The break hasn't been quiet at Maranello — far from it. The SF-26 rolls out at Monza tomorrow (Wednesday) for a filming day, and according to AutoRacer.it, this isn't just a shakedown. The car heading to the Autodromo will be running in a significantly evolved specification: lightened and carrying roughly three-quarters of the update package Ferrari plan to bring to the double-header when racing resumes. That's a meaningful chunk of development work already baked in. The filming day format gives Ferrari 100km of running to bed in the new bits before they matter for real.

And the picture from inside the Gestione Sportiva is one of controlled intensity. Technical Director Loïc Serra sat down with Motorsport.com for an exclusive and confirmed that April has gone broadly to plan on both fronts — the SF-26 update programme and the 2027 car development running in parallel. The external calm at Maranello (his words paint a vivid picture: red walls, blue sky, the Prancing Horse gleaming in the sun) masks a hive of work underneath. Serra's framing is notable — he's not firefighting, he's executing. That's a different energy from where this team was a year ago.

With Miami now the next target, Ferrari arrive at the break having ticked the boxes they set for themselves in April. Whether the car that emerges is fast enough to challenge at the front is the question that only the stopwatch will answer — but at least the plan held.