Ferrari left Silverstone with a very different mood from the one many expected, and the reason is simple: the SF-26 looked quick enough to turn surprise into a genuine prospect for the Belgian GP. Paolo Filisetti, RacingNews365’s technical analyst, judged that Ferrari arrived far better prepared than anticipated and carried a level of efficiency and balance that allowed the car to come very close to matching the W17.
That is why Ferrari is being searched now. Lewis Hamilton finished second behind Kimi Antonelli in the Silverstone sprint, and across qualifying, the Sprint and the grand prix the SF-26 stayed in the conversation. Silverstone is a circuit where energy deployment and recovery matter as much as outright pace, and Ferrari’s aerodynamic efficiency helped offset much of Mercedes’ raw power advantage. The W17 spent a noticeably longer period in the clipping phase than the SF-26, while Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were able to preserve electrical energy more effectively through the sections where it counted most.
The question is how much of that survives at Spa-Francorchamps. Silverstone rewarded balance and energy management, but Spa asks something different: the stretch from Raidillon up to Les Combes, and again from Stavelot through Blanchimont to the Bus Stop chicane, will put far greater demands on deployment and recovery. The sections through Rivage, Pouhon and Fagnes will also test set-up in a way Silverstone did not. Ferrari can draw comfort from the fact that the SF-26’s balance kept tyre trouble largely in check in Britain, even though heavy fuel and rapid direction changes could have produced severe graining and degradation.
That is where the friction sits. The longer straights at Spa will inevitably expose Ferrari’s deficit in peak power to Mercedes, and the top speeds seen at Silverstone only underline how much ground the SF-26 can recover through efficiency rather than brute force. Even so, the Belgian circuit still offers enough technical complexity for Ferrari’s balance to matter, which means this is not just a hopeful trip to Spa. It is the next test of whether Ferrari’s Silverstone form was a flash of comfort or the shape of a car that can stay competitive when the layout gets less forgiving.
