Ferrari delivers final 2026 aero upgrade at Austin

Ferrari has delivered its last aerodynamic upgrade of the 2026 season to the United States Grand Prix in Austin. The SF-26 carries a new board-brace layout, a redesigned front floor leading edge and altered vertical and horizontal in-board boards. The side-pod inlet and undercut were reshaped, and a revised diffuser with larger volume and new fence loading was added. The changes aim to increase floor downforce at both ends of the car and improve flow stability toward the rear.

Drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have downplayed the scale of the upgrade. Hamilton said it was "less than a tenth" or "half a tenth" and that it did not propel the team far enough to challenge the deficit to Mercedes. Leclerc was running the new package in FP1 but also played down its significance.

Other teams upgrade their cars

Other teams are also pushing their cars at the weekend. McLaren updated its brake ducts and diffuser geometry, Red Bull added a front-wing vane for tyre-temperature monitoring, and Racing Bulls brought a new front-wing endplate, rear-wing flaps and floor-edge changes. Audi, Alpine and Cadillac made smaller changes to brake ducts, floor geometry, rear-wing flaps and side-pod cooling louvres.

The official FIA submission lists broad changes in performance-critical areas, but the scale of the hardware changes does not automatically guarantee a major lap-time gain. Ferrari's engineers hope the new layout will generate more downforce and energy, and the real benefit will become clear from data collected over the Austin weekend.