Fred Vasseur has changed Ferrari’s Australian Grand Prix objective after impressive testing

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Fred Vasseur has acknowledged that Ferrari are targeting a race win at the Australian Grand Prix after an excellent showing in pre-season testing.

Charles Leclerc set the timesheets alight on the final day of running, lowering the overall benchmark to a 1:31.992. His nearest challenger, Lando Norris, only set a 1:32.871.

Of course, that’s not to say Ferrari have a nine-tenth advantage over the rest of the field, but the single-lap pace of the SF-26 was undeniably impressive.

Haas quietly topped the lap charts with a huge 170 on Day 3 in Bahrain! But which team is looking the strongest?

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Lewis Hamilton’s running was disrupted on Thursday but Ferrari recovered on the final day by posting more than 130 laps. In general, the reliability of their new car and power unit has been elite.

Fred Vasseur now says Ferrari are going to Australian Grand Prix to win

In an interview late last year, Vasseur said it ‘didn’t matter’ if Ferrari were ‘P10’ in Australia. It appears that the team are now feeling more ambitious heading to Melbourne.

While Bahrain is regarded as a ‘power track’ dominated by low-speed corners, Albert Park is a fast, flowing circuit. That’s why Vasseur is wary of drawing too many conclusions from testing.

Ferrari have only won the opening round twice since 2010 (Sebastian Vettel in 2018, Charles Leclerc in 2022) but they believe they can start 2026 on the top step.

Vasseur told Canal+: “Are we going to Melbourne to win? Yes, but so are McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull.

“We know very well that the Bahrain test results aren’t necessarily representative of the season. We have to stay calm, and that’s what we did today. I’m happy – especially happy that we did a lot of laps – and we’ll see in Melbourne!”

Could Ferrari’s ‘rocket-launcher’ race start tactic backfire?

Before any testing had taken place, Vasseur was clearly expecting the pecking order to be somewhat fluid at the start of the ruleset. But most predictions now put Ferrari in the top two.

Ferrari’s 2026 car has been called a ‘rocket-launcher’ at race starts, which could be a gamechanger in the early rounds. Even if they qualify behind favourites Mercedes, they could storm into the lead on lap one.

Ferrari’s smaller turbo is helping them achieve the rapid launches, though there is a concern it could lead to a power deficit at engine-dominant tracks.

On the aerodynamic side, Ferrari’s ‘upside-down’ rear wing was the headline innovation of the Bahrain test, even though it only appeared briefly. The design team at Maranello certainly can’t be accused of playing it safe this year.