Ferrari Bring Final Major Upgrade of 2026 to United States Grand Prix

Ferrari faces the United States Grand Prix in Austin with what will be its last big update of the 2026 season. The Italian team will bring an upgrade package to the Circuit of the Americas focused on the SF-26's floor, but it will also include revisions to the sidepods and bodywork. According to The Race, the British site, the objective is clear: increase aerodynamic load, improve the car's balance, and expand its operating window before focusing all efforts on the 2027 car.

The floor is the central element of this evolution; the changes span the entire structure, from the front to the diffuser, to optimize airflow and generate more consistent aerodynamic load. Ferrari has worked intensely on this component in recent weeks, aware that its performance in medium- and high-speed corners can make the difference in the fight with McLaren and Mercedes.

As for the sidepods, the work will be more specific: Ferrari has closely analyzed the modifications Red Bull introduced throughout the season and has opted for existing solutions to reduce aerodynamic drag without radically changing the bodywork. The new bodywork will also include modifications to the elements that make up the cooling system, adapting the hot air extraction to the new geometries of the sidepods, it is planned that for the Mexico Grand Prix an additional reinforcement of this configuration will be introduced due to the altitude of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

After the United States Grand Prix, Ferrari will limit the development of the SF-26 to the specific characteristics of each circuit. The Maranello team is already allocating all available resources to next year's car, which will have different aerodynamic solutions due to the regulation change; the chassis, however, will not be modified, since they consider it one of the strong points of the current model. The idea is that Austin provides the opportunity to verify the correlation between the results obtained through the development tools and the car's real behavior on track.

Ferrari currently sits second in the constructors' championship with 444 points, after adding two 2026 victories: one with Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona and another with Charles Leclerc in Silverstone. The Italian team has performed solidly throughout the season but has ceded ground to Mercedes and Red Bull in the last races. The Austin update is a chance to reverse that trend and finish the year on a high.

The event at the Circuit of the Americas will be the eighteenth of the season and will mark the start of the championship's final stretch; Ferrari arrives needing to score important points and prove that the improvements introduced in the SF-26 work as planned. The Maranello team trusts the new floor and aerodynamic revisions will let it fight for the top positions again and lay the foundations for 2027, when it hopes to make the definitive leap towards the title.