F1 News: Ferrari ready to unleash gadget update that could give Lewis Hamilton the title edge

Ferrari

Ferrari ready to unleash F1 gadget update that could give Lewis Hamilton the title edge

Ferrari are trying to get into the title fight

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Sunday 12 July 2026 14:00

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Ferrari have yet another trick up their sleeve, as they try to become the dominant F1 outfit on the 2026 grid.

The Scuderia have spent much of the 2026 season so far playing second fiddle to Mercedes, but they have now won two of the last three grands prix.

Lewis Hamilton claimed a stunning victory in Barcelona, before Charles Leclerc won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone last weekend, a race in which Hamilton finished third.

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It has led to real hope that one or both of Ferrari's drivers could challenge for the drivers' championship this year, and Hamilton only sits 32 points behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli as he looks for a record-breaking eighth championship title.

Ferrari have been bringing many upgrades to their SF-26 so far this season, trying to close the gap to Mercedes, and one of those has been the macarena rear wing, a clever design quirk which sees the rear wing fold in on itself to create a wider opening when the car is in straight mode.

Theoretically speaking, this should dump more drag on the straights, allowing for the cars to go faster and increase their straight-line speed, but it has caused some issues for two teams who have tried to copy Ferrari's design.

Which teams use the macarena wings?

At the Miami Grand Prix earlier this year, Red Bull introduced a similarly wide rear wing opening to Ferrari's, with team principal Laurent Mekies adamant that they had not copied the Scuderia, and instead had actually come up with the concept during the winter.

Red Bull's concept was arguably even more radical than Ferrari's original macarena, while McLaren have also tried to develop a similar rear wing design, which is in its development phase.

Max Verstappen's rear wing has experienced a fault at each of the last two grand prix weekends, however, resulting in a huge crash during qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, and a trip into the gravel at Silverstone, resulting in a third DNF of the season for the Dutchman.

McLaren, meanwhile, are still trying to perfect their design so that it's ready for competitive sessions, having only used it in testing and practice events so far.

So it seems Ferrari are the only team to have mastered it, and it now looks as though they can bring a better, updated version of the macarena wing to the table in the coming races, which would rub salt into the wounds of Red Bull and McLaren, and may help them establish dominance over Mercedes too.

What updates will Ferrari bring?

According to Motorsport.It, Ferrari have a new rear wing which will open the gap between the reversible flaps and the main profile of the wing.

It's a renovation that the above publication is reporting will add a further 11km/h towards the ends of the straights, before the car goes back into corner mode.

They hope that this will be ready for the Belgian Grand Prix next weekend, an event at which they will also bring an upgrade to their exhaust to try and help them master the unique demands of the Spa-Francorchamps Circuit.

Motorsport claims the Maranello-based team will get rid of the STM system they have been using all season so far, in an attempt to actually reduce aerodynamics.

Ferrari is switching its single exhaust from flick tail mode, something which they tried during FP1 at the Austrian Grand Prix. The idea is that the blocked exhaust, although reducing downforce, will provide an extra seven horsepower, helping Ferrari's straight-line speed at the high-speed track.

One of the main reasons for Ferrari's relative underperformance compared to Mercedes for most of this season so far has been the fact that they have lacked the straight line speed from the power unit which Mercedes seemingly have.

McLaren star Lando Norris recently said that, with a better power unit, Ferrari would be 'embarrassing' their rivals, due to their dominant chassis design.

Written by

Sam Cook - Digital Journalist

Sam Cook is a talented young sports journalist and social media professional who now specialises in Formula 1, having previously worked as a football journalist and a local news reporter for a variety of different brands.

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F1 Red Bull Lewis Hamilton Ferrari McLaren