Ferrari introduced eleven updates to their SF-26 at the Miami GP but finished sixth and seventh, failing to meet expectations. Charles Leclerc cited tire degradation as a key issue that hindered performance during the race.
Ferrari arrived in Miami with more new parts than anyone else on the grid and left with more questions than answers.
The Scuderia confirmed eleven updates to the SF-26, and yet the team came away with sixth and seventh place (before time penalties), a result that doesn’t reflect what the SF-26 showed it was capable of over the course of the weekend.
The problem wasn’t the upgrade package itself, at least not according to Charles Leclerc. It was what happened to the car‘s tyres once the race started in earnest. Leclerc admitted the team has work to do after a promising start to the Miami weekend turned into a frustrating Sunday, with the Red car unable to match the pace it had shown in the sprint and qualifying.
“With the mediums, we weren’t performing well. We had a lot of degradation,” he said after the race. The switch to the harder compound didn’t immediately fix things either. “With the hard tires, it wasn’t great at the beginning, then the pace improved and it was a little better, but we never got back to the level we were at on Saturday.”
That gap between Saturday and Sunday is what Leclerc is pushing the team to explain. “We need to analyze this. We’ve lost a lot of performance since then, and I’d like to understand exactly what happened.”
The fact this happened despite Ferrari bringing a substantial batch of developments to an already solid car makes it a blow, though Leclerc was insistent the upgrades themselves worked, which means the team needs to look elsewhere to see where this issue actually stems from.
“The package of improvements works, but the problem is that others are also pushing, and probably their package was a little better,” he admitted.
Ferrari brought eleven updates to their SF-26 for the Miami GP.
Ferrari struggled due to significant tire degradation, which affected their performance during the race.
Ferrari finished in sixth and seventh place at the Miami GP, before time penalties were applied.
Charles Leclerc described the car's performance as disappointing, noting that they couldn't match the pace shown during sprint and qualifying due to tire issues.
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McLaren particularly benefited from its own upgrades, becoming the first squad to beat Mercedes to a chequered flag this season with its sprint race win.
Kimi Antonelli then won the Grand Prix for Mercedes, an ominous result given the Silver Arrows deliberately held back their own major upgrade package until Canada.
F1 journalist Lawrence Barretto, speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, said on the mood in the Ferrari garage: “What was generally felt within the team this weekend is they’ve added performance, but they’ve not added anywhere near as much performance as I think they thought they would.”
Leclerc isn’t writing off the season over one difficult Sunday.
“We have other developments coming soon, and I hope that will help us regain some of the advantage,” he said, before adding that this is where this championship will be decided: “These are details, but with this generation of cars, especially in this first year, everything will depend on development. We therefore need to ensure that we are perfect in the way we develop the car.”
Leclerc doesn’t believe there’s a recurring pattern of Ferrari fading in races, but the team still hasn’t been able to sustain a challenge despite its impressive race starts. With McLaren understood to be bringing further upgrades to Canada, and Mercedes set to unleash its major W17 revamp at the same race, the pressure on the Scuderia to extract more from the SF-26’s existing package – or fast-track the next one – is mounting at a pace as fast as its rivals.