In the hallowed halls of Maranello, behind the closed doors where legends are forged and dreams are frequently shattered, Ferrari has officially lifted the curtain on their future. But this was not your standard car launch. There were no empty platitudes about “next year” being their year. Instead, what emerged from the shadows of the Italian factory was something far more significant. They call it Project 678, and according to insiders, it is not merely an upgrade or an evolution of the cars that have come before. It is a complete and total reset.
The backdrop to this revelation is a season of profound disappointment. The 2025 championship saw the most prestigious team in Formula 1 relegate itself to fourth place. It was a year characterized by lost direction, development chaos, and a race car that seemed to fight its drivers at every turn. Lewis Hamilton, in his debut season in red, and the ever-loyal Charles Leclerc spent months wrestling with a machine that suffered from front-end instability and unpredictable tire windows. While their rivals at McLaren, Mercedes, and even a struggling Red Bull managed to find pathways to the podium, Ferrari seemed trapped in a cycle of confusion, chasing isolated gains that never coalesced into a winning package.
However, Project 678 represents a line in the sand. It is described internally not just as a new car, but as a “declaration of war against hesitation.” The team has spent the off-season dissecting every failure of 2025, not to mourn the loss, but to use it as high-octane fuel for a radical reinvention. The question now looming over the paddock is simple yet terrifying: Has Ferrari finally learned from its mistakes, or is this just another beautiful Italian promise destined to shatter under the immense pressure of the 2026 regulation changes?
The Philosophy of Coherence
To understand the magnitude of Project 678, one must first understand the diagnosis of the problem. In 2025, Ferrari fell into a classic engineering trap. They chased “peak” performance numbers—more downforce here, more horsepower there—without stopping to consider how those elements interacted. They built a Frankenstein’s monster of a car that produced great numbers in the wind tunnel but was undrivable on the track.
The new philosophy for 2026 is built on “coherence.” The realization was that modern Formula 1 isn’t won by the team with the loudest single innovation, but by the team with the most integrated network of decisions. This shift in thinking is the foundation of the new car. It’s not about one magic bullet; it’s about a thousand small decisions that reinforce one another. With the 2026 regulations introducing active aerodynamics and a power unit split evenly between combustion and electrical energy, the cars will be incredibly sensitive. One wrong setup choice could kill a team’s entire weekend. Ferrari is attempting to rewrite their entire approach to ensure that never happens.
The Steel Cylinder Gamble
The most headline-grabbing and controversial decision in this new package is undoubtedly found deep within the power unit. In a move that has made engineers across the grid raise their eyebrows, Ferrari has opted for steel cylinder heads instead of the traditional aluminum. On paper, this seems counterintuitive. Steel is heavier and harder to work with—two characteristics that F1 engineers usually avoid like the plague.
So, why commit to such a risky material? The answer lies in the extreme demands of the 2026 engine regulations. With only four internal combustion engines allowed per driver for the entire season, durability has transformed from a reliability concern into a primary performance tool. Steel allows for combustion pressures and temperatures that aluminum simply cannot survive over a 24-race calendar.
Working alongside Austrian powertrain specialists AVL, Ferrari achieved a breakthrough. They found a way to utilize steel to survive the season without compromising the weight distribution significantly. This durability opens the door to more efficient combustion. In an era of sustainable fuels and increased electrical dependency, efficiency is everything. By choosing the harder path with materials, Ferrari believes they can run their engines harder and longer than their rivals, turning reliability into raw pace.
But Ferrari realized that a heavier engine component could upset the balance of the car if not managed perfectly. This is where the system-level thinking kicks in. They paired the steel engine with a significantly lighter, more compact battery system and smaller radiators. This tighter cooling packaging allowed for a narrower rear end, which in turn cleaned up the airflow to the diffuser. A decision about engine metal became a decision about aerodynamics—a perfect example of their new coherent philosophy.
Suspension and The Return of the Push Rod
For the first time since 2010, Ferrari is running a push-rod suspension layout at both the front and the rear of the car. This is not a move driven by nostalgia, but by cold, hard physics. The push-rod layout offers much greater freedom in component placement, allowing for a slimmer chassis and better airflow management, which is critical under the new rules.
