Fred Vasseur ‘didn’t like’ Ferrari and Mercedes’ 2026 power unit being compared during testing

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Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has been trying to avoid questions about his team’s new power unit.

Fred Vasseur will be pleased with the progress Ferrari have made during pre-season testing ahead of the first race of 2026.

Charles Leclerc has looked very quick, and while David Coulthard has questioned Lewis Hamilton’s true pace, the most important thing for Ferrari is reliability.

Ferrari have completed a lot of laps, as have customer team Haas, while newcomers Cadillac have surprised many people with how well they’ve done in Bahrain.

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However, the big talking point heading into the 2026 season is the new power units, with Mercedes and Ferrari both at the centre of plenty of controversy.

Mercedes’ compression trick is under intense scrutiny, while Ferrari have built a smaller turbo after predicting issues with race starts.

Journalist Nelson Valkenburg has now described what happened when he asked Vasseur about both power units.

READ MORE: Who is Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur? Everything you need to know

Fred Vasseur ‘really didn’t like’ questions about Ferrari’s 2026 power unit during Bahrain testing

Valkenburg was speaking about the Ferrari team on the Nailing the Apex Podcast and explained: “Now I had a little bit of an interesting press moment with Vasseur because I went in first on engines.

“Everybody’s talking about compression ratios. We’ve done this as well. The pressure from the other OEMs is ramping up on the FIA to clamp down on the loophole that Mercedes has found, and Vasseur said, ‘OK, it’s very important that there’s clarity and that we close this off.’

“And then we went on to the turbo situation and the starts. And he said, ‘No, the regulations were written, and we made the best use of them.’

“And I said, ‘So, what is the difference? What is the difference between Mercedes not wanting to change the engine regulations because they figured it out, and other teams didn’t, and Ferrari figuring it out on the turbo?’

“He really didn’t like the question.

“But I think the difference is that Mercedes used a grey area and effectively has an engine that’s legal when measured, and the Ferrari turbo is a choice that anyone could have made.

“And they will fight tooth and nail for this. This is a principal question for them, and I don’t see them backing down on it.”

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

Charles Leclerc tops the timing sheets on the first morning of Bahrain testing

Leclerc was given the honour of driving Ferrari’s car for the first stint of the final pre-season test before the lights go out in Australia next month.

The Monegasque driver completed the second-most laps behind Arvid Lindblad in the morning session and topped the timing sheets.

His 1:33.739 was the fastest time set across both tests when the drivers stopped for lunch, beating Lando Norris and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, with both Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso suffering from mechanical issues.

Ralf Schumacher has changed his mind on Ferrari already after seeing their positive start to testing.

If the FIA decide not to change the rules around race starts before heading to Melbourne, then Leclerc, Hamilton and the other Ferrari-powered drivers could have a serious advantage on the opening lap.