Ferrari downplays effect of 'minor' power unit update for the Austrian Grand Prix

Looking ahead to next weekend, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur stressed that the team is approaching the championship one race at a time.

He said: "We arrive in Austria encouraged by our positive showing over the past few races, even though we are fully aware that there is still a lot of work to do and that we must continue to focus on ourselves. We will approach this weekend with the same method and mindset that we have adopted since the start of the season aiming to put together clean sessions in every respect, from track execution to the strategic decisions taken on the pit wall. We know that every weekend has a different story to tell which is why we will continue to take the championship one race at a time."

After Ferrari secured its first victory since the 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix in Barcelona, the team will introduce an updated specification of its power unit in Austria. However, according to Power Unit Technical Director Enrico Gualtieri, the changes are only minor.

"Since the beginning of the 2026 project, we have combined a continuous development approach with longer-term development programmes, to fully exploit all available opportunities to increase the performance of our Power Unit. These two streams run in parallel and often reinforce each other. The entire team at the factory is now working relentlessly to make the most of the additional opportunities provided by the ADUO mechanism, in full alignment with our intended development roadmap. The update we are bringing to Spielberg is a relatively minor one and it’s the result of the work completed in recent weeks to transfer improvements from our development programme to the track. It epitomises key principles of our sport: continuous improvement, reacting quickly, and deploying gains at the earliest opportunity," he began.

Guarnieri does not expect this update to suddenly flip the grid order on its head. "As mentioned, this update is not a major step, and it will not, on its own, change the competitive order. What it does show is the attitude of the team and our technical partners: to push continuously and to make the most of every opportunity to improve our package. In a championship as competitive as this one, it is unrealistic to expect a single update to transform the overall picture, especially under the current homologation and development constraints. Performance is built progressively, not only through hardware changes, but also through how effectively you optimise the package race by race."

At the moment, Lewis Hamilton trails Kimi Antonelli by 41 points in the drivers' standings. In Barcelona, the Italian was running in second place after overtaking his teammate, George Russell, before his car suddenly stopped due to a mechanical issue.

Guarnieri continued: "This championship is a challenge from start to finish, not only in terms of pure performance, but also in how effectively you optimise each component at the track, and how robust and reliable your overall package is. At this stage, it is also fundamental to close the loop between track learning and factory development, reacting quickly to what we learn at each event, feeding that back into development, and deploying improvements efficiently.

"We fully recognize that some of our competitors have done a better job so far. This is part of the reality of Formula 1 and its challenges, and it sets a clear target for us. We know it won’t be an easy journey, and we prefer to commit to facts rather than promises. But I can say that everyone is united and hard-working, and we are confident that, with focus and consistency, we can achieve our targets," the director concluded.