The big conversation this week has moved firmly from Miami's wreckage to what Maranello is cooking for Spa. According to AutoRacer.it, Ferrari plans to introduce a new power unit at the Belgian Grand Prix via the ADUO concession — the regulatory allowance permitting a manufacturer judged to be below the performance threshold to continue developing their PU. Vasseur, confronted directly on the subject, gave his most classically Frédéric response: "Just look at the data, we have no advantage on the straights." Which is precisely the problem, Fred.

There's an interesting wrinkle buried in the AutoRacer.it analysis: the 2026 aero framework might actually limit how much Ferrari can exploit a power gain. The current regulations constrain the relationship between raw grunt and aerodynamic performance in ways that weren't present before, meaning a stronger engine doesn't necessarily translate 1:1 into lap time for the SF-679. More power is always welcome — but it's worth tempering expectations accordingly.

The community is already stress-testing those expectations. A thread on r/ScuderiaFerrari put it plainly: "Everyone keeps talking about the new engine as if it's going to be miraculously the best engine. Has there been any confirmed news of performance gains? What about reliability? Everything coming together at Spa seems like a pipe dream." That's a fair challenge. Ferrari hasn't publicly confirmed meaningful gains, and debuting a new PU at Spa — one of the most power-sensitive circuits on the calendar — without thorough validation would be a considerable gamble with constructors' points on the line.

A post-race detail from Miami worth flagging: slow pit stops added to Ferrari's collapse on Sunday, per the community race review. Stack that on top of the strategy friction (Leclerc's lap-24 radio protest), the spin, the 20-second penalty, and Hamilton's aero damage from the Colapinto contact, and you've got a weekend where almost every execution lever went the wrong way simultaneously.

One quieter observation also surfacing from Miami: Ferrari's launch advantage — one of the SF-26's early-season calling cards — may have been neutralized. Multiple rival teams matched or beat Ferrari off the line in both the sprint and the race. If that edge has genuinely closed, Maranello loses one of its few reliable weapons heading into circuits that don't play to the car's other strengths.

Barcelona and Monaco are up next before Spa — tracks where Ferrari traditionally fares better and raw power matters less. The real test is whether those results can paper over the structural deficit long enough for the Spa upgrade to land cleanly. A lot is riding on that Belgian weekend.