Ferrari is revving up for an exhilarating filming day with its cutting-edge SF-26 car next month, as the team pivots its strategy following the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix. This exciting news comes on the heels of Ferrari’s impressive start to the F1 2026 season, where they have already secured podium finishes in both Australia and China.
Charles Leclerc set the pace with a stellar third-place finish in Melbourne, and Lewis Hamilton mirrored that success in Shanghai, marking his first podium with Ferrari since joining the iconic team in 2025. However, the abrupt cancellation of the upcoming races means that the calendar now stands at a maximum of 22 events, leaving a significant five-week void between the Japanese Grand Prix on March 29 and the Miami Grand Prix on May 3.
Amid this break, insiders reveal that Ferrari is eager to maximize its opportunities by scheduling a crucial filming day with the SF-26. As it stands, Ferrari has yet to utilize its two allotted filming days for the season, with the earlier shakedown at Fiorano classified merely as a demonstration event. This upcoming filming day is seen as essential for generating engaging content for the team’s commercial partners, whose current access is limited to January’s post-launch footage.
F1 regulations permit teams to conduct two filming days per season, each capped at 200 kilometers of running with current vehicles. While reports from Italy suggest that Monza, the revered venue of the Italian Grand Prix, may be the chosen location for this filming, Ferrari is still weighing its options. Monza’s unique demands on energy management for the F1 2026 power units make it an appealing choice, as a filming day there could provide invaluable insights into optimizing performance and help close the gap to Mercedes, who triumphed in the season’s opening races.
Hamilton himself acknowledged the need for Ferrari to dissect the reasons behind Mercedes’ edge on the straights, highlighting the importance of their performance during the ESM phase. “It seems mostly on straight,” he noted, indicating that understanding Mercedes’ deployment and reduced de-rating at the end of the straights is critical for the Scuderia. With such high stakes and fierce competition, all eyes will be on Ferrari as they gear up for what could be a pivotal moment in their quest for dominance in the F1 2026 season.
