Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari plan to block an attempt at an F1 rule change that George Russell stressed concern over before the 2026 season began
Ferrari are poised to resist rival teams’ attempts to alter a new starting procedure introduced for the 2026 season, after discovering a clever solution that could hand them a competitive advantage.
The initial test in Bahrain featured a practice start which nearly saw Alpine’s Franco Colapinto lose control whilst attempting burnouts, resulting in drivers failing to maintain proper grid positions.
McLaren are amongst the teams who will reportedly push for modifications to the starting protocols at next week’s meeting. The team is expected to raise safety considerations in their bid to secure changes.
Yet they’re likely to encounter resistance from Ferrari, whose more compact turbo design means they require less revving at the start, potentially giving them an edge that could prove beneficial for Lewis Hamilton in the upcoming campaign.
READ MORE: Formula One 2026: The Ultimate Season Preview – New Rules, New Rivals, New ChampionREAD MORE: Nigel Mansell gesture speaks volumes as Lewis Hamilton gift sold to help raise huge figure
Sources suggest they had identified the issue before their competitors and developed their solution accordingly.
Speaking on the Race F1 podcast, journalist Jon Noble revealed that Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur and Mercedes driver George Russell were amongst the first to flag the concern, with the Italian team subsequently engineering a workaround.
JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! All the best sports news and much more on our dedicated Facebook page
“12 months ago, [Vasseur] was in a Commission meeting and said, ‘We’re going to have a problem in ’26, we should do something’,” he said.
“So he committed to a design that covers this problem, likely a smaller turbo.”
Fellow journalist Ed Straw then commented: “George Russell suggested [as much]. He’s not the Ferrari designer or Ferrari driver, but there’s widespread belief that that’s the case.
“They’ve committed to the smaller turbo, their start issue is sorted.
“Suddenly when it comes back and the others say, ‘We have got a problem with the starts’, he brought this up six months previously, why should he vote in favour?”.
Addressing the restricted turbo window and starting procedure, Russell explained to reporters: “Well, at the moment, we’re just sort of going through our procedure, and I’m only doing my launch when I’m in a given window”.
Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings.
“But we are very conscious that for a race start, you go when the lights are out, you don’t go when your specific turbo is in the right window.”
He continued: “So as I said, I think we have made progress. I don’t know what it’s like for the other manufacturers.
“I think Ferrari seem to be able to run higher gears than other manufacturers, which probably suggests they’ve got a smaller turbo than other manufacturers. So maybe they’re in a slightly easier position for their race starts.
“But, as long as there’s not a safety concern… There probably was in Barcelona, but as I said, we have made big progress since Barcelona in that specific regard.”
