Ferrari has been told to place all of its resources into the 2027 car in the hope of starting next year in a championship-contending position.
The Italian squad has captured two wins this year, with one apiece for Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc - but it has been a largely disappointing campaign thus far.
Despite sitting second in the constructors' championship, Ferrari is 145 points down on Mercedes, who have been the runaway leaders.
Former IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe thinks the time has come for the Italian to wind down the development of its current car.
“I'd love to see them win another grand prix or two before the end of the year,” Hinchcliffe told the F1 Nation podcast.
“But you're talking about over three grands prix worth of points behind.
“It's done, it's over. It's about working on 2027. They don't have to worry about the pressure of keeping a championship fight alive.
“They can go to each race weekend, maybe be a little bit more experimental with setups, with developments they're bringing to the track.”
Ferrari advised to use race weekends as test sessions
Ferrari has not won a championship since 2008, when it prevailed over McLaren in the teams' standings.
As the 2026 hopes dwindle, Hinchcliffe has suggested Ferrari should start to use race weekends as test sessions.
“If this was 15 years ago, 20 years ago, and you had this new regulation set, and drivers were struggling to come up with how to drive these things, and teams were trying to catch the one team that figured it out, you'd be pounding around testing every week in between every grand prix and working on it,” he said.
“You don't have that freedom now. Simulators can only do so much.
“Your only time in the race car is when it matters on race weekends, which is a tough thing to use as a time to be experimental and to really take extra risks, whether it's with driving, with setup changes, whatever.
“When you are out of the championship fight, as are Ferrari, then you can kind of resign yourself to almost looking at these race weekends as test weekends.”
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