Ferrari has revealed plans to launch with a basic "spec A" version of its 2026 Formula 1 car to help prove out reliability in early testing.

The team will launch its new design on January 23 – most likely at its own Fiorano test track where it will then be able to get some first mileage done as part of a filming day.

This running can be completed either under the rules relating to demonstration events (limited to 15km) or a promotional event (limited to 200km).

The new Ferrari will then be shipped directly to Barcelona over the following weekend, prior to taking part in the private test that teams are allowed to join from January 26. 

But the specification of car that Ferrari runs in that first test looks like it will be nothing like what it starts the season with – because the final race one parts are only set to appear much later. 

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has revealed that his squad will join many others – and potentially the entire grid – in starting testing with a very simple concept that will allow it to focus on getting as many laps under its belt as possible with the all-new cars. 

"I think everybody will do it," he said, speaking at Maranello this week.

"In this situation, the most important [thing] is to get mileage. It's not to chase performance, it's to get mileage to validate the technical choice of the car in terms of reliability.  Then [after that is] to get performance.

"I think everybody will come to Barcelona with not a mule car, but it's a, let's say, Spec A."

Nailing reliability

F1 teams can run for any three days of the five days that are scheduled for the Barcelona test between January 26 and January 30.

They will then also get two further three-day tests in Bahrain, prior to the first race of the season in Australia.

Vasseur said the priority for his squad was starting the season with a reliable car, because things going wrong early on could detail a championship bid. 

"We are not used anymore to having nine test days," he said. "The last four or five seasons we did three. It's an advantage, but it's also a completely different programme. 

"It means that the first target in this kind of season is to get the reliability. You remember perfectly the seasons of 10 or 15 years ago, the first races you had a huge percentage of DNFs.

"What we want to avoid, compared to 2025, is that when we were lost at the beginning of the season with the disqualification [from the Chinese Grand Prix], we lost mileage, we lost reference, and then you are running after this and it's a long process. 

"The first focus in Barcelona will be to get mileage with the car to understand the reliability of the car, where we have to improve and what we have to react to. If you understand something [only] in Bahrain T02 [the final test], you won't have time to react for Australia. 

"It means that the first target of Barcelona will be to get mileage more than pure performance."

Vasseur anticipates a very aggressive upgrade war early on in the campaign – which means the formbook could evolve quite dramatically.

"I'm really convinced that in 2025, the picture of Bahrain T01 [the sole pre-season test] was almost the picture of Abu Dhabi, the last race," he said.

"Next year, you will have a huge rate of development over the season, and more like 2022 or this kind of season."

Late push 

While Ferrari switched its aero development to the 2026 car as early as April this year, it still wants to wait until the last minute before signing off on components so it can maximise its progress.

That is why it has left the launch of its car as late as possible before the Barcelona running, with further upgrades only following for the subsequent tests in Bahrain.

Asked if the team had gone aggressive with its design, Vasseur said: "We don't have the feeling to be aggressive or not, we are taking options. 

"But what is aggressive is to postpone the release of the drawings to the max, and to arrive at the last minute in Barcelona, or in Bahrain, with the car and you will do the assembly in the garage.

"This is aggressive. If you want to finish one month before, it's not aggressive at all, it's conservative.

"But this will be aggressive, for sure, because we were always [planning to] and we will finish the assembly of the car the day before the launch."