Was Fred Vasseur playing with fire when he decided Ferrari should switch focus to 2026 as early as April last year? Perhaps so, but with the Scuderia unable to catch McLaren, the Frenchman made the rational and correct call, even if it didn't necessarily go down well with the expectant Italian faithful at the time.

Vasseur at least weathered that storm, but only on the basis that he and his tech director hire Loic Serra had one shot to get things right with the 2026 regulations. And on the basis of the first half of 2026, they did, holding second in both championships to net Ferrari a B+ score at the summer break.

The good

Ferrari impressed the paddock with a bold and innovative approach to the 2026 ruleset, ranging from an upside-down 'Maracena' wing to exhaust winglets, two items which caused some head scratching around the paddock and soon prompted flattering imitations from rival teams.

In general, the Prancing Horse galloped out of the gates with a spring in its step, and the team produced one of the best - if not the best - chassis to start the season, following that strong start up with a barrage of aerodynamic updates.

It allowed Ferrari to be Mercedes' closest competitor despite an inferior power unit, and work done in Lewis Hamilton's corner meant the Maranello squad now has two bullets in the chamber at most rounds, with both the seven-time world champion and team-mate Charles Leclerc getting off the mark with a grand prix win each, and Hamilton now Kimi Antonelli's closest challenger in the championship.

Between its innovative car and its impressive upgrade rollout, Ferrari has set the standard in a number of areas this year, providing inspiration to the rest of the paddock. When was the last time we could say that about the Scuderia?

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Bryn Lennon / Formula 1 via Getty Images

The bad

This column is a lot shorter than it would have been in previous years, but Ferrari still has some race weekend execution to clean up as shown by a number of occasions when it took the wrong set-up direction, such as the sweltering Austrian Grand Prix where the team withered in the heat. It also should have done much better in Hungary, stranding both cars off the podium.

Ferrari's biggest weakness is the power unit, though, losing several tenths of lap time on the straights to Mercedes, which is balancing out some of the strides the Italian powerhouse made on the chassis side.

The other concern is that Ferrari has rolled out so many upgrades that its development pace will be difficult to sustain after the summer, leaving the door open for a more measured Mercedes to regain its lead. Only time will tell if that concern is justified.

Photo by: Andy Hone / LAT Images via Getty Images

What they're saying

Fred Vasseur: "The first part of the season was one in two stages. The first one is until Spain, when Mercedes was flying, that they scored something like a hundred points more than us in four or five events. And after Spain we scored more points than Mercedes in these four or five races.

" Where we have to improve is, I would say, execution. We know that we have to improve on the engine side, and we will do it, even if the inertia on the engine is much higher than on the chassis. The most important would be to be able to keep the pace into the development. McLaren did a huge step forward, but they don't have exactly the same philosophy, because they are bringing a big package. We have a different approach, trying to bring parts every race. And we have to keep this momentum, because there are still 12 races to go. We have room for improvement on the chassis everywhere, and we have to keep this pace."

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- The Motorsport.com Team