Following a disappointing season in 2025, Fred Vasseur has found himself on the cusp of a pivotal season with Ferrari in the upcoming campaign.

Nothing short of a championship will be enough to save Vasseur’s job, and the Frenchman is doing all he can to ensure that Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are given the right tools to accomplish exactly that.

So far, testing has proved to be satisfactory for the iconic Italian racing outfit. After a niggle-free first day out on track, one Ferrari chief gave a ‘dream come true’ verdict on the reliability of their new engine.

However, there is still plenty of work to be done, and one aspect of their new front-end has already raised some questions over their competitiveness this season.

F1 expert Craig Scarborough details how Ferrari’s suspension change may cause issues

During a recent appearance on Peter Windsor’s YouTube channel, F1 technical expert Craig Scarborough outlined how Ferrari’s new suspension for their 2026 car has put them in ‘danger’.

The analyst began by highlighting how the Maranello-based engineers have taken a leaf out of McLaren’s book in their initial designs of the new suspension system.

The last thing Ferrari needs is a divide between Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton

A recent report has suggested that Ferrari have involved Hamilton in their development efforts for 2026 a lot more than his Monegasque teammate.

They have already been warned over the potential ‘discontent’ that it could bring, which has been bolstered by Scarborough’s verdict on the new suspension unit favouring one side of the Ferrari garage more than the other.

With such a decisive season now imminent, the last thing that the Scuderia needs is tension between their star-studded driver line-up in Maranello.

As the 2026 pre-season reaches a fever pitch, technical analyst Craig Scarborough has cast a spotlight on Ferrari’s radical shift from a front pull-rod to a push-rod suspension layout—a move that mirrors McLaren’s championship-winning philosophy but carries significant risk. In a recent analysis with Peter Windsor, Scarborough noted that while this “A-spec” configuration (unveiled on January 23, 2026) aims to stabilize the front end and maximize aerodynamic flow under the chassis, it may fundamentally favor one driving style over the other. The new geometry is designed to provide a more “predictable” platform, which aligns with Lewis Hamilton’s preference for a car that doesn’t “hunt” at corner entry—an issue that saw him trail Charles Leclerc by 86 points during the 2025 campaign.

However, the “danger” Scarborough warns of lies in the potential alienation of Leclerc. The Monegasque driver has historically thrived on a “pointy” front end with high rotation, a trait often achieved through the pull-rod setups Ferrari has now abandoned. If the SF-26 is biased toward the mid-corner stability Hamilton craves, it could neuter Leclerc’s greatest strength: his unparalleled qualifying pace and late-braking aggression. With reports suggesting Hamilton has been “heavily involved” in the SF-26’s development from the early stages—more so than in the previous SF-25 project—the internal optics at Maranello are becoming increasingly sensitive. For Fred Vasseur, the challenge is no longer just technical; it is a delicate management of ego and engineering to ensure that his “dream team” doesn’t fracture before the lights go out in Melbourne.