Ferrari told where to make key F1 improvement to catch Mercedes

Martin Brundle believes Ferrari must focus on improving its power unit if it wants to catch Mercedes in 2026.

Across the first three races of 2026, Ferrari has proven to be Mercedes' closest competitor and has 90 points to Mercedes' 135, having taken a podium in every race so far.

Mercedes meanwhile, has won all three grands prix plus the China Sprint, with Ferrari dicing for the lead of the Australian, Chinese Sprint and Chinese Grands Prix, but has fallen just short of sustaining its challenge over the course of a full grand prix distance. 

Sky F1 pundit Brundle believes that the Scuderia should use the April enforced break to focus on its power unit to bring it right into the fight with Mercedes.

"I think this championship is wide open, and we'll see with this enforced spring break a lot of changes when we get to Miami, and through the spring and summer," Brundle told the Sky Sports F1 podcast.

"Because I think Ferrari will find a lot with their power unit and their deployment and with the delivery of their power, I think they'll improve a lot.

"McLaren seems very confident that they know what to do with their car to go faster as well, but with the top three teams, I think it is going to be absolutely wild, and Ferrari will be right in there.

"Mercedes won't stand still either, and they'll come back from Japan, where Antonelli's pace on the hard compound wasn't absolutely extraordinary, thinking: 'Yeah, we've got a race, we've got a challenge on our hands, so those two teams are coming."