Fred Vasseur left ‘paranoid’ by 2026 F1 rule change due to ‘concerns’ arising in Ferrari’s development

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F1’s new era of regulations means that the grid will be lining up with a completely new car next season, and Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur is reportedly ‘paranoid’ about where his team will be in the pecking order due to one concern arising in development.

The new 2026 F1 regulations will see a complete overhaul of the current cars.

100% sustainable fuels, more electrical power from the engine and a new-look aerodynamic formula are just a few of the many changes that will be seen in next year’s challengers.

It is the first time that a new engine has been introduced to the ruleset since the beginning of the turbo-hybrid era in 2014.

The pecking order of the grid was scrambled. Mercedes famously nailed the new ruleset, going on to win eight consecutive constructors’ championships in an unprecedented period of dominance for the German team.

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Fred Vasseur is ‘paranoid’ about Ferrari starting the new era of Formula 1 on the back foot

Ferrari was unable to find the same amount of performance as Mercedes in their hybrid V6 engine at the start of the previous engine regulation lifecycle and experienced one of their worst seasons in recent history.

The famous Prancing Horse finished the season fourth in the constructors’ standings with just two appearances on the podium.

Speaking on a recent episode of Auto Motor und Sport’s podcast, Formula Schmidt, F1 journalist Michael Schmidt has revealed Vasseur’s paranoia of the team getting the regulations wrong again, as well as what Ferrari has seen in their early benchmark tests.

“Fred is a little bit paranoid that, as he said, in terms of fuel, the engine, or maybe the chassis,” Schmidt said.

“Maybe all three, he’s a little bit behind somewhere, and then next year you won’t be driving again for the world championship with fewer people trusting anything, because simply no one knows where the others stand.

“At the beginning of development, something he said struck me. He said we saw huge performance leaps on the test bench, something we’d never seen before.

“But it came more from the fuel than from the mechanics, and that gave rise to some concerns, but maybe the others have even bigger ones. If one falls completely behind and then the same happens with the battery, which suddenly now must store much more energy, they must deliver in even faster cycles.”

Despite the uncertainty in early tests, Ferrari has benefited from a Pirelli test ahead of 2026. The test, which took place last month, helped the Scuderia to understand how the aerodynamics of their current F1 cars will be affected by the new rules.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur from net worth to height

Poor performance in the 2026 F1 season could be disastrous for Ferrari

The iconic Scuderia are currently experiencing one of the longest championship droughts in their illustrious 75 year history of competing in the F1 world championship.

The conclusion of the 2025 season will mark the team’s 17th consecutive season without adding a title to their collection, and may spell danger for Vasseur if he isn’t able to turn it around in 2026.

‘Whispers’ suggest Ferrari’s engine isn’t as competitive as it should be, and paired with the exits of several key members of the power unit department, things aren’t looking good for their title hopes.

The only silver lining that the Scuderia has is the quality of their two drivers. A seven-time world champion in Lewis Hamilton is sure to be helpful throughout the development of the chassis, and Charles Leclerc has nearly seven years of experience within the inner workings of the team.

One of the ways that they may find performance is by copying one ‘extreme’ design idea from Hamilton’s former team, McLaren. Ferrari are looking into a closed body solution for their 2026 challenger, which could solve their current issue of thermal efficiency.