Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton stand in front of an edited cracked Ferrari badge — Photo: © IMAGO

Ferrari F1

Ferrari F1 2026 car launch today: Start time and watch the big reveal LIVE

The waiting is almost over at Maranello as Year 2 of the Hamilton Project begins.

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Friday 23 January 2026 11:29 Updated: 12:06

No F1 car launch in 2026 will be monitored more closely than that of Ferrari, and the waiting is almost over as the Scuderia prepares to take the wraps of its new SF-26.

Today (Friday January 23), in the hallowed surroundings of Fiorano (next to team HQ at Maranello), the Italian giants will properly kick off Year 2 of the Lewis Hamilton Project, with the former British star looking for a much better season than his debut year at Maranello.

The seven-time world champion, now 41 years of age, suffered a miserable first year at Ferrari, finishing only sixth in the Drivers’ standings, some 267 points behind eventual champion Lando Norris.

2026 will also be a pivotal year for Hamilton’s team-mate, the brilliant Monegasque Charles Leclerc. He will expect his team in red to finally give him a car capable of challenging for race wins and championships.

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 car launch?

The big reveal will take place today (Friday January 23, 2026), with a scheduled start time of 10.29am UK time. That is 11.29am local time in Maranello, 5.29am on the East Coast of the United States and 2.29am Pacific Time on the West Coast.

How to watch live

You can watch the Ferrari car launch right here on GPFans - we have embedded the live stream below so you can enjoy every moment live:

Alternatively you will be able to watch all the action live on Ferrari’s social channels, as well as on YouTube.

Ferrari 2026 F1 Schedule

After the big car reveal, Ferrari move on to three different periods of pre-season testing, starting with five days in Barcelona next week (January 26-30, behind closed doors).

After that we have two periods of testing in Bahrain - between February 11-13 inclusive and then February 18-20 inclusive.

Then of course we get down to the real thing, starting with the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Practice begins on Friday March 6 with the race proper on Sunday March 8.

What are the odds that Ferrari can win in 2026?

Right now, the odds for success at Maranello in 2026 are not very good.

The oddsmakers obviously have their view and they make the Scuderia 9/1 third favourites to become Constructors’ champions in 2026. I n 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 schedule looks like this, with Ferrari of course up next today:

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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