Ferrari F1 2026 car launch: Date, start time and free live stream

Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Imola, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

Ferrari 2026 Launch

Ferrari F1 2026 car launch: Date, start time and free live stream

There will be much scrutiny as Year 2 of the Lewis Hamilton Project begins.

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Tuesday 20 January 2026 09:55 Updated: 10:19

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The 2026 F1 season is almost upon us and no team or car launch will be more closely monitored than Ferrari - welcome to Year 2 of the Lewis Hamilton Project.

When Hamilton joined the Scuderia at the beginning of 2025 the talk was about whether he could clinch his eighth world title with the sport’s most iconic team. Not so fast…

It was a disastrous debut season for the 41-year-old British superstar - who racked up just 156 points to finish sixth in the drivers’ standings - 267 points behind champion Lando Norris. Not the return on investment expected by Ferrari chief John Elkann.

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Ferrari, and Hamilton, will hope for much better as it prepares to unveil the SF-26 car, and already the changes are coming at Maranello. Riccardo Adami - race engineer for Hamilton in 2025 - is already OUT after a grim year on team radio.

Here is all we know about the upcoming Ferrari launch - and importantly how you can follow it live.

F1 TESTING 2026: Key dates, times and how to watch live

When is the Ferrari F1 2026 launch?

The big reveal will take place on Friday January 23, 2026.

How to watch live
You will be able to watch all the action live on Ferrari’s social channels, as well as YouTube.
We will embed the stream here ahead of time so you can enjoy it without leaving the comfy confines of GPFans.

Can Ferrari win in 2026?

Very good question, and the vibes right now are not particularly strong.

The oddsmakers obviously have their view and they make the Scuderia 9/1 third favourites to become Constructors’ champions in 2026.

In terms of the drivers, Charles Leclerc is 20/1 to claim a first world title with Hamilton a distant 33/1 shot to win his eighth. That gives Lewis just a 2.9% implied win probability.

When are the other F1 team launches?

We have 11 teams in 2026, with Audi replacing Sauber and Cadillac joining as the totally new entity on the grid.

The launch dates look like this, with Audi up next today (Tuesday January 20).

When are the F1 2026 car launches?
Team	Location	Date	How to watch
Red Bull	Detroit, USA	January 15	Red Bull Racing website, YouTube
Racing Bulls	Detroit, USA	January 15	Red Bull Racing website, YouTube
Haas	Online	January 19	Haas F1 website and social pages
Audi	Berlin, Germany	January 20	YouTube, Audi social channels
Ferrari	Maranello, Italy	January 23	YouTube, Ferrari social media pages
Alpine	Barcelona, Spain	January 23	YouTube, Alpine social media pages
Mercedes	Online	February 2	Mercedes social channels
Williams	Grove	February 3	TBC
Cadillac	Santa Clara, USA	February 8	Cadillac F1 website, YouTube
Aston Martin	TBC	February 9	TBC
McLaren	Bahrain and Online	February 9	TBC

Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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