Under the guidance of technical director Loic Serra, the team has placed tire behavior at the absolute center of the car’s DNA. The 2025 car’s biggest weakness was the moment where Hamilton and Leclerc lost trust in the front end during corner entry. To solve this, the new suspension features “controlled flexibility” in the upper wishbone. This design allows the team to manage camber recovery and tire contact patches through different phases of a corner dynamically. It is a direct technical response to the drivers’ complaints, ensuring that the mechanical grip is predictable and consistent.
The Hamilton Effect: Redesigning the Office
Perhaps the most tangible evidence of Lewis Hamilton’s influence on the team is found inside the cockpit. The seven-time world champion brought a decade of experience from the highly integrated Mercedes environment, and he wasn’t shy about challenging the long-standing habits at Maranello. He taught the team that information flow between the driver and the car must be seamless.
The 2026 regulations introduce active aerodynamics and complex energy management, meaning drivers will have to interact with their machines more than ever before. A cluttered or confusing steering wheel would cognitively overload the driver, leading to mistakes. Recognizing this, Ferrari completely redesigned the steering wheel with direct input from both Hamilton and Leclerc.
The old philosophy of “more buttons equals more control” has been scrapped. Instead, they have simplified control without reducing authority. Energy deployment, harvesting, and electronic modes have been consolidated into three primary rotary switches located beneath the central display. The wheel itself is smaller, with a reduced lower section to improve visibility. The logic is sound: in 2026, mental clarity at 300 km/h will be a decisive performance factor. By reducing the cognitive load on the drivers, Ferrari hopes to free up their mental capacity for racing.
A Strategic Shift in Testing
The changes at Ferrari aren’t just mechanical; they are operational. The team has adopted a two-step testing strategy that reflects a painful lesson learned from the previous year. In 2025, early confusion and lost mileage set them back months. They cannot afford a repeat.
For the pre-season testing in Barcelona, Ferrari will run a “Spec A” version of the car. This iteration is not about setting lap times. It is purely about mileage, reliability, and correlation. They need to validate their assumptions about packaging, electronics, and cooling. Performance is secondary. The goal is to ensure the foundation is solid.
Then comes the shift to aggression. For the Bahrain test and the first race, a “Spec B” will be introduced, featuring the definitive aerodynamic and mechanical solutions. This structured approach—categorizing innovations by risk and cost—is the brainchild of Loic Serra. High-risk ideas are tested early when they can still be abandoned, while lower-risk refinements are layered on later. It is a strategy of “structured aggression” rather than the reactive chaos that defined their recent past.
The Scenarios: Glory or Heartbreak?
As the F1 world looks toward the season opener, three scenarios seem plausible for this bold new project.
In the first scenario, Project 678 delivers exactly as intended. The steel engine proves robust, the suspension solves the tire issues, and the car behaves predictably. In this world, Hamilton and Leclerc operate at the limit with total confidence, and Ferrari doesn’t just compete—they dominate, utilizing their extra wind tunnel time (a “gift” from their 4th place finish) to out-develop their rivals.
In the second scenario, the risks backfire. The steel cylinder heads add too much mass in the wrong places, destroying the center of gravity. The controlled suspension flexibility invites scrutiny from the FIA regulators. The redesigned cockpit introduces human variables that no simulator could predict. In this timeline, Ferrari’s bold choices become their biggest vulnerabilities, leading to another season of heartbreak.
The third, and perhaps most likely scenario, is that the system works, but not immediately. Ferrari spends the first half of 2026 validating and refining their radical new concept. By mid-season, they become untouchable, but the early deficit costs them the championship by agonizingly small margins.
Conclusion: The Final Chance
One thing is certain: Project 678 is not just about winning races in 2026. It is about the soul of the team. It is about whether Ferrari can finally become the team Lewis Hamilton believed they could be when he signed his historic contract. It is about whether Charles Leclerc’s unwavering loyalty will finally be rewarded with the car he has been waiting his entire career to drive.
The 2026 season represents a singularity in the sport—a moment where the rules reset and everyone starts from zero. For Ferrari, it is a “now or never” moment. They have declared war on their own history of hesitation. They have made the hard choices, taken the big risks, and built a car that is a radical departure from everything they have done before.
Now, we wait for the lights to go out. Will Project 678 be remembered as the masterstroke that returned the Prancing Horse to the summit of the world, or will it be another beautiful, tragic promise that fell apart when it mattered most? The answer lies on the tarmac, and the clock is ticking.