the car and the new regulations really didn’t work for him.”
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Analysing Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton’s first 2026 Bahrain test data
Ferrari had a very successful first three-day test in Bahrain, completing more laps than the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes.
Hamilton’s long-run pace was actually better than Leclerc’s, but there are caveats to take into account here.
Firstly, it’s completely unknown what fuel loads both drivers were using, as well as the engine modes and their ultimate run plans.
On top of this, Hamilton ran at a cooler part of the day where lap times should have been much quicker, with Kimi Antonelli setting the fastest time of the test during the final afternoon session.
Ferrari are planning ‘significant investment’ into their power unit after seeing a braking issue in their Bahrain data.
Hamilton appeared to be locking up far more than Leclerc, but if the Scuderia can solve that issue, it might narrow the gap between the two drivers.
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