Lewis Hamilton to get 'all-new chassis' for Dutch Grand Prix as Ferrari step up F1 title bid

Ferrari will continue their aggressive F1 title bid with Lewis Hamilton set to get an 'all-new chassis' for the Dutch Grand Prix next weekend.

Hamilton has roared back into title contention with some terrific performances during the first half of 2026 - notably that first victory in red at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

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The Scuderia have been extremely aggressive with upgrades so far, constantly looking to close the gap to Kimi Antonelli and the dominant Mercedes car at the front of the grid.

There was no better illustration of that, when a major package delivered in Barcelona did exactly what was expected, propelling Hamilton to an extremely impressive race win.

Now Hamilton trails Antonelli by 50 points in the Drivers' standings heading out of the summer break, and Ferrari are planning more significant changes at Zandvoort.

F1 standings after 2026 Hungarian Grand Prix Pos Driver Team Points 1 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 219 2 Lewis Hamilton Scuderia Ferrari HP 169 3 George Russell Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team 160 4 Charles Leclerc Scuderia Ferrari HP 138 5 Lando Norris McLaren Mastercard F1 Team 128

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Ferrari looking for Zandvoort benchmark

According to major Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport

Per writer Paolo Filisetti, "Ferrari intends to resume the season by continuing to push for performance improvements on the SF-26. A new platform will debut at Zandvoort on August 23, essentially a direct evolution of the one introduced in Barcelona in June.

"The goal, from a purely technical standpoint, is to increase the downforce generated by the car's body. Essentially, the aim is to prove competitive even on twisty sections, i.e., those lacking specific high-speed acceleration.

"The characteristics of the Dutch track therefore represent an immediate testbed to evaluate the effectiveness of this new evolution, which, in effect, represents only the first step in Ferrari's extensive development program for the second half of the season."

The final portion of that statement is a significant one - Ferrari have still more upgrades to come despite some experts questioning the looming impact of the $215million cost cap.

That is the magic figure which teams work with this season in terms of cash available to improve their car (and other things).

Even Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has been surprised by the rate at which Ferrari are able to bring these big upgrades, despite the spectre of the cost cap.

After the chassis, the engine upgrade

While Ferrari will be keenly monitoring the impact of that new floor at Zandvoort, the Scuderia are also looking forward with excitement to their next power unit upgrade.

The engine upgrade - allowed under the FIA's ADUO benchmarking rules - is currently planned for Ferrari's home race at the Italian Grand Prix.

The Scuderia are hopeful that the mix of aero upgrades and improvements in power unit performance can close the gap completely to Mercedes.

Filisetti states: "It's important to note, however, that in Maranello, despite not officially declaring it, there's a firm belief, supported by the data emerging so far, that the combined effect of the improved aerodynamic performance and the reduction in the engine gap constitutes the starting point from which to build the challenge for Mercedes' lead in the second half of the season."

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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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