In the high-stakes world of Formula 1, looking backward is rarely the strategy for moving forward. Yet, as the dust settles on a calamitous 2025 season and the paddock braces for the seismic regulatory shifts of 2026, Scuderia Ferrari is doing the unthinkable. Reports emerging from Maranello confirm that the team’s 2026 challenger, internally designated “Project 678,” will feature a technical philosophy abandoned by the team over a decade and a half ago. It is a decision that has reportedly left seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton stunned, not with dismay, but with the sudden, sharp realization that the Prancing Horse is finally ready to stop playing it safe.
As of January 8, 2026, the scars of the previous season are still fresh. Ferrari’s 2025 campaign was defined not by podium champagne, but by a haunting statistic: zero Grand Prix wins. For a team of Ferrari’s lineage, and for a driver of Hamilton’s caliber who joined with hopes of a glorious final act, the result was nothing short of a catastrophe. But from the ashes of the SF25’s failure, a new era is rising, spearheaded by former Mercedes guru Loic Serra. The detailed revelations regarding the Project 678 suspension suggest a team that has fundamentally altered its DNA, prioritizing mechanical grip and driver confidence over theoretical aerodynamic perfection.
The Nightmare of 2025: A Car With “No Rhythm”
To understand the magnitude of the changes arriving with Project 678, one must first revisit the wreckage of 2025. The optimism that surrounded Hamilton’s arrival and the team’s strong finish in 2024 evaporated almost instantly once the SF25 hit the tarmac. On paper, the car was an evolution, featuring a sophisticated double pull-rod suspension meant to maximize aerodynamic freedom. On the track, it was a beast that refused to be tamed.
The SF25 was plagued by an excruciatingly narrow operating window. When engineers miraculously landed on the right setup, the car was competitive. But for the vast majority of the season, Hamilton and his teammate Charles Leclerc battled a front end that was spiteful and inconsistent. Hamilton, known for his poetic precision, cut to the core of the problem with a devastating analogy: he described the car as “someone with no rhythm who simply cannot dance.”
The low point came in China, where Hamilton crossed the line in sixth only to be disqualified for excessive plank wear—a direct result of Ferrari misjudging the ride height by a fraction of a millimeter. This forced the team into a corner for the rest of the year: run the car low and risk disqualification, or run it high and sacrifice performance. By April 2025, the situation was so dire that the team, with Hamilton’s blessing, ceased development entirely to focus on 2026. The result was a humiliating drop to fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, behind McLaren, Mercedes, and Red Bull.
The Architect of Change: Loic Serra
Enter Loic Serra. Arriving in Maranello in October 2024 as the new Technical Director of Chassis, Serra is the catalyst behind Ferrari’s philosophical pivot. His resume is formidable, including 14 years at Mercedes where he contributed to eight consecutive Constructors’ Championships. But it is his earlier career at Michelin that truly informs his approach.
Unlike many modern F1 engineers who are obsessed with aerodynamics, Serra is a vehicle dynamics specialist. His decade at a tire manufacturer gave him an intimate understanding of how rubber behaves under load—how it deforms, generates grip, and ultimately fails. His philosophy is distinct: suspension is not merely hardware to hold the wheels and manage aero loads; it is an active participant in the tire’s performance.
Serra’s mindset was perfectly encapsulated in a statement he made in December 2025 regarding the new 2026 regulations. He dismissed the idea of “grey areas,” instead reframing them as “human creativity”—the ability to conceive solutions that haven’t been thought of before. This aggressive, innovative spirit is the driving force behind Project 678.
The 15-Year Reversal: Return of the Push Rod
The most headline-grabbing aspect of Project 678 is the suspension layout. Multiple credible reports indicate that Ferrari will run a push-rod suspension at both the front and rear axles. This represents a complete reversal from the pull-rod philosophy that defined the struggling SF25 and marks the first time Ferrari has utilized a push-rod rear suspension since the F10 in 2010—over 15 years ago.
For the uninitiated, the difference lies in how forces are transferred from the wheel to the car’s internal springs and dampers. A push-rod system compresses under load (as the wheel goes up), generally offering better packaging for the gearbox and rear diffuser. A pull-rod system extends under load and is often favored for lowering the center of gravity.
Why go back? The decision signals a prioritization of packaging and mechanical stability over the theoretical aerodynamic gains of the pull-rod system. In the new 2026 era, where cars will be lighter and rely on active aerodynamics, the stability of the platform is paramount. By reverting to a push-rod layout, Serra is choosing a system that is robust, predictable, and allows for easier access and adjustment—crucial factors when developing a brand-new car concept.
The Secret Weapon: Controlled Flexibility
However, the layout change is merely the tip of the iceberg. The true genius of Project 678—and the aspect that likely “stunned” Hamilton—lies in what technical sources describe as “controlled flexibility” within the front suspension.
This is not about structural weakness or flimsy parts. It is highly engineered compliance designed to deform specifically under certain loads. The objective is to generate “camber recovery” exactly when the tire needs it most. In simple terms, as the car dives into a corner, the suspension components would flex in a way that adjusts the angle of the tire relative to the road, increasing the contact patch and mechanical grip.
This directly addresses the “snappy” and unpredictable front end that haunted Hamilton in 2025. A suspension that actively helps the tire find grip on entry, rather than fighting the driver’s inputs, would transform the driving experience. It would allow Hamilton to regain his legendary confidence on the brakes and corner entry—the very traits that built his career.
While FIA Technical Director Nikolas Tombazis has warned that “hidden mechanisms” are illegal, he also admitted that current tests are static. If a component passes the static load test but flexes beneficially under the dynamic loads of high-speed cornering, it technically falls into a legal “grey area.” It is precisely here, in the margins of the rulebook, that Serra and Ferrari are hunting for lap time.
Context: The 2026 Regulatory Reset
These radical changes are arriving alongside the most significant rule overhaul in recent history. The 2026 regulations introduce cars that are smaller, lighter (768 kg minimum weight), and rely on a 50/50 split between internal combustion and electrical power. Most critically, the cars will feature active aerodynamics, with wings that flatten for speed on straights and deploy for downforce in corners.
This constant shifting of aerodynamic balance creates a nightmare for suspension designers. A car’s center of pressure will move wildly throughout a lap. A suspension system that is too stiff or sensitive—like the SF25—would be undriveable under these conditions.
The 2026 cars will produce approximately 30% less downforce than their predecessors. This reduction means that mechanical grip—the grip generated by tires and suspension—becomes significantly more valuable. Serra’s background in vehicle dynamics makes him the perfect architect for this specific set of rules. The trend towards “softer” cars that run slightly higher ride heights aligns perfectly with the push-rod philosophy, moving away from the rock-hard, ground-effect-dependent setups of the last few years.
The Silver Lining of Failure
Ironically, Ferrari’s disastrous 2025 season has gifted them a potent weapon for 2026: time. Under F1’s Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions (ATR), the lower a team finishes in the championship, the more wind tunnel and CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) time they receive.
Finishing fourth means Ferrari enters the 2026 development cycle with 85% of the baseline allocation. Compare this to McLaren (the likely 2025 champions), who receive only 70%. This translates to Ferrari having 272 wind tunnel runs per period compared to McLaren’s 224—a massive 48-run advantage. Over the course of a year, this discrepancy compounds, allowing Ferrari to test more concepts, refine more parts, and recover from errors faster than their rivals.
Team Principal Fred Vasseur is not letting this go to waste. The team is aggressively running parallel development paths. The launch on January 23rd will reveal the initial concept, but reports suggest a “Spec B” car is already in the pipeline for the Bahrain tests in mid-February. This strategy allows Ferrari to verify reliability with one spec while pushing performance boundaries with another, ensuring they don’t arrive at the first race with a concept they don’t understand.
Hamilton’s Last Stand
For Lewis Hamilton, the stakes could not be higher. At 40 years old, time is the one opponent he cannot outrun. He did not leave the comfort of Mercedes to fight for fourth place. He came to Maranello for the romance, yes, but primarily for the eighth world title that would unequivocally cement him as the greatest of all time.
The 2025 season forced him into defensive driving, managing a car he couldn’t trust. Project 678 promises a return to a car that communicates, a front end that bites, and a platform that allows him to attack.
Ferrari’s willingness to abandon the “modern” pull-rod trend and revert to a 15-year-old push-rod concept shows a bravery that has been missing from Maranello. It is an admission that the old path was wrong and a declaration that they will build a car for the driver, not just the wind tunnel.
Whether Project 678 delivers on its immense promise remains the great unknown until the lights go out. But one thing is certain: Ferrari is no longer dancing without rhythm. They have changed the music entirely, and for the first time in years, Lewis Hamilton looks ready to take the lead